Homo ludens

Per vivere liberi e felici, scrivevano i Padri della Chiesa, si deve sacrificare la noia: e non sempre è un facile sacrificio. Perché la noia porta con sé anche qualcosa di rassicurante, di scontato, di ripetitivo, che in questi tempi di incertezza sembra quasi consolarci. Ma la noia porta con sé pure malinconia, inerzia e disagio: caratteristiche molto contemporanee, purtroppo, e legate a quel vizio che sempre i Padri della Chiesa chiamavano “acedia”. Accidia, diciamo noi oggi: vedere il bene, avere la possibilità di essere felici, ma abbandonarsi alla noia per il timore di non farcela. O, come si dice con una felice metafora: per la paura di mettersi in gioco.

Il gioco è da sempre una metafora per tanti tipi di azioni: gli scacchi, in fondo, sono una prova di intelligenza tattica su un piccolo campo di battaglia. I giochi di carte sono spesso basati su strategie e astuzie. Quelli da tavola prevedono alleanze, previsioni, una certa spregiudicatezza. E tutti, in generale, comportano un fattore decisivo, soprattutto in questi tempi in cui i social media, anziché connetterci, ci isolano sempre più nei nostri micromondi: la relazione. Si può giocare da soli, come ci accadeva ogni tanto da bambini: ma giocare con qualcuno è sempre più bello, proprio perché – come ricorda la sapienza popolare – giocando si impara.

Lo sanno bene i matematici e gli economisti, che per lavorare sui loro complicati sistemi si rifanno spesso a quella che è universalmente nota come “teoria dei giochi”: e nel corso dei decenni sono stati ben undici gli economisti legati a questi “giochi”, certo meno spensierati dei nostri, che sono stati insigniti del Premio Nobel. Proprio perché il gioco è simulazione, proiezione, scambio: necessità di regole ma anche di fantasia, altrimenti non ci si diverte. E il gioco diventa una chiave molto seria, ma non priva di una certa leggerezza, per costruirsi la propria via nel mondo del lavoro: lo sanno bene non solo gli artisti, che con la dimensione del ludico descrivono la realtà in termini ironici, ma anche i maestri d’arte, che hanno acquisito una tale competenza tecnica da poter ormai dimenticare la fatica della mano, e godersi la felicità del fare.

Il lavoro non è un gioco: è impegno, a volte è addirittura sacrificio, e soprattutto è un’attività che stimola la nostra intelligenza e valorizza la nostra umanità. Non siamo insetti, ma esseri umani: trasformiamo creativamente il mondo intorno a noi per rappresentarci in esso in maniera consapevole. Ma per i maestri artigiani, il lavoro ha sempre la stimolante energia del ludus: giocare non per perdere tempo o per ingannare la noia, ma per sperimentare un modo più felice di agire, di migliorare, di guadagnarsi la vita, di dare a questa vita la giusta leggerezza che permette di sostenerne la gravitas, la parte seria (e non noiosa) che pure ci è necessaria. Proprio questo mantiene giovane il loro cuore, elastica la loro mente, vivaci i loro occhi.

Il mondo anglofono ha un solo verbo per indicare sia l’azione del giocare, sia quella del suonare, sia quella del recitare: play. In spagnolo, suonare si dice tocar: e mi piace questa vicinanza al tatto, al fare con le mani. In italiano abbiamo parole preziose e diverse, ma che sintetizzano le altre due tradizioni linguistiche proprio con il concetto di gioco: un momento in cui si inventa, si apprende, si crea qualcosa di bello e memorabile, e si vince la noia che rende tutto banale. «Vuoi giocare con me?» chiedono i bambini. I maestri artigiani non hanno mai smesso di chiederlo: ai materiali, alle tecniche, alla storia, ai clienti. Sta a noi rispondere, per fare in modo che questo ludus magnifico del ben fatto all’italiana possa sempre trovare giocatori entusiasti e appassionati. Cosa si vince? Molto semplice: la bellezza. C’è mai stato premio più ambito? •

Cavalli

We tend to assume that the act of playing is completely unfettered by any kind of convention. All too often, the more playful aspects of our lives are relegated to the scraps of time we manage to carve out in between our other obligations, which, by contrast, we define as serious. But playing is, in fact, a very serious business, which calls for rules and imagination in order to unfold its evocative and even educational potential.

Not only is it important to be familiar with the rules, respecting them and being able to change them. At times, knowing how to add a touch of irreverent creativity and smart irony to our playful interactions also means that we can transform playfulness into a highly evolved system of communication. Because to entertainment (which is necessary to keep attention levels high), it introduces an element of knowledge and acquisition of skills. So much so that true masters say that we actually learn by having fun. This fun can also be provocative, but it always requires the freedom to choose the moves we make. Indeed, being free does not only mean that we are not subject to someone who tyrannises us. Above all, it means that we are entitled to choose, that we are allowed to express our natural inclination, that we have an alternative. Craftsmanship, namely the activities that enable us to transform matter creatively and consciously, generating something extraordinary entirely with our own hands, is no longer a necessity. Yet we feel that we cannot live without it. Because when we make something “manually”, we are not just performing an action, we are enjoying it. We feel fulfilled. We are happier, and therefore more cheerful (and perhaps more playful).

This issue of Mestieri d’Arte & Design, dedicated to the theme of playfulness, is an invitation to always appreciate and pursue the extraordinary freedom to choose, to create an alternative path and be bold enough to play with ideas, techniques and materials, mastering a craft to express new meanings that will always refresh the way we perceive things and reactivate our minds.

Playfulness is an important component of contemporary art and a metaphor for the belligerent nature of human beings, but also for the way we relate to one another. This playfulness is represented by the master craftspeople and designers selected for this issue in a somewhat unexpected way. You will read genuine stories of people who have succeeded in turning their passion for “playing” into a code that has helped them to break away from banality, to rediscover the joy of making things.

Fornasetti’s surreal and at the same time familiar evocations, Dalisi’s geometric games, the irony of everyday life that Manuela Crotti imbues with enchantment, Betti’s fairy-tale constructions. And again, the handmade games “for grown-ups” that convey the preciousness of shared moments, the kaleidoscope of colours of mixologists, the protean beauty of Van Cleef & Arpels jewellery, and the dialogues between craftspeople and designers that we will showcase at the Salone del Mobile though the Doppia Firma project. To rediscover the power of adopting a playful approach to our lives involves understanding the brave choice all these masters have made: namely, to take responsibility for transforming their lives, and their work, into a game of chess played against themselves, their talents, and the rules of the game. So that the element that still makes the Mona Lisa fascinating - her smile - always returns to our faces.

Enjoy your reading!

At the end of the 1970s, when I first saw the young apprentices in the workshops of Salento potters making painted terracotta whistles, it dawned on me that one could actually “play whilst making objects to play with”. Those whistles were made by the inexperienced but imaginative hands of children who were in the process of learning a craft. The toys were meant to be sold on market stalls during local festivals festooned with bright lights, and were given as a gift to children taking part in a collective event full of fun and games. Those early experiences in the workshops would then continue to evolve, leading the apprentices towards the potter’s profession, which, over time, preserved the pleasure of play, from the manipulation of the material to the finished object. I have always written about artistic craftsmanship as an activity that produces objects that are not necessarily functional, but are nonetheless rich in meaning, related to the many cultures and traditions that have evolved and renewed over the course of time. But I always forgot to add that these works are produced, above all, through a practice where the artisan is the one who knows how to handle the material, and does so with the skill and passion of a juggler.

