Salto’s first attempt with stoneware takes place in 1929 in the ceramist Carl Halier’s (1873-1948) workshop ‘København’s Stentøjsbrænderi’. He worked closely with different workshops, acknowledging the knowledge of the potters and specialists. His ceramic works are categorized in three different styles; Rifled, Budding and Sprouting. The decorations started out as geometrical patterns, continued by an organic style with significant reflections on the power of nature ending with an almost expressionistic abstraction of natural elements. Other three-dimensional works show his interest in Greek mythology and animals, deer in particular, which directly connect his graphic work with the ceramic
For Axel Salto stoneware remained a lifelong mystery that had a deeper connection with life. Salto gave his works glazes which would gain shape and color in the kiln. He took advantage of the unpredictability of the glazes and strived for variations in the finished result from the fascination of the furnace’s influence on the glaze and clay. It can never be predicted how clay reacts during the firing and it was just this unpredictability which fascinated Salto, because the ceramics by this means came to life. He sought the glossy glazes in varying colors to embody the works with unique expression and to emphasize their shape.
Axel Salto’s ceramics embody a special decorative characteristic that contributed to the decoration of everyday life. Through his exuberant experiments with shapes and materials, he became known as the artist who managed to show the close ties between art and design. He was the artist who, with his works, managed to legitimize crafts and design. Salto’s art marks the renewal of the visual culture, where art is not only the work of art, but also the story of the work.
