Paola Paronetto combines paper and clay to create delicate vessels

Italian ceramicist Paola Paronetto has unveiled two new vase designs, created using her distinctive "paper clay" technique.

Based in the Alpine village of Pordenone, where she grew up, Paronetto has developed a unique method for creating ceramics with seemingly fragile shapes and proportions.

Her technique involves adding a certain amount of paper pulp to the ceramic mixture, which offers extra stability.

It also makes it possible to add vertical folds that will remain after the clay has been fired.

Paronetto has used the process to create two new designs, which she unveiled at the Maison&Objet homeware fair in Paris earlier this month.

Named Bosco and Pistilli, both are designed to replicate forms in nature.

Bosco is a set of slender vessels, with arms that extend out like the branches of a tree. The word "bosco" means wood in Italian.

This is one of the most difficult pieces to produce in Paronetto's whole collection – the mixture has to be exactly right in order for the branches to stay in place throughout the production process.

Pistilli is a series of tired vessels, available in a variety of different shapes and sizes. The name is a reference to the female reproductive part of a flower, the pistol.

"Both families of objects are composed of tubular shapes to assume facets that are both evocative and abstract, almost playful," reads a statement released by Paronetto.

"As suggested by their names, the objects of the Bosco and Pistilli series acquire their maximum expressiveness in groups, playing with different heights and/or colours, just as in nature."

Paronetto has spent a decade developing her paper clay technique. Each piece is unique, handmade by the ceramicist using her traditional potter's wheel.

Her best-known work is the ongoing Cartocci series, which includes vessels in the shapes of bottles and cacti, as well as bowls that resemble mushrooms.

The ceramicist recently also used the technique to create a series of ceramic pendant lamps.

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