TELEPHONE:
ADDRESS:
Maestro Serrano 1bis -Manises 46940
ACTIVITY
Arturo descends from a line of ceramicists going back to the 18th century. For over 30 years he has had his own workshop, where he explores and refines the art of traditional lustreware.
The lustre technique emerged and evolved in Abbasid Iraq and soon reached al-Andalus.… From as early as the 13th century there are reliable records of lustreware being made in the cities of Málaga and Murcia. In the early 14th century, Pedro Boil, 4th Lord of Manises, encouraged potters in his dominions to employ this novel technique, perhaps with the advent of earthenware artisans from the Nasrid kingdom of Granada. The style reached its peak in the 15th century, coinciding with Valencia’s cultural and economic heyday, with its port as the main route of export. The lustre technique was revived in the late 19th century thanks to demand from contemporary architectural movements. This helped to keep this craft alive in Manises up to the 21st century.
Arturo Mora uses clays much like those that were used in the middle ages and makes all of his ware manually. He decorates it with cobalt oxide using a paintbrush and then gives it a first firing of up to 1020ºC in a kiln with an oxidising atmosphere. Once glazed, the ware undergoes a second firing at 980ºC, giving it a varnished surface on which further decoration is applied, this time with copper and silver. The third firing is done in a Moorish kiln, closed up with a brick, at temperatures of up to 630ºC and fuelled with brushwood such as rosemary. Samples are taken from the kiln as the batch is fired so as to determine when the process should end. Once the pieces have been taken out and rubbed down to remove any foreign matter, the lustreware finally emerges resplendent.
TRAINING
Arturo descends from an old Manisan family of ceramicists. In the last third of the 19th century his great-great-grandfather, Fernando Mora Osca, was the first of the family to engage in making pottery. In 1958 his grandfather, Salvador Mora Zorrilla, and his father, Salvador Mora… Escobar, founded the ceramics factory where Arturo Mora still works albeit with more artisanal methods, reviving a centuries-old tradition.
TEACHING
He has given ceramic decoration and pottery courses in the local ceramicists’ association.
SELECTED WORK
In 1998 he took part in the restoration of architectural lustreware at the Charterhouse of Ara Christi (1620-1760) in El Puig (Valencia province), and on the Las Ventas Bullring in Madrid (1929)
In 1999-2000 he made lustreware tiles for the restoration of the Tabernacle Chapel in… the Church of San Juan Bautista (Manises)
In 2002 he took part in the refurbishment of the Valencia Exhibition Palace
In 2004-2012 he trained a team in his workshop, along with other ceramicists, to collaborate with the architect Santiago Calatrava in making ceramic elements and murals
In 2004 he took part in the restoration of lustreware on the belfry and dome of the Church of San Juan Bautista in Manises (1730-1751), and the restoration of the monumental Fountain of Stars in Alicante (1930)
In 2005 he was part of the team led by the Ceramics Museum of Manises in the restoration of ceramic items in the facade of the Chapel of San Antonio in Manises (1840)
In 2006 he took part in the refurbishment of the Colón Market in Valencia (1914-1917)
In 2009-2012 he worked for the Victoria & Albert Museum shop in London, reproducing articles in the museum collection for sale to the public
In 2010 he worked for the Leighton House Museum in London, reproducing 15th-century ware for the museum décor
In 2010-2011 he restored lustreware on the facade of the “El Arte” ceramics factory of Juan Bautista Huerta in Manises (1922-1924)
In 2012-2014 he worked for the New York Metropolitan Museum, reproducing lustreware from the 14th–15th centuries for sale in the Met Store to mark the 75th anniversary of the museum’s Medieval Cloisters section
In 2012 he restored the gilded lantern dome of the Cathedral of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción in the city of Ceuta
In 2018 he produced classic Manisan lustreware for the Prado Museum shop coinciding with the Treasures of the Hispanic Society of America exhibition
