There are 118 companies in Sardinia involved in the manufacture of ceramic and porcelain products for modern or traditional use. Around 200 employees. Of the total assets, 84.7 percent are artisans. The companies managed by women are 47.2 percent. With these numbers, the island ranks ninth in Italy in terms of consistency of the sector, which sees Sicily in first place with 484 entities, followed by Campania with 433, while it is in first place in terms of the incidence of artisan businesses. The range of production is varied: artistic pieces and pottery, for domestic and toilet use, but also statuettes and ornamental items, vases, jugs and containers used for the transport or packaging of goods, sanitary items and insulating pieces.
This, in summary, is what emerged from the dossier created by the Research Office Confartigianato Sardinia, entitled “Ceramics with a high artisan vocation in Sardinia”, which analyzed the data from UnionCamere-Infocamere and Istat for 2023, which was presented by the Secretary of Confartigianato Imprese Oristano, Marco Franceschi, during the round table entitled “Crafts in our rural history. Arts and crafts”, organized by the Municipality of Ollastra (OR), as part of the initiatives of the “San Marco Fair”. At a territorial level, 55 businesses (47 artisans) operate in the old province of Cagliari, 32 businesses (29 artisans) in that of Nuoro, 23 in that of Sassari-Gallura (17 artisans) and 8 in Oristano (7 artisans).
“Creating synergies and networks on Sardinian ceramics, artistic and design but also typical and traditional, represents the added value we need to enhance the island’s excellence – he stated Marco Franceschi, secretary of Confartigianato Imprese Oristano, during his speech – there is a desire to promote local realities and make these products distinctive and highly attractive elements of the whole island”. “With the approval and start of the implementation process of the Regulation on geographical indications for artisanal products, one of the most important chapters strongly characterized by an inseparable and lasting bond with the territories opens also for ceramics with a high artisanal vocation – he continued the Secretary of Confartigianato Imprese Oristano – these are specific features that testify to the history and tradition of our production and which, at the same time, express the ability to innovate and constantly face the challenges of change in the markets”. “The valorization and protection of typical geographical indications – underlined Franceschi – is not a sterile claim, but a way to make recognizable a way of living, of thinking, of believing, of acting, of undertaking, of producing, of modifying the world around us, as an integral part of our contemporary cultural identity”.
