R
oberto Paparcone, the artist behind the ceramic studio Paparkone, has won the Consell de Mallorca Craftsmanship Award for the second year running, this time in the Innovation and Design category. The winning piece, FLORA, is a modular ceramic totem that draws inspiration from an unlikely pairing: 17th-century botanical engravings and the Balearic Islands' unique plant life.
The project's origin story involves a childhood library discovery: Giovanni Battista Ferrari's 1633 botanical treatise De Florum Cultura, featuring engravings by Anna Maria Vaiana, one of the few known female engravers of her time. The book's ceremonial floral vessels, which went beyond simple flower containers, stuck with Paparcone through years of sketching and development.
But his connection with the Balearic Islands, and particularly Mallorca, where he has lived for over a decade, proved crucial. The islands host 124 endemic plant species found nowhere else on earth, from the yellow-flowered "estepa Joana" to various cliff-dwelling varieties. These resilient plants, adapted to harsh coastal and mountainous conditions, became both subject and muse for the project. "These are discreet, silent inhabitants who are at the same time protagonists of our coasts and rocky landscapes," the artist notes. "I imagined gathering specimens to use as decoration… but I needed to design and mould specific artefacts for this purpose."
