Young Chang Lladro sculptures commemorate everything from...

Young Chang

Lladro sculptures commemorate everything from the very mundane to

the miracle of life itself.

One piece titled “Barrel of Blossoms” shows a woman in the

countryside pushing a barrel of blossoms.

“Heaven’s Lullaby,” shows a newborn baby sleeping in the vertical

arch of a crescent moon.

“A Cozy Fit” shows a kitten resting in an elegant, heeled boot.

“I think it’s the array of emotions they portray,” said Stacey

Rogner, general manager of the Bailey Banks & Biddle in South Coast

Plaza, which carries 200 Lladro pieces. “There is a piece of Lladro

for every special event in a person’s life.”

Some commemorate the past. A recent and ambitious work titled “A

Grand Adventure,” which will be unveiled at a reception at South

Coast Plaza on Friday, tributes the era of great steam trains. It is

almost five feet long, costs $35,000, took years to make and even

details the train’s gears and iron cranks.

“It’s an incredible piece with 14 different sculptures on it,”

said Lladro’s managing director Jose Luis Perez, from Spain. “It’s a

sculpture that celebrates the Victorian way of traveling ... for

Lladro, it is an opportunity to go back to the past to offer a

different vision of traveling.”

The Lladro brothers who founded the company, as well as president

Jose Lladro’s daughter, were all traveling last week and not

available for comment.

But Jose Lladro will visit South Coast Plaza during the unveiling

to sign all purchases, which can be arranged before the event or

during.

A look into the story of the Lladro empire sheds light on why the

collectibles carry a heavily family-driven theme.

Jose Lladro and his brothers Juan and Vincente founded the company

in the 1950s. They had each been trained as young boys in an art

school in Valencia and had each worked in porcelain factories, which

prepared them to run their own workshop.

“They found their business in the back patio of the home, the

equivalent of today’s garage, and they tried several aesthetic

approaches until they formed a new expression in porcelain that, 10

years later in the early ‘60s, started to be very appreciated first

in Spain and then in the United States,” Perez said.

That appreciation soon spilled into Central Europe, Australia and

the United Kingdom.

“The way the porcelain is made and the amount of hours and the

craftsmanship of the artists make them a collectible piece that will

increase in value,” Rogner said.

Classic themes include love, family and nature. More specifically,

the works tribute babies, fathers, grandfathers, mothers, Christmas,

dance, fantasy, pets, literature, religion, young lovers and much

more. There are pieces to celebrate everything from a wedding

anniversary to a high school graduation and even something as simple

as friendship.

Perez said the ‘60s and ‘70s brought about an international

“explosion” of distribution around the world.

“Today we cover 123 countries and even though the distribution is

more exclusive, we are proud to really reach people all over the

world,” he said. “Like the name of the sculpture, it’s a grand

adventure.”

Many Lladro clients become collectors.

Peter Pirzadeh, who buys most of his pieces from Macy’s Lladro

collection at South Coast Plaza, has more than 100 pieces. His

favorite is “The Gypsy Dancer.”

“It’s just one of those things that, to me, it’s sort of like a

state of mind,” the land development consultant said of Lladro works.

“You look at a piece and it sort of takes you away. It’s relaxing and

it’s pleasing to the eye. You look at it and lose yourself in the

scene.”