Xavier Mañosa founded Apparatu just five years ago and, in that short space of time, he has become one of the most up and coming ceramicists of his generation. When he took that step, he was living in Berlin. Perhaps that distance helped him to finally dedicate himself to what he had seen his parents doing during his childhood and which he had rejected as an act of defiance during his training as an industrial designer. In his case, the most fascinating part is probably that it is a combination of the two – his perspective from a distance and his eagerness to experiment linked to his knowledge of his trade, drawn from his home background.

Until 2009, Mañosa had his creative base in Berlin, and then returned to the family workshop, located in an old industrial estate in Barcelona, where ceramic products for the building industry used to be produced. Nowadays, it is actually a focal point for antiques, which gives it a most inspiring atmosphere.

What fundamentally distinguishes Mañosa as a modern-day ceramicist is his boldness when it comes to combining different materials and to exploring new forms of expression. Furthermore Xavier Mañosa has from the onset put great importance into the way his work is presented, which is obviously a reflection of his training as a designer and the fact that he belongs to the ‘digital generation’. On the one hand, his work stands out as a brand and, on the other, he raises its prominence through his Web site and by participating in numerous exhibitions and promotional events both inside Spain and elsewhere.

Designs by Apparatu have been exhibited at contemporary design fairs and festivals in London, Frankfurt, Saint- Étienne, Tokyo, New York, México and Stockholm, as well as in Madrid and Barcelona.