Anyone who has had the chance to see a master glassblower at work will have witnessed in awe how in one hand he holds a long metal cane with molten glass just out of the furnace, while the other hand moulds the glowing mass with two long tongs and quick movements. In the space of mere seconds, he creates an amphora decorated with frilly edges. The onlooker has not only witnessed the creation of a work of art, but also the physical and playful workmanship of the artisan-artist. The object embodies all these characteristics, conveying them to those who will later own it, thereby enabling them to participate in their own way and keep the playful and spectacular dimension of his creation alive.

Again, it is the child who enables us to see and understand the relationship we often develop with the objects we are most attached to. Watching a little girl playing with her dolls, and seeing how she treasures them to enjoy them again as an adult, is comparable to the practice of using shelves, display cabinets, bookcases in our homes... places where we keep our cherished objects on show. Objects that communicate all the artistic and practical value of a handcrafted work, but also their playful nature.

With the progressive disappearance of almost all the rituals related to the use of objects (which we now find in many second-hand markets) and the huge quantity of consumer goods, in addition to the exponential growth in imageobjects that fill our electronic devices in an increasingly vast and indiscriminate manner, we are forgetting the playful nature of objects, a dimension pertaining both to those who produce them and to those who own them.

As a result, we are possibly losing the most important aspects of our relationship with meaningful objects: from the one that takes us back to our infancy, to the gift that fills us with surprise and joy, to the cherished object with which we spent the best days of our childhood.

Eduardo Alamaro

Playfulness is a very serious matter, as we all know. In a society based on global goods, being playful is one of the most effective ways to get straight to the heart and wallet of consumers. This has indeed been the case since the first Great Exhibition, held in London in 1851, which radically changed the very application of the arts and crafts. Queen Victoria’s London became the metropolitan setting for the first large-scale experiment in simplification, of an approach that turned everything into a “game”. By comparison, the fashion/ design objects of the late 20th century that characterised what is known as “Milano da bere” (Ed. a term that describes the vibrant and hedonistic Milanese social life in the 1980s) was merely art tinged with madness.

But everything comes at a cost. In Paris, also in 1851, it was architecture, the mother of all arts, that was put aside. Prince Albert, the universal mastermind, preferred the practical art of his gardener, whom he called to design the Crystal Palace, a display-case for Her Majesty’s global goods. And not only that. The botanical greenhouses of the King’s gardener became the conceptual and tangible model of a universal simplification that is effective, quick, easy to assemble and dismantle. Sheer genius, which is still in progress. This was followed soon after by the furniture and practical items of the travelling American pioneers, who were the great novelty of the modern age. Still in Paris, in 1889, engineer Eiffel’s steel tower was erected, surpassing in height the spires of Notre Dame.

The sky was no longer the limit. God was dead, and Saint Joseph the craftsman was also on his deathbed: indeed, after that knockout, sacred art was never to rise again. Everything became fast and disposable.

Naturally, and rightly so, this trend met the resistance of high-quality British taste, represented first and foremost by Ruskin and Morris. But the great universal all-crushing blender was set in motion, mixing customs and traditions, tastes and dislikes, north and south, different and sometimes opposing cultures and heritage. All there waiting to be betrayed, translated and updated. This spectacular and far-reaching journey led right up to Monet’s Japanese waterlilies, then to Freud’s interpretation of dreams, followed by the discovery of the primitive world and of the heightened reality of the surreal object applied to communication and political and commercial propaganda. A veritable cornucopia!

In Italy, the applied art that captured most effectively this landmark transition is perhaps children’s literature, which inherited the blend of oral and manual elements from the East and the West: from flying carpets to Aladdin’s lamp of the fabulous Thousand and One Nights of the crafts. Ultra-luxurious applied arts are designed, as always, to make us dream, to make us fly. Augustus, the emperor who triumphed at Actium, requested - in accordance with the law - only “a bowl made of sardonyx, chalcedony and agate, with several figures inside and a Gorgon’s head on the outside”. It became known as the magical Farnese Cup, a masterpiece of Hellenistic glyptic art, now at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples. Utterly enchanting, even better than Cleopatra!

In this fascinating and fairy-tale connection arises the genius of Collodi, Carlo Lorenzini’s nom de plume: he made up the story of Mastro Geppetto the carpenter and of Pinocchio, his mischievous wooden puppet-son. To this day, a cornerstone of the very concept of craftsmanship in the general public. Lorenzini-Collodi was well acquainted with the artistic manufactories through his brother Paolo, who managed the Ginori factory. Thanks to this, he personally took part in the revolutionary climate of the Great Universal Exhibitions. In 1867, for example, while in Paris he saw, heard, understood and wrote his fairy tale on craftsmanship in his own Florentine style, repackaging and reinventing it as an art for children (and adults, too). Onto this tale he grafted a magical handcrafted object that was fabulous, miraculous and absolutely unprecedented. Bingo! That highly successful fairy tale proved so beautiful and convincing that to this day it continues to conquer hearts and minds. For those who believe in it, of course. The end.

ALBUM

Stefania Montanari

Akhal Tekè

Corso Como 10, Milan

Akhal Tekè is a collection of charming shoes adorned with handmade embroidery, in keeping with this time-honoured Italian art, all made using the special slip-lasting technique from Bologna known as “a sacchetto”. The venture was established in 2015 by Benedetta Bolognesi and Gaia Ghetti, two young friends who, fascinated by the exquisite ornaments typical of the Turkmen tribe, wanted to reproduce them on a variety of shoe models. So, they set to work, assisted by a small workshop where their designs come to life. “We named our business after Akhal-Teke, the horse of the Turkmen tribe that, according to legend, was mounted by emperors and amazons and whose coat was so smooth that it seemed to be made of silk,” Gaia explains. “The Turkmen live in the heart of the Karakum desert, in the prosperous Teké oasis deep inside the Akhal Valley. They are renowned for their stunning embroidery and jewellery, which they also use to decorate the finishes donned by their horses. Even in the past, these precious ornaments have inspired many collections of unique and timeless creations.” Drawing inspiration from these decorative elements, Gaia and Benedetta, who had previously gained experience working in the shoe industry, started to design their own carpet slippers. “Since the first model we made reproduced the bridle decorations of the legendary horse, we decided to name our collection after it,” continues Gaia. “All our embroideries are handmade. Velvet, silk, satin and linen are embellished with gems, beads, metallic yarns, threads and raffia, using exclusively hand-embroidery stitches. We produce many footwear models. Some are flat, such as the carpet slippers, sabots, ballerinas and boots. Others have a medium or low heel, such as the pumps, boots and cowboy boots. For the ballerinas we use the slip-lasting ‘a sacchetto’ method: the leather is applied separately, then slipped on like a glove and closed over the foot like a pouch. The upper part of the shoe is completely seamless and guarantees maximum flexibility and softness.” This is an age-old technique, typical of traditional Bolognese workmanship. “We also devised a solution for additional comfort by equipping the shoe with a latex cushion under the heel,” concludes Gaia.

