A SARGADELOS NO HERALD TRIBUNE

Spanish porcelain: shapes as language
By Dale Fuchs, International Herald Tribune

When the rest of the knickknack-loving world thinks of Spanish porcelain, pastel maidens by Lladró usually come to mind. Those sweet statuettes, forever frozen in a tender moment, have long enthralled collectors in the United States, Japan and Europe.

But when Spaniards themselves ponder the state of their national porcelain, a radically different image emerges: one of bold primary colors, geometric patterns and naïf figurines bordering on abstraction. These pieces are closer in spirit to Picasso than Cinderella. Some of them — carnival masks and protective charms — are positively ominous.

This edgy pottery bears the label Sargadelos, a name most people outside Spain would not recognize. But in the northwest region of Galicia, where the porcelain has been mass-produced since 1968, those pieces have become "the tasteful gift par excellence," as one local contemporary historian said. They mix modern attitude with nationalistic pride in this northern seafaring region, historically the poorest part of Spain.

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