Sandra Davolio

Sandra Davolio has lived in Copenhagen, Denmark since 1974 and was born in Italy in 1951. She received her degree from the renowned Danish School of Design in 1985 and is the recipient of several prestigious awards and grants from institutions such as the Danish Art Foundation and the Queen Ingrid’s Roman Foundation at the Danish Academy in Rome.

Davolio’s sophisticated porcelain works and their organic and natural references are influenced by the Art Nouveau style, the keen interest in the mechanics of futurism, and the minimalist and linear approach typical to Scandinavian Design.

In the past 15 years, Davolio has positioned herself as an internationally renowned ceramicist. J. Lohmann Gallery discovered this talented artist in Europe in 2007 and introduced Davolio’s work to the United States in 2008. She has developed a unique oeuvre over several decades that is unparalleled. Her work conveys a deep connection to nature, and in particular to the sea. Davolio herself reveals that she “feels deep devotion and passion while working” and experiences “wonderful peaceful moments when creating something new from raw clay” with her hands.

The elaborate porcelain sculptures and vessels suggest organic biomorphic forms, mostly aquatic shapes like coral reefs and undulating leaves. A graduate of The Danish School of Design, Davolio is influenced by the minimalist design aesthetic in Copenhagen, as can be seen in many of the artist’s unique and artistically important creations, in which a series of concentric lamellas emanate from the central column of a vase. She also draws inspiration from the ceramic traditions of ancient Mediterranean cultures, including the Etruscans.

Davolio’s complex pieces were the subject of her solo show, A Coral Garden, at Design Miami in 2021, and are in the collections of New York’s Museum of Arts and Design and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, the Design Museum Denmark in Copenhagen, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, in Paris, and the Denver Art Museum, among others. In addition, examples of Sandra’s work are in important private art collections in the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Australia, and Asia.