10corsocomo.com/akhal-teke-shoes

Antonia Sautter

San Marco 1286 Frezzaria (Venice)

Tel. +39 041 5232662

Antonia Sautter’s passion for the history of costume, textiles and traditional production methods, together with her love for craftsmanship, have contributed to making her a world-famous and acclaimed Italian excellence. In her atelier, located in the heart of Venice, age-old hand-dyeing and printing techniques transform silks and velvets into extraordinary dresses, bags, shoes, kimonos, clothing and home accessories. “I started making costumes from an early age, having learnt dressmaking from my mother,” says the talented artist. “I loved sewing. I used to work in the attic of our family home in San Tomà, in Venice, where the dressmaking atelier is still situated to this day. I have never really understood whether my creativity was influenced by my dreams, or the other way round. In any case, what started as a childhood game ended up determining the course of my whole life.” After graduating from Ca’ Foscari University and working for a few years in New York in the fashion industry, she returned to Venice where she opened her atelier and launched her fashion range called Venetia. Her work soon evolved, however, and she started to create events under the name Antonia Sautter Creations & Events. The common thread throughout her work took the form of fantastical stories, exquisite costumes and sets inspired by the Thousand and One Nights. In 1994, this culminated in the creation of the Ballo del Doge, the international Venice Carnival gala. “I discovered the magic of recreating bygone eras while collaborating with Terry Jones, who was working on a historical documentary on the Crusades for the BBC. That journey into Venice’s past fascinated me to the point that I wanted to evoke those distant atmospheres, such as the sumptuous banquets of the 18th century. This is how the Ballo del Doge came to be, and this year marks its 30th anniversary. For this event I make all the clothes not only for the hundredodd performers, but also for my customers. I also create the sets, assisted by experts in the field, selecting the subjects and the wooden backdrops, which are all hand-painted, just like they would be for a theatrical performance. A whole year’s work for a dream that lasts only one night,” the designer reveals. “In 1999, I had the honour of being chosen by Stanley Kubrick to make the masks used in his last masterpiece, Eyes Wide Shut.” Antonia has received countless awards, including that of Cavaliere della Repubblica Italiana, to acknowledge her achievements in the fields of literature, the arts and the economy. antoniasautter.it

Cosimo De Vita

Via de’ Bardi 30, Florence Tel. +39 393 2841149

His great-grandfather used to make armchairs for cinema theatres in the 1920s, his grandfather was an architect, and his father was a decorator. With this background, Cosimo De Vita was undoubtedly born into the arts, and has breathed creativity since childhood. “I came to realise that I can’t get away from this profession. Every time I have tried or even thought of doing something else, I always ended up coming back. One afternoon after work, for instance, I was sitting on the steps of the Santo Spirito Basilica when an idea came to me that I immediately turned into a design: the backrest of a chair inspired by the architecture of the church. This is how the Cityng project was born: a range of monumental seats that express sharing and belonging, consisting of 16 chairs that represent the world’s most iconic monuments,” says the young artisan. “I consider myself an ‘artisaner’, part artisan and part designer. My practice is aimed at transforming an everyday object into a metaphysical creation by merging memory and experience into the design. The chair thus becomes a symbolic object, incorporating the city and its values. Cityng is a journey between East and West, between tradition and modernity. The chairs are handcrafted from solid wood and decorated by a numerically-controlled pantograph,” Cosimo explains.

His workshop, a charming and spacious basement in Florence’s Via de’ Bardi, treasures all the tools that Cosimo uses to make his chairs. To finish the backrests, he collaborates with the company Savio Firmino. This is how he creates the domes of San Marco’s Basilica, the façades of Santo Spirito, Santa Maria Novella, Santa Croce and San Lorenzo, the pinnacles of a minaret, the silhouettes of Chinese pagodas. “Each chair is unique and can be modified and customised to the clients’ request,” says Cosimo. His story originates in Florence, and combines a great passion with originality and contemporaneity. Cosimo De Vita was hosted by Rossana Orlandi at the Salone del Mobile. cosimodevita.com

Crizu

Corso Magenta 31, Genova

Tel. +39 338 8366521

An interplay of folds arranged to form amusing artistic paper sculptures. An inspiration that was hatched by pure chance, in a New York gallery, while admiring a Chinese book that had been cut out and turned into a sculpture. This is how the adventure of Crizu began, an artistic workshop established in Genoa some 20 years ago by Cristina Corradi Bonino, a skilled paper restorer, who decided to concentrate on the metamorphosis of books, which have always been her great passion. Cristina’s daughter Anna Bonino now runs the business, having taken over the baton of this wonderful project. Skilled in the techniques she was taught by her mother and driven by the same passion, Anna continues to create these magnificent unique pieces with remarkable talent. In the atelier, she takes care of the pleating and “styling” of the books, while two skilled artisans make the wooden bases and the plexiglass cases to display each creation. “It’s very inspiring to work on the metamorphosis of volumes that are bound to be destroyed and bring them back to life in a new guise, whilst preserving their integrity,” the artisan explains. “We don’t cut or ‘mutilate’ them. We just fold them, so that each volume becomes a sculpture, a lamp, a piece of furniture. All the pages are individually folded by hand with skill and patience, until the old volume is transformed into a new and magnificent paper sculpture.” Old handbooks and encyclopaedias are brought back to life in the form of sophisticated designer objects. “Even though the form changes, the book remains intact: you can still read and flick through it. Or you can just admire its metamorphosis into a renewed designer and artistic object, so poetic in its simplicity.” A couple of years ago, these sculptural books were complemented by a limited-edition jewellery range of earrings and necklaces, consisting of pages alternating with a variety of materials such as pearls, semi-precious stones and crystals. “In order to repurpose also single pages, we have recently started to create flower petals,” Anna Bonino concludes. Crizu creations are all entirely handmade inside the atelier. Needless to say, they are one-off pieces just like the books of which they are made. “These objects,” says Anna, “are full of memories and they become more and more beautiful as time goes by. Folding pages is a bit like merging elements of history, culture and beauty in the finished piece.” crizu.it

Denis Buosi

Piazza Beccaria 6, Varese

Tel. +39 0332 241227

Buosi store and B-Academy

Via Baracca 18, Venegono Superiore (Varese)

Tel. +39 0331 857492

Denis Buosi is an accomplished pastry chef who has specialised in the creation of confectionery and chocolate products, thus developing with increasing success the business his parents started in 1958. The recipient of numerous international awards, he has also established the Buosi Academy in Venegono Superiore, in the province of Varese, to pass on his skills to the next generation and, first and foremost, to his sons Andrea and Lorenzo, who have already distinguished themselves in the culinary empyrean. “In our laboratory, we select Italy’s finest products, such as almonds from Val di Noto, pistachios from Bronte, hazelnuts and chestnuts from Piedmont,” Denis explains. “Our pastry products are made only with the highest quality ingredients, carefully selected and blended, without hydrogenated vegetable oils, chemical flavourings or any preservatives. We also do our best to showcase the local area by using typical foodstuffs and ingredients, such as peaches from Monate and milk and cream from Varese’s central dairy.” Aside from his work in the field of confectionery and teaching, Denis has another passion, which is most definitely playful. The Master Chocolatier delights in creating shapes and forms in milk or dark chocolate, ranging from animals to cars, from coats of arms to letters of the alphabet. Denis has also created the Giocolato range, containing games such as checkers, chess, the Formula One track and work tools entirely made of chocolate. In addition to these, Buosi also makes custom-made boxes with chocolate letters to compose sweet words to give as a gift. Denis Buosi’s creativity knows no bounds: his subjects include everything from Christmas to Easter, Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, and even chocolate salami. “Any shape can be made out of chocolate: a company logo, an object or a clothing accessory.... All you have to do is create a mould, choose your favourite type of chocolate and the item is done!” The courses he organises in his spacious workshop are addressed also to children who, after the lesson, can enjoy tasting the designs they have made. buosi.it

Villa Milano

Via San Carpoforo 21, Milano

Tel. +39 02 804279

Villa Milano is a well-established goldsmith’s shop offering outstandingly elegant jewellery, including many made using the famous “Villa mesh”, a weave of gold threads patented by Giuseppe, son of the ingenious Benvenuto, great-great-grandfather of the current owners, who started the business in 1876. A goldsmith, sculptor and alchemist of great renown, Benvenuto took part in the great World's Fairs of the period with his jewellery and sculptural creations, winning a gold medal at the Paris Expo of 1889 with his modular cube sculpture in silver, which was very modern for that time. From generation to generation, the family’s artistic flair has never died out. Today, Marco’s daughters Alice and Francesca Villa, who represent the fifth generation, continue the family tradition with unabated passion. The boutique was recently relocated from its historical seat in Via Manzoni to Via San Carpoforo, in

