Hello and Welcome!

Bonechi Imports is a family business. We are direct importers of authentic Italian pottery, also known as maiolica, majolica, or ceramics. We have been importing Italian pottery for over 30 years. We now have thousands of items to offer online. We encourage you to explore this site, which we have arranged so that you can browse and search in various ways.

Our relationships with our customers, clients, and artisans are of utmost importance. Our family always handles it, whether it be choosing the pottery in Italy, a phone conversation, an email, a post on social media, or packing the ceramics to be shipped. We also took all of the photographs you see on this site, including those of the maiolica and Italy.

Bonechi Imports was founded by two of us, Roberto Bonechi and Brita Holmquist. Roberto was born and raised in Florence, Italy. He grew up surrounded by beauty and the tradition of creating objects of utility and aesthetic elegance. Roberto moved to the United States in the early 1970s after meeting his wife, American artist, Brita Holmquist, who has designed some of the patterns you can find in our website’s Deruta section.

We have been importing Italian pottery into the United States as wholesalers since 1984. It began that year when the three of us visited family in Italy and brought home a few select pieces from Deruta to show to our friends and local stores. Our daughter, Lilias, was just two years old at the time. 

The first shipment was just three wooden crates. With the success and popularity of the first few pieces, we returned each year. We began expanding our search for both traditional and modern Italian ceramics further into the Umbrian region and Tuscany, Apulia, and Sicily.

Now, over 30 years later, as the second generation, Lilias, officially joins the company, we are excited to offer our beautiful lines of authentic handcrafted classical and contemporary Italian pottery to retail customers online. All the while, we still maintain business relationships with our wholesale customers, many of whom have been with us since the very beginning.

Because of our native fluency in the language and customs, we have established warm friendships and happy working relationships with the multiple artisans that supply us. Like Bonechi Imports, most artisans are family businesses, as the tradition is passed down from generation to generation. We have selected to work with only the most skilled talent to ensure museum-quality products.

About Bonechi Imports

We travel to Italy once or twice a year and choose the pieces personally. We work directly with artisans in towns known for their ceramics. While one can buy ceramics in nearly every town in Italy nowadays, there are only a few towns where the ceramics are actually handmade.

We receive a shipment once a year. Every shipment includes one of a kind pieces as well as production work. Because we are direct importers, we can offer our Italian ceramics at discounted prices.

We have thousands of products available online. We have made it possible for you to search our site by region, town, use, or pattern. Many of our pieces are one of a kind and some are old favorites.

We encourage you to read the About The Maiolica and Care section of this site for more information. We welcome any calls or emails with questions. We hope you enjoy our selection as much as we do.

– Roberto, Brita, and Lilias