‘FLOWER GIRL’ VASE BY ELIO SCHIAVON FOR ERHART SKK

A lovely hand painted vase in the form of a woman with flowers designed by Gunter Erhart and Elio Schiavon, and marked on the bottom with SKK HANDGEMALT (Südtiroler  Kunstkeramik Handmade) and the initials of the artists at the Schiavon factory who hand painted it. ELIO SCHIAVON was born in Arzergrande in the province of Padua in 1925.  He completed his studies at the School of Ceramic Art in Nove as a pupil of Andrea Parini.  When he moved with his family to Bassano del Grappa, he worked as an apprentice in the ceramic workshop of Luigi Zortea and completed his schooling at the Academy of Venice where he was a student of the architect Giorgio Wenter Marini.  In the early 1950s he married Linda Metta, who soon became a close collaborator, and he also began to distinguish himself in the competitions and exhibitions in which he participated - including the Venetian Biennale – with his own ceramic creations.  With the assistance of his wife, Schiavon started his own furnace in Padua in 19