Milan’s Brera district. In the workshop, inaugurated in 2021, visitors can admire the master goldsmiths who, armed with the tiny tools of the trade, craft wonderful bracelets, rings, brooches and necklaces, many of which are custommade, featuring exquisite gems. Amongst the most striking creations that continue to characterise the jewellery are the cufflinks “with a thousand faces.” Made of gold and semi-precious stones, they feature many different subjects: the enamelled snout of a dachshund or a pug dog in bone, animals of all sorts in engraved and carved semi-precious stones, an ivy leaf, a sphere decorated and painted like a geographical map, angels, shells, golf balls and sails. Aluminium, geodes, lava stone fossils, meteorites have also been recently introduced into the collection. Cufflinks of all shapes and materials that are creative, ironic, playful, yet elegant and refined, made in such a variety of subjects and techniques that it is truly challenging to make a choice. villa.it

Largo

Tel. +39 057 5410330

For over 50 years, Giovanni Raspini has been creating precious artefacts in Tuscany, his beloved homeland, assisted by expert craftspeople. His jewels and charms, which are all crafted in his workshops, stand out not only for their originality but also for that touch of playfulness and irony that characterise his production. These include bracelets with crocodiles, charms with frogs, brooches with crabs and photo frames studded with daisies. “When I decided to change the style of my production, in the early 1990s, I created the Margherita frames. I had no idea that I would meet with such success,” the designer reveals. Thus, the dialogue between Italy’s goldsmithing tradition and his desire to continuously present new designs is nurtured in his creative workshops, resulting in new artefacts obtained through the use of fire and the skilful hands of his artisans. “In our workshops we transform ideas into jewellery,” continues Raspini. “We create our objects by hand using age-old processes, first and foremost the lost-wax technique. In jewellery making, an idea is like the wind of intuition, a daydream. It is unique and cannot be repeated. To me, creating a piece of jewellery is like carving a miniature sculpture, wellbalanced and perfect in every detail.” Raspini recounts his past: “The 1990s were a time of great change for the company, which was established in 1972. Charms, tableware and desktop silverware have become increasingly important in our brand’s range of products, which include some decorative items such as the Margherita frames, which perfectly embody the company’s style, to the point of becoming a best-seller not just in Italy.” However, it was in the new millennium that the company’s transformation really got underway. Giovanni Raspini began to design and produce jewellery that, following an evolution that originated with charms, developed into more elaborate models. The silver and gold-plated jewellery began to take on a variety of playful and perfect designs, from different dog breeds to lizards, from panthers to frogs and ducks, from ladybirds to four-leaf clovers and snowflakes. Unique and precious creations, born from an extraordinary combination of craftsmanship imbued with wit and Italian-made quality. Giovanni is flanked by his daughter Costanza and Claudio Arati, his associate and alter-ego, who shares his same passion. Always sensitive to cultural initiatives, Raspini promotes exhibitions on goldsmithing traditions and numerous events aimed at supporting and promoting Italian craftsmanship. giovanniraspini.com

Judith Sotriffer

Strada Pedetliva 18, Ortisei (Bolzano)

Tel. +39 333 4606593 giocolegnovalgardena.com

Judith Sotriffer is a talented craftswoman who has decided to revive an ancestral craft that her village, Ortisei, has been famous for since the 17th century.

“In past centuries, almost all the inhabitants of Val Gardena were woodworkers, which was the primary source of income in an area rich in forests,” Judith explains. “Many specialised in carving and making toys that were sold, with great success, in markets and fairs in many cities, also abroad. The dolls from Val Gardena were famous even in Holland, and the Childhood Museum at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum has some 130 on display, including 12 dolls that belonged to Queen Victoria. Right next to Covent Garden there is a shop that used to sell Val Gardena dolls in those days and still does to this day!” The daughter of an artist and of the owner of a historic toy shop in Ortisei, Judith Sotriffer was brought up appreciating beauty. “I have always been fascinated by these toy-sculptures, so I decided to revive our long-standing tradition, which thrived until the 1930s, when cellulose dolls and plush toys appeared, and supplanted wooden toys. We had a few doll specimens at home: I started to take them apart, to find out how they were made. I researched and studied their history in books, eventually opening a workshop in 1985 and setting to work.” Upon entering the workshop, one is immediately enveloped by the smell of glue and pinewood. On the shelves sit countless Pinocchios, little horses and smiling, round-faced, slender dolls of all sizes, all handmade one by one. The workbenches are full of gouges, files, rasps, chisels, brushes, tins of paint and glue. And a lathe for turning the wood. Sporting black hair and shoes, white socks and blue eyes, each Val Gardena doll consists of no less than 17 parts. Judith carves each piece before painting and fixing the colours with varnish, and assembles the parts to create her unique dolls. Orders come in from all over the world, from America to Sweden, and as far as Australia and New Zealand. “The doll is not just a toy, it is a friend you can confide in. It is a child’s first approach to playfulness, the first artform that makes them think, stimulating their imagination. It is like a beloved amulet, known since Etruscan times, to be held close to one’s heart: with a pinch of magic,” Judith Sotriffer concludes with a smile.

L’Arcolaio

Via Giovanni Fabbri

Zona Industriale Sant’Atto

64100 Teramo

Tel. +39 0861 587095

Olga, Chiara and Mariana Perticara are three sisters who have inherited from their grandfather Antonio not only the company with its dozen looms, but also a passion for weaving and a penchant for natural fibres, Jacquard designs and refined textile products. “Even though we have a 70-year family tradition behind us,” explains Olga, “my sisters and I enjoy pushing boundaries and experimenting with different techniques such as embroidery, dyeing and printing, with the goal of creating something original. Jacquard fabrics belong to our DNA, but we love textiles of all kinds, provided they are original and sustainable. We work with linen, cotton, hemp and wool.” L’Arcolaio’s latest creations include the cypress trees of the Val d’Orcia. “At first they were made on a loom with many different weaves, in an attempt to replicate their uniqueness. A few years later, they became almost stylised embroideries, to render their silhouettes against the horizon. Last year we also started printing them, but always in Jacquard, on the historic Pienza cloth.” L’Arcolaio offers a wide range of products: the Identity range experiments with Jacquard constructions and various dyes; in the Ambienti Italiani range, the artisans take pleasure in portraying impressions of our beautiful nation using Jacquard or embroidered fabrics; and the Alma line, conceived in the spring of 2020, which translates into fabric the urge for lightness in contrast to the gloom of that historical moment. The decorations that adorn their tablecloths and towels include giant octopuses, beach umbrellas, fish and mermaids, deer, starfish and women’s faces. A playful universe designed to bring a cheery touch to their customers’ homes, and which can also be made to measure. “It’s always fascinating to see how new and original ideas can emerge simply by weaving threads in different ways,” concludes Olga. “We literally reworked what our grandfather used to create: using the same warp and weft, we try to give it a contemporary twist. Over the years, we have had the privilege of crossing paths with artists of rare insight, such as Elisabetta Bovina and Carlo Pastore of Elica Studio, and Monica Zani. These collaborations have resulted in many new patterns for our fabrics.” larcolaio.it

