The Treasures of ‘Jilly’s Jubilee’
“When we first moved here, I was designing greeting cards and prints, but what I always wanted was hand-painted designs on ceramics,” recalls Jilly Walsh. “So I started with trays. I took my trays and cards to the New York International Gift Fair, walked through the Italian section, and saw an exhibitor selling ceramics with […]
“When we first moved here, I was designing greeting cards and prints, but what I always wanted was hand-painted designs on ceramics,” recalls Jilly Walsh. “So I started with trays. I took my trays and cards to the New York International Gift Fair, walked through the Italian section, and saw an exhibitor selling ceramics with fish [depicted] on the plates. That was Salvatore Termini. It was 1986. I got to know him; soon we all went to Deruta [a hill town in Italy’s Umbria region], and he took us around to find the right factory, and that was the start of it. I launched soon after.”
Jilly began designing hand-painted Italian-style ceramics of all kinds. Today, these objects are collectibles. In 1996, Jilly sold her first business and in 2000 took up design work for Mariposa and Henri Bendel, among others. Now she’s launching her new line of ceramic designs, Jilly’s Jubilee (jillysjubilee.com): individually hand-painted majolica wares produced in Deruta, and yet another enterprise emerging from Bachelor Hall.
