Copy, Reproduction, and Mimesis: Remaking Ancient Ceramics Today

From the beginning of THETIS, one question has remained central: what does it mean to remake ancient ceramics today?

This is not only a technical matter. It is also an aesthetic, intellectual, and ethical one - one that stands, in its own way, between Plato and Aristotle. When an ancient vase or ceramic object is recreated in the present, is it simply being copied? Is it being reproduced? Or is the process closer to what the ancient world understood as mimesis?

These terms are often used as if they meant the same thing, but they do not.

A copy suggests the closest possible repetition of an original. A reproduction is broader: a new object based on an earlier one, sometimes for a different purpose or in a different context. Mimesis, however, is something richer. In the classical sense, it is not mere imitation in a mechanical sense, but a way of understanding and re-expressing the essence of a form.

This distinction has shaped the work of THETIS and ATTIC BLACK from the outset.

If THETIS emerged from scientific research and technical reconstruction, ATTIC BLACK became the creative retail expression of that same knowledge. Through ATTIC BLACK, the study of ancient Greek ceramics enters a more direct dialogue with the present — sometimes through Faithful Reproductions, and at other times through Creative Adaptations shaped by ancient forms, techniques, and aesthetic principles.

Neither THETIS nor ATTIC BLACK was created to serve the market for decorative “antique-style” objects. THETIS was founded in order to put into practice a body of knowledge that emerged through scientific research into the materials, techniques, and firing technologies of ancient Greek ceramics. ATTIC BLACK, in turn, carries that knowledge into contemporary life through a language of making grounded in study, process, and respect for ancient models.

In many other crafts — carpets, jewellery, glass, metalwork — traditional techniques remain alive across generations, while forms and styles evolve in dialogue with makers and clientele. Ancient Greek pottery, and Attic pottery in particular, presents a different case. By the end of the Hellenistic period, its distinctive technical tradition had largely come to an end, and much of the original know-how was lost.

For this reason, the remaking of ancient Greek ceramics is not simply the continuation of a living craft tradition. It involves the study and reconstruction of a broken one.

To remake an ancient ceramic piece seriously is not simply to repeat its outline. It means asking why it has that form, how its surface was achieved, how the clay behaves, what the firing process requires, and how shape, function, and decoration are brought into balance.

This is why Aristotle’s idea of mimesis remains so useful. For him, art did not merely repeat appearances. Through mimesis, the artist could reveal something essential about the thing represented — its form, order, and beauty.

At THETIS and ATTIC BLACK, both reproduction and creative reinterpretation are grounded in the same approach: not blind repetition, but study, understanding, and technical discipline. In that sense, mimesis can also contain authenticity — not through novelty, but through understanding, judgement, and conscious interpretation. The work carried out here is therefore not simply the production of copies, but a sustained dialogue with ancient ceramics through research, making, and repeated testing: a way of learning from ancient objects and approaching them in the present with respect and care.