10 Avenue Junot, Paris

Tel. +33 06 24484933

Always on the move, Ottavia Moschini is a young decorator brimming with ideas and initiative. Equipped with brushes and paint, she manages to transform the most anonymous rooms into dreamlike environments. She has worked in castles in Austria, Bavaria and France and homes in Milan, in grand hotels in Paris, Florence and Venice and country estates in Tuscany and Soho (New York). In 2007, she directed the Lebanese pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale. “I was always passionate about drawing,” Ottavia tells us. “Even as a child, I used to copy oil paintings and decorate porcelain. Later, thanks to the years I spent restoring works by Mantegna in Maestro Melli’s workshop, studying at the Van Der Kelen-Logelain school in Belgium and eventually taking specialised courses at the Royal Academy in London, I gradually worked out what I really wanted to do.” Now that her technical skills have been enriched and honed by experience, the skilled decorator can not only create any decoration on walls, fabrics, paper, but also advise on the most appropriate designs to make a house more harmonious. “’My work is very playful,” she explains. “The very fact of transforming walls, of creating optical effects that deceive the eye, carries within it a pinch of playful irony. Decoration is also much appreciated by children, who are sometimes the recipients of my paintings. We often ‘break through the walls’ by painting entire forests, or greenhouses full of exotic plants: it’s a way of playing with our habitat by recreating it in a different scale. After discussing the project with the client and developing the sketch, I paint directly on the walls or on paper, without outlining the design first. This allows me to be more spontaneous. Many of my works are now executed on paper panels so that they can be moved to different locations,” Ottavia concludes. “It’s not just my job, but also a game,” admits the talented craftswoman with a smile. She has just finished creating elaborate designs, containing all kinds of vegetation and insects, on silk curtains that will replace the weather-worn ones originally designed by architect Mongiardino. And perhaps this is the secret of her success: living art as a game that brings joy. ottaviamoschini.com

Studio Elica

Via

Tel. +39 348 3825919

For almost forty years, curiosity has been the driving force that has inspired them to experiment with materials and shapes, creating designs and decorations across the most diverse fields of design and craftsmanship. Elisabetta Bovina and Carlo Pastore first met in Faenza, at the Scuola Superiore di Ceramica. Their partnership, involving both their work and personal lives, has never stopped growing since. Their headquarters are located in a historical wine shop in the centre of Bologna: the signboard, dating back to 1928, still bears the name La Vinicola. Beyond the front door are a succession of bigger and smaller rooms where the different phases of their ceramic creations take place: the four high-temperature kilns where the objects are fired, the lathes where the clay is modelled, the work tables where the decorations are painted. “We often hold events in the cellars, as well as collective exhibitions of artists and performances. That’s because we enjoy experimenting and are in love with all materials, never obsessing over just one. Our work is the way in which we express ourselves and tell stories. Some of our creations are inspired by the traditional Neapolitan Smorfia game. Our idea is to use a pop icon like the heart reinterpreting it with anatomical and strongly Italian references.” Visitors to their spacious workshop can admire their heart-shaped vases featuring arteries for water and flowers. Along with feet, hands and other parts of the human body, revisited with great skill, imagination and a pinch irony by these extraordinary designers and master artisans. Carlo Pastore, a true artist of the brush, is skilled in decoration, while Elisabetta takes care of the actual production of the objects. Their customers are citizens of the world: from Japan to the USA, from the United Arab Emirates to northern Europe. elicastudio.it

Unusual Bouquet

Via del Montano 24, Giulianello (Latina)

Tel. +39 347 8648041

“I always wanted to be an artist, even as a little girl. I loved drawing, but life took me down a very twisted path before I could find my true calling.” These are the words of Jessica Ciaffarini, a young master artisan endowed with an extraordinary creativity, who manages to craft wonderful bouquets without cutting a single flower. “I respect and love nature to such an extent that I cannot conceive cutting flowers that would die after a few hours,” Jessica reveals in her bright atelier in Giulianello, an ancient village in the province of Latina, very close to the Castelli Romani. “After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts and photography school, I started taking courses in the Japanese technique called Somebana, as well as becoming familiar with ‘modelling Fommy’, a very lightweight plasticine that is easy to mould. I gradually started to bring my flowers to life, and not only to adorn dresses and hats, as was the fashion in the 19th century, but also to craft custom-made bouquets for brides.” Roses, camellias, peonies, liliums and green leaves: her flowers are so full of different shades of colour and delicate petals that they look as if they have just been picked. Completely handmade in her workshop, they are painted with natural pigments and fashioned into wonderful shapes. “I use mainly high-quality fabrics from haute couture ateliers, or recycled from companies committed to limiting their impact on our environment. Just as often, they can be scraps of fabric that I cut out and reinvent in other forms.” Jessica also specialises in paper wedding bouquets made from high-quality paper sourced from suppliers that produce in an environmentally friendly way. Thus, her creations are not only aesthetically beautiful, but also playful and sustainable. Francesco Russotto, an established photographer, is Jessica Ciaffarini’s partner in life and work: together they create splendid pictures with floral compositions, also to celebrate special occasions. bouquetalternativi.it

Andrea Tomasi

From a very early age, Maurizio Betti had it clear in his mind that he would live his life in harmony with nature. “I didn’t like going to school. As soon as classes were over, I would run home, throw my satchel on the floor and go out to play in the fields, regardless of the season. And I would spend spring and summer swimming in the river, or with my grandfather, who used to work as a gardener in the villas of wealthy people, where I’d collect leaves and watch the birds, which were my passion right from the start. When he was digging the soil, grandpa would hand me some clay and tell me: ‘Maurizio, make me a gazot,’ which in our dialect means sparrow. And I’d sit there modelling one with my hands.”

At the age of 15, thanks to his father Pasquale, a restorer of antique vases at the Municipal Museum of Rimini, Betti found a job in an artisan workshop making stucco and plaster decorations. “Except for a brief interlude as a self-employed artisan, I ended up staying there until I turned 40, when I understood the time had come to start something of my own.” The turning point was triggered by a woman who belonged to the same cultural association that Maurizio attended in his free time. Like him, she was a decorator. A personal and professional partnership was established between them, which continues to this day. “So it was that in 2000 Loredana and I set up our atelier La Bottega di Betti. Initially we stayed in the groove of our respective crafts, dealing mainly with interior decoration. Then we started making our first wooden furniture. I was in charge of the framework, Loredana of the exterior parts. Until one of our customers came to us with a small parrot that his parents no longer wanted at home.”

This was a watershed, though Maurizio and Loredana didn’t know it at the time. The two artisans had already made rudimentary “houses” for the birds nesting in their garden, but not with the same attention to detail that they put into their furniture. “We didn’t want to confine the bird inside an ugly metal cage. We wanted it to have a comfortable shelter that would also be a beautiful object to look at. The result convinced me that this could be a new line of work for us, so in 2008 we started exhibiting some of our nests at trade fairs. Unfortunately, they did not prove a hit right away, but we didn’t let this put us off. Eventually, we received a phone call from a lady in Milan who had seen our work displayed in Rimini. She asked us if we could scale it up and create an aviary for her.”

Loredana set about designing it, while Maurizio handled the carpentry. After a few months, the outcome was so rewarding that it encouraged them to create another one to sell. “That’s how we realised that there was a tangible interest. You have to bear in mind that it takes at least two months to make a simple model, for a more complex one even twice as long. That’s why we don’t really need that many orders, because we wouldn’t be able to manage them anyway.”

Time is key in Maurizio and Loredana’s work, not least because their aviaries are proper homes designed with their inhabitants’ comfort in mind. The water is changed constantly, there are lights so that the birds don’t stay in the dark more than they normally would in their natural environment, there are heating lamps for the coldest days, and structures with which the birds can play. “Our main concern when we tackle a new project is their well-being. I believe that birds should live free in their own habitat, but so long as it is legal to sell exotic animals, we might as well offer those who can afford it the opportunity to ditch their metal cages for something more beautiful and spacious.”

