Humus Volume One

Humus was a magazine about the culture, strategy and technology of ceramics published and distributed by Fondazione Iris Ceramica Group and edited by Gianni Sassi and Sergio Albergoni of the agency Al.Sa. The first issue was first published in April 1973 and came out every four months thereafter.
Humus was an unusual, forward-looking publication, a testimony to the open mindedness of the Iris Ceramica Group management. Six issues were published, and right from the start the magazine had very ambitious goals for a corporate publication, promoting in-depth visual and cultural research revolving around the ceramic material.
The editorial column in the first issue announced that the magazine’s goal was to “redefine ceramic”, which meant continually reviewing the material’s technical uses and its strategic aesthetic, urban planning, economic and “civic” uses. The broader goal was to address issues linked with the environment and its redesign in social terms and from the point of view of the quality of life. To do this, humus found its place in everyday life, with an elastic definition of the boundaries of its disciplines, oriented toward analysis of a variety of cultural phenomena.