Terracotta: A colour oven-baked and ready to rise

If I was red clay, I would love to be scooped up and shaped on a pottery wheel into a garden pot. After firing in a kiln, I could join the terracotta tribe – the down-to-earth ceramics that form many of the products of every day life, from house bricks to baking dishes. Or possibly, I could be shaped into a lamp of such extraordinary delight that I end up in an interior design store.

 

1. The Garza chair, featuring a leather seat and steel base, is from Garza Furniture in Marfa, Texas; via garzamarfa.com
2. Paulistano terracotta leather chair with black frame by Paulo Mendes Da Rocha was design in 1957; via hubfurniture.com.au
3. Terracotta lamps by Tomas Kral, via tomaskral.ch
4. The terracotta-tinted museum Casa das Historias Paula Rego by Portuguese architect Eduardo Souto De Moura. Photograph by Luís Ferreira Alves; via wallpaper.com
5. Kristalia terracotta Elephant Chair; via fanuli.com
6. The London-based designer Benjamin Hubert created the four jars for the Danish brand Menu; via benjaminhubert.co.uk
7. Terracotta tables from Italian label Flai; via flaiweb.it

Taiwanese design firm Nexus Designs used brick and concrete for these stool and table; via piglee83.wix.com