Spacious but certainly not as roomy as the Studiolo Ornitologico (Ornithological small studio) that the creative duo from Sant’Arcangelo di Romagna presented at the second edition of Homo Faber. An imposing project (2.80 metres in height, 1.95 in width and 1.2 in depth), which took over six months to complete and that to date represents their masterpiece. “I actually lost sleep over that aviary! There were days when I’d look at Loredana and ask her: ‘Did we go too far this time? Will we be able to make such a big wooden dome?’ In the end we succeeded, but when we arrived in Venice to install it on site, another apprehension crossed my mind: how do we, simple woodworkers, fit in with internationally renowned glass and ceramics artists? Beyond the fact that Homo Faber contributed to raising our profile and generating interest in potential customers, the one thing that moved and gratified us most was to be considered as artists.”

The success in Venice was followed by Fondazione Cologni’s MAM (Master of Arts and Crafts) award, an accolade that represents a new milestone for Maurizio. “I’m already thinking about our next challenge. I’d like to collaborate with a designer to create a completely different aviary, with more contemporary features. A true designer piece demonstrating the versatile nature of the object.” A test which, we are confident, the boy who used to make sparrows out of clay will pull off once again.

Marina

Jonna

The name of Fornasetti evokes unconventional, tongue-in-cheek and thoughtprovoking decorations. A byword for surreal imagery and fantasy worlds that turn into art. Let us begin our journey by going back to its origins in the 1940s, when Piero Fornasetti, an eclectic, refined artist and one of the most prolific of the 20th century, set up his eponymous atelier in Milan to make his dream come true: produce everyday objects industrially and make them precious by adding a decorative, artisanal component that would turn them into true works of art. His atelier was a place where creativity was free to roam between imagination, dreams, game, madness and practical application, and in which objects and decorations were brought to life by the expert hands of his craftspeople. In the words of Piero Fornasetti: “Every single image is a source of inspiration, a starting point that can give rise to an infinite number of variations.” His prolific pencil yielded faces, body parts, butterflies, owls, capitals, the sun, playing cards, harlequins and self-portraits, which settled on furniture, accessories and porcelain, generating a unique magic that, from then on, has never failed to amaze. The most famous of these themes is the enchanting face of a woman with a magnetic gaze: her name was Lina Cavalieri, an artist of international standing who lived at the turn of the 20th century. Initially a showgirl, then a soprano and eventually a film actress, she rose to fame as “the most beautiful woman in the world”. Lina Cavalieri’s perfect proportions and enigmatic expression became the protagonists of Fornasetti’s most enduring theme, which now counts almost 400 variations: coquettish, mysterious, surprised, smiling, sporting a Chaplinesque moustache, spectacles and a crown, or in the form of a butterfly, a hot-air balloon, a candy, or even as a tattoo on a sailor’s arm and a moon half-hidden by the clouds. This is how the Fornasetti style originated: playful, brimming with wit and humour, and based on the guiding principle of “practical madness”, a distinctive feature of the atelier, thanks to which Fornasetti’s decorative language is applied to everyday objects that convey artistic messages while maintaining their practical function. Fornasetti’s furniture and accessories are the result of a long process entirely carried out by hand. The decoration is transferred onto a lacquered surface by means of silk-screen printing, a technique that was developed in France in the 1910s and was used early on by Piero Fornasetti for his creations in lieu of lithography. The colour is also applied manually by the workshop’s painters, who follow the original sketches meticulously. Between each coating, the decorated and lacquered surface is left to dry for several months, a process that seals the decoration, giving the object its typical shine and tactile pleasantness. Each piece is exquisite and unmistakable, just like the porcelain, which is entirely hand-painted with silk-screen decorations before the object is fired in the kiln.

Piero Fornasetti’s legacy and the founding principles of his atelier continue to inspire his son Barnaba, who is now the brand’s Artistic Director: the passion that flows from head to hands in a seamless convergence of thought and action remains at the heart of all the products created in the atelier. Together with the sense of playfulness, this is a fundamental feature of Piero Fornasetti’s work before and of his son today. As Barnaba himself explains: “Decoration invites us to use our imagination and, just like playing, makes us escape from everything around us. I can truly say that my whole life is a full-time game. Playing has become my profession, to such an extent that even my hobbies, such as music, are also becoming part of it. It’s like living in a gigantic playroom.”

If you were to describe Fornasetti with two adjectives, which would you choose? “Free: from prevailing aesthetic stereotypes, fashions and labels. My father taught me to fight for freedom of thought and to oppose conformism. This doesn’t mean that one should work without methodology or rules because, unlike what one may think, they are essential for imagination to roam freely. The second adjective is ironic: because Fornasetti’s aesthetic approach draws on centuries of visual history in a learned and conscious way. Like a remix of characters that are part of our collective imagination.”

We step out of the atelier well aware that in this place the creative process is based on two resources that are particularly precious today: time and expertise. Nothing is made according to a fixed timetable, but only following the inner tempo dictated by heart and passion, which is conveyed to the objects through the hands. A time that cannot be defined, and becomes the dimension that is necessary to ensure that each work is executed to the highest of standards.

Bravo Fornasetti!

Blanchaert

“I don’t create my works for other people, but for myself. They are the reflection of my soul, of the way I am, of the environment I live in, of what I breathe. They represent my dreams and my nightmares. In my glass works you can find Venice and the Renaissance, but also contemporary man who lives within history.”

Born in Murano, Cesare Toffolo has always breathed the air of the lagoon and, with it, the very essence of glass. Both his grandfather and father worked in the famous Murano glassworks. But they didn’t just work there, they were also innovators.

For many years, his grandfather Giacomo worked as “primo maestro” at the Venini furnace. His father Florino followed in Giacomo’s footsteps and, at the age of seventeen, became a “master of glasses” at Venini. He served as a soldier in the Second World War and, having refused to join the Republic of Salò, he spent a year and a half imprisoned in Germany, where he was assigned, together with a fellow Muranese, to the chemistry laboratory. During their interminable days of confinement, they worked on refining the technique of lamp-blown glass. Florino Toffolo continued to perfect this technique upon his return to Murano, becoming the first master to create lamp-blown objects that were considerably larger than the standard production.

It has been said that artisans can also be very playful. Driven by their skilful hands and a flash of inspiration, they create without thinking, guided purely by their natural spontaneity. Cesare Toffolo has no rivals when it comes to playfulness. Obviously, just as it is impossible to write a story if one does not know any grammar, by the same token it is impossible to create a fine work of art without a thorough knowledge of the different glass techniques, which Cesare Toffolo had been taught by his grandfather and father. Upon the latter’s untimely death, it was Maestro Livio Rossi, a family friend, who took 13-year-old Cesare under his wing, becoming his mentor and advisor in both glass and life. His creativity was, and continues to be, the driving force behind his work. He sits down at his workbench in the early hours of the morning, when his mind has just emerged from the world of dreams. Shaping the glass with the flame, he transposes his vivid dreams, still fresh from the REM phase, into his work. This gives origin, at times, to Lilliputian objects (vases, glasses, jugs and fruit-filled risers) and tiny men who seem to have stepped out of Jonathan Swift’s pen in Gulliver’s Travels. Cesare Toffolo manages to work like a medieval miniature artist. His challenge is to use time-honoured production techniques, such as 16th-century filigree, to create increasingly tiny objects. To do this, he uses tools traditionally used in furnaces, and experiments with techniques never used before in lampworking. His work is an ongoing research. “It’s quite normal for me. Monotony would kill me both professionally and mentally.”

