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Many of the people who know us already know that we are from Japan (Ryo) and Catalonia (Anna). Every year we try to make a trip to Catalan lands to reunite with family and friends. Another thing we also love to do is continue researching and enjoying the world of ceramics, and on this year's trip we had the opportunity to go to Argentona.
A jug fair has been held in this town since the 17th century, and today there is also a jug museum and a festival called Argillà dedicated to this piece and to clay. L'Argillà this year has offered many activities to get to know and touch the clay, as well as organizing the many stops that go through the center of Argentona up to the entrance of the Museu del Càntir (Museum of the Jug).
Since we didn't want to miss the event, we went to the village with some friends, and spent a good time visiting all the booths. We were surprised by the variety of ceramics there: ceramics made with natural glazes, tiles with reproductions of illustrations from the Middle Ages in Catalonia, ceramics from Morocco, jewellery made from clay, traditional ceramics from different parts of the peninsula Iberian, etc.
At the top of the market, there were booths dedicated to artists from the Czech Republic, the guest country. We were chatting with a ceramist who was selling some very delicate pieces, made of porcelain.
After lunch, we went to the museum. We had prepared the visit, since another of the reasons why we wanted to visit Argentona was for some project in the workshop, and we wanted to see and understand first hand the forms and the functioning of the pitcher. The museum has put all the explanations of the exhibition on the Internet, so you can see the more than 4,000 jugs that the museum exhibits with the necessary information already learned at home.
We really enjoyed understanding how the jug works, as it is designed to naturally cool the water it contains. It was also very interesting to see how the pitcher changed shape depending on where it was used. For example, if it was used by fishermen, since the boat was constantly moving, they used a pitcher with a very wide base. We also drank from small pitchers, which the children used.
After leaving the museum, we went back to the street of stalls and did a few purchases before leaving. We love having pieces made by other ceramists at home and in the studio, they bring us good memories of the places where we got them, and we like to be surrounded by crafts.
Here are some links for you to have more information about the Argillà festival and the pitcher, thank you very much for following our ceramic adventures!
Argentona Clay Festival
https://argilla.cat/
Museum of the Cantir of Argentona
https://www.museucantir.org/