SARGADELOS LEGADO

SARGADELOS LEGADO | 3/12/2021

SARGADELOS has decided to market a new production line that combines two very important concepts for us: sustainability and tradition.

Our demanding production process generates, after grinding and decanting, a significant amount of leftovers or raw paste which, although it does not meet the quality standards of SARGADELOS porcelain, does maintain qualities such as hardness, resistance and nobility.

In order to reduce the environmental impact of our manufactures, we have thought of reusing these remains, no longer waste, creating a new production department that studies and submits these resources to a process of adaptability that allows the shaping of ceramic objects.

The recycled paste is born in the following way:

The water from the cleaning of the materials used for the reproduction of porcelain is diverted into settling pits. There are settling pits for the paste and for the colours; these tanks collect semi-solid waste in their lower part.

Paste settling pits mainly collect quartz, feldspar and kaolin (raw materials for porcelain). When the pits are very full, they are filtered, resulting in porcelain paste residues contaminated with iron and other materials. This semi-solid is made into a paste again, with the missing percentage of kaolin being adjusted to give it characteristics that facilitate reproduction by the casting technique.

When this paste is vitrified, the result is a dirty white, contaminated with particles, to which pigments recycled from the settling pits are added in order to obtain a coloured paste.

The vitrification of this recycled porcelain is carried out at the same temperature as normal porcelain, 1400ºC.

We have had to set up this new research and development department in a space away from the main production area to avoid possible cross-contamination. As this is a very unstable paste, which requires constant supervision, the production of these pieces must be limited, so each figure in this project is a unique piece.

This first SARGADELOS LEGADO collection is made up of five shapes and six pieces: the Bowl, the Plate and four Vases in three sizes. The same shade of dirty white paste has been used in all the shapes, and in addition a blue coloured paste that completes and distinguishes the set, used in the coloured version of the small vase.

These tones are reminiscent of those used in the early days of porcelain production in Cervo (Lugo).

It shows a marked inspiration in the shapes of handmade pottery, which was obtained by means of a potter's wheel, not very far from the current method of manufacture used to achieve the radially symmetrical volumes of these pieces.

This new porcelain, exclusive to SARGADELOS, we have decided to call it SARGADELOS LEGADO, which means legacy, as it recovers marks and stamps from the first productions of the 1820s that now take centre stage in the decoration of the pieces.

It evokes and recalls our historical past, of which we feel we are the legatees, and which has enabled us to become one of the world's leading porcelain manufacturers.

We open a window to the future with the premiere of this new line of products that reconciles our history and our commitment to the concerns of our time.