A Muranese through and through, Cesare Toffolo has spun this identity all over the world. In 1991, aged 30, thanks to Maestro Lino Tagliapietra, who was already well-known at an international level, he was invited to hold lectures at the Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle and later at the Niijima Glass Art Center in Tokyo, the Corning Museum of Glass in New York, the Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina, the Toyama Institute of Glass and the Kanazu Forest of Creation Foundation in Japan. His travels across the five continents have brought back to Murano a refreshed man, full of colours and images that would have previously been inconceivable. The American experience was a major turning point for Cesare. At Pilchuck, he met great artists of the calibre of Dale Chihuly, Dante Marioni and Richard Marquis, and without even realising it, he developed a more artistic approach to glass. His new mindset was simply to create. Armed with this new awareness, on returning to Murano he produced his first new work: an amphora pouring water into a basin. All made of glass, including the pouring water. Thanks to his technical expertise, Maestro Toffolo can create masterpieces with the confidence of someone who knows how to write in glass, and very well too. It is as if he were dipping a quill into ink. In his workshop on the island of Murano, Cesare Toffolo is now joined by his sons, Emanuel and Elia, to whom he has taught his glassmaking techniques, while leaving them free to go their own ways. The fourth generation is already at work.

Elena Agosti

The cuchi, with their bizarre name, are terracotta whistles traditionally made in Nove, a small town in the province of Vicenza. These small animal-shaped whistling sculptures, whose original purpose was to imitate the singing of birds or to ward off evil spirits, are above all a colourful amusement for children. In all likelihood, they were the first musical toys in ancient times. They often represent the cuckoo and imitate its chirping with a two-tone sound, an allegory of the awakening of nature.

A recipient of Fondazione Cologni’s MAM (Master of Arts and Crafts) award for ceramics, Diego Poloniato is a dedicated artisan who specialises in the creation of cuchi and arcicuchi. Cockerels, mounted hussars, clowns, Pinocchios and animals of all species and shapes are his favourite subjects. Stepping into Diego’s workshop is a unique and immersive experience: in whatever direction one turns one’s gaze, a thousand ceramic eyes stare back at the visitor. His creations can be tiny enough to fit in the palm of a hand, right up to large-scale works that hardly leave the workshop. The underlying theme is always sound, each work having its own distinctive tone.

In Veneto, the cuco was not just a modest and at the same time precious toy for children. It was an infallible love call too, which could be bought for a couple of coins at village fairs. As Mario Rigoni Stern recounts: “Young men would stop in front of the stalls to pick out one or more ‘cuchi’ to present young maidens of their liking. Before offering them to the girls, they would blow them to hear their sound. (...) The combination of whistles, voices and laughter composed a living and vibrant spring symphony after the long winter months.” It is said that when a young man gave a cuco to his beloved, if she accepted, he would receive a painted hard-boiled egg in return. Yet the belief that the whistle has an apotropaic effect is not limited to the Veneto region: in England, whistles were walled up in chimneys to fend off evil spirits, and in Bavaria they were placed in children’s cradles to protect them.

In Diego Poloniato’s workshop, cuchi are entirely handmade with polychrome semi-refractory clays that are fired at high temperatures, and subsequently vitrified and finished with pure oxides. Each work is unique, being the result of Diego’s imagination and creative flair. His “signature pieces” are horsemen and hussars, sometimes rendered with realistic precision, at other times with a satirical and irreverent twist, in keeping with local tradition. Indeed, after Napoleon’s bloody campaign in 1796, the iconography of the whistle was enriched with Napoleonic soldiers riding a cuco, and most often a hen...

We thus find Napoleon in full field marshal garb, plumed cuirassiers and mamluks (the Egyptian mercenaries), all in full regalia and comfortably crouched on chicken. In the second half of the 19th century, the same outfit was also extended for the Carabinieri military police.

Diego was taught the craft by his father Domenico, a highly skilled modeller, who was already producing large-scale arcicuchi in the second half of the 20th century. His apprenticeship consisted in observing and helping his father, imitating the movements of his hands, how he gripped the sticks, trying over and over again. Today, Diego is the one who teaches children the art of turning clay into whistles, from the preparation of the ball to the creation of the sound box and the holes through which the air is blown to generate the whistling sound. A third hole is added to obtain the two-tone sound and then, always before the piece is fired, all those details are added that make the whistle a true work of art. Typical of Nove, the arcicuco is a large cuco made of numerous whistles inserted into a single air chamber that acts as a sound box. There are also rare examples of cuca col segreto or cuca bufona, with two holes near the mouthpiece, one communicating with the sounding device, the other with a separate chamber containing talcum powder or ash: whoever blows the whistle will have their eyes filled with dust.

Diego was one of the founders of Gruppo Cucari Veneti, which has been involved, in collaboration with the Associazione Nove Terra di Ceramica, in the promotion and teaching of this art since 1996. His cuchi are exhibited in Italy’s major thematic museums: principally in Nove and at the Museo dei cuchi di Cesuna in Asiago, but also in Matera, Rutigliano, Cerreto Sannita, Ronco Biellese and Castellamonte.

But if you really want to immerse yourself in his magical world, you should go and visit him in Nove, in Via Astronauti: you will experience a journey into poetry...

Sofia

Catalano

“Playfulness pervades our work. After all, that’s what being creative is all about. Playing with colour, shapes, tools. Turning one’s passion into a profession that pleases, gratifies and entertains.”

This is Orsola Clerici’s philosophy, who in 2007 founded Pictalab in Milan together with Chiara Troglio. An atelier-workshop where a team of highly qualified decorators, painters and craftspeople turns dreams into reality. Their aim is to please the customer who knows how to “play” with his or her home, transforming it to meet their aesthetic needs. Flowers, stripes, geometric shapes, landscapes, patterns and much more enrich each space, creating exclusive atmospheres. Orsola and Chiara hand-paint walls, paper, ceilings and furnishings, driven not only by their passion, but also by an intrinsic curiosity that leads them to experiment with new techniques.

“The first times we printed on paper it felt like betraying our craftsmanship and manual skills. We were used to doing everything by hand, and using a mechanical instrument unsettled us. But then we started thinking of it as any other tool: roller, brush, stencil, in the end it was just a way of reproducing digitally the drawings we drew by hand. We scan them in high resolution, reprocess the files and then print them. At other times we use graphic tablets and draw digitally. We have modernised our work and we use digital techniques not only in the creative and design phases, but also in the execution, naturally only when it is possible and necessary. Nothing diminishes the final result, quite the opposite, in fact.”

The Portaluppi Herbarium, located in the Atellani home in Milan’s Corso Magenta, is a fine example of this approach. The project was carried out in collaboration with Nicolò Castellini Baldissera, Portaluppi’s great-grandson.

“We decided to reproduce the decoration in the hall to enhance its beauty, while respecting its pictorial details. A specific photographic survey enabled us to study, innovate and paint the plants, grass and drapery individually. Combining artisan experience with the use of new technologies, each element was then digitalised in order to create a decoration printed on wallpaper that would be modular and customisable.” As always, they hit their goal.

“But it’s not always that straightforward,” Orsola points out. “Now and then our commitment to please our customers clashes with their requests. We were once commissioned to paint a supersized rendition of Mount Vesuvius erupting, with flaming lava and all, over the headboard of a bed. We panicked. But in the end, we thoroughly enjoyed the experience, immersing ourselves in Neapolitan gouaches, in their painting technique, in the reproduction of 19th- century postcards, so typical of the Grand Tours, which provide an invaluable documentation of the Neapolitan school of painting. The result surprised us: we managed to overcome the risk of being kitsch, almost trash, and achieve a beautiful result. It was great fun!”

Likewise, it is always enjoyable to immerse oneself in a fairy-tale atmosphere when painting children’s rooms with little mice, animals, enchanted forests, dream landscapes appearing from behind the curtains. “Our collaboration with Vincenzo D’Ascanio, in 2021, was a similar experience. We recreated the story of ‘Anna’s House’, a Milanese grandmother who was hosting her granddaughter for Christmas. The tale unfolded room after room, even with a nursery rhyme painted on the wall.” Sheer magic. “Yes, because there is nothing better than a client who trusts us, who lets us work, who dares without fear of making mistakes. An example? Fabrizio Ferri in Pantelleria. Working with him was a joy. But then, he is an artist, and as such he understands and appreciates what our work is about.”

Their work is carried out onsite, although it often materialises in their Milanese workspace, a luminous and imaginative loft where imagination and creativity are transferred on wood, glass and paper thanks to many artisanal and digital techniques. For unique and customised results, which can satisfy the most discerning customers and, why not, also the “dreamers”, who want to reveal the more playful side of their personality and make their home a reflection of how they feel. A playful but daring approach that deserves to be rewarded.

Alba

Cappellieri

A regal necklace inspired by Art Deco elegance: three rows of diamonds, whose 164 carats light up the space around them, 37 moving elements, 16 variations in shape, 55 different ways of wearing it... The Maharaja Set is one of the latest transformable masterpieces by Van Cleef & Arpels, the jeweller who pushed this concept beyond virtuosity, transforming it into an art in its own right. It was possible to admire the necklace in the “Van Cleef & Arpels: Time, Nature, Love” exhibition, open until 15 April at the National Museum in Riyadh. The French Maison’s dedication to transformable jewellery should come as no surprise. Van Cleef & Arpels has made transformability the hallmark of its matchless craftsmanship since the 1920s, when creative director Renée Puissant, daughter of founders Estelle Arpels and Alfred Van Cleef, interpreted the effervescent and progressive spirit of the Roaring Twenties by creating jewels that could magically transform themselves: tiaras into necklaces, necklaces into bracelets, pendants into earrings, rings into pendants, thus fulfilling women’s desire for novelty whilst combining technique and creativity, function and safety, progress and elegance. The innovations introduced in the 20th century were interpreted by Van Cleef & Arpels in technically sophisticated and complex mechanisms that, thanks to their invisibility, enabled women to indulge in the playful pleasure of changing and customising their jewellery without altering the sophisticated grace of the Maison’s creations. Jewels have always withstood the test of time on account of their priceless nature. Accordingly, throughout the ages, different generations have adapted them to new fashions and needs. The idea of transformable jewellery originated with the concept of the parure, which developed in France during the reign of the Sun King, when lavish court ceremonies and balls were the height of social life. The pomp of Versailles imposed many dress changes and exquisite jewellery to set off faces and necklines, exhibit the social prestige of the wearer and, at the same time, interact with the decorative richness of the damasks, velvets, lace and brocades worn by princes and princesses. For exceptional events such as coronations and celebrations, the aristocracy would borrow jewellery from jewellers. In the ensuing century, with the advent of industrialisation and new goldsmithing techniques, jewellers started to create exquisite objects that, with the help of clips, buckles and clasps, could take on different shapes and uses. As Lise Macdonald, Van Cleef & Arpels Director of Patrimony and Exhibitions, explains, the legacy of these extraordinary artisans has been taken up by the Maison because, “at the heart of Van Cleef & Arpels’ style is a distinctive feature: transformation or metamorphosis. Two of the most representative examples are the Zip necklace created in 1951 and the Passe-Partout collection of 1938, which have become timeless icons of Van Cleef & Arpels.”

An example of suppleness, elegance and versatility, the Passe-partout collection was inspired by the themes of mesh and chain, in vogue at that time. On the occasion of the International Exposition of Art and Technology in Modern Life held in Paris in 1937, commissioner Paul Léon wanted to put back in the spotlight the decorative preciousness of jewels that Deco geometries had pushed out of the picture. Van Cleef & Arpels created a transformable piece of jewellery with an innovative technique patented in 1938: a flexible gold tubogas that can be worn as a necklace, a choker, a bracelet or a belt thanks to a hidden rail system that allows two clips to slide on the chain, securing it in the desired position. The clips are detachable and can be worn separately as brooches - up to five - or earrings. They are decorated with elegant floral motifs with rubies and blue and yellow sapphires. The tubogas technique is very complex, and is based on flexible metal bands that make objects adaptable and versatile. Practical and imaginative, the Passe-Partout collection has shown how a precious piece of jewellery can also be a playful and customisable accessory, which can interact with clothes in a variety of different variations.

The icon of Van Cleef & Arpels’ craftsmanship and transformability is the legendary Zip necklace, a masterpiece in terms of the technical skill behind its interlocking gold-toothed zipper and adjustable opening. The Zip is the perfect synthesis of creativity and innovation, one of the most significant creations in the history of 20th century jewellery of which the most surprising aspect is precisely its transformability. Like a real zipper, it has a slider in the shape of a plaited gold tassel with which it can be closed and turned into a bracelet. Inspired by the ones on sailor and aviator jackets, the zipper went from being a functional element to a fashion accessory thanks to Elsa Schiaparelli, who, in 1935, presented a collection in which all the dresses sported visible zippers. It proved an instant hit, and the demand surprised the designer herself, who wrote in her 1954 autobiography Shocking life: “Zippers were everywhere, you could see them on every dress, even evening gowns.” While women admired Schiaparelli’s zipper dresses, it was Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor, who picked up on the innovation with her customary foresight, and asked Renée Puissant to make a precious zipper, originally intended to close a dinner dress with an open back. That was in 1938. War was looming and the technical complexity of a zipper, which in the meantime had morphed from a simple fastener into a necklace, took many more years of experiments, trials and errors. In 1950, the Maison bravely succeeded in its feat, leaving the world openmouthed by the necklace’s level of innovation and craftsmanship. Van Cleef & Arpels’ Zip is a masterpiece of creative and crafting ingenuity as well as a true design icon. After years of research and prototypes, its transformability was entrusted to tiny gold parts, the zipper’s teeth, arranged at regular intervals on one side, so that they could interlock with those on the other side, making it possible to open and close it rapidly.

Two other masterpieces of transformability appeared in 1971: the Walska brooch and the necklace with engraved emeralds, two stunning creations combining creativity, craftsmanship and transformability. The Walska brooch portrays a stork in flight and is one of the most unusual bespoke orders in the Maison’s history. It adorns a 96.62-carat yellow briolette-cut diamond known as the “Walska Briolette” due to the fact that in the 1930s this gemstone belonged to singer Ganna Walska, who wore it as a pendant. In 1971, the yellow diamond was sold at a Sotheby auction in New York, and a few months later it reappeared on the cover of a Van Cleef & Arpels catalogue, held in the beak of a stork flying over Place Vendôme. The new owner had commissioned the Maison to make a brooch for his wife as a gift for the birth of their son. The precious stork is a masterpiece of transformability: the wings can be detached and worn as earrings, the tail can be turned into a brooch, and the yellow diamond can be worn as a pendant around the neck.

In the same year, the Maison received another special order: a gift from Prince Karim Aga Khan for his wife, Begum Salimah Aga Khan. Born Sarah Croker Poole in India in 1940, during the last days of the British Empire, she was admired for her beauty and elegance. Passionate about art and jewels, the princess had an important collection of precious jewellery. This awesome necklace, expressly commissioned by her husband, is one such creation. Its value and uniqueness lie in the precious gems adorning it: more than 745 diamonds, for a total of 52 carats, illuminate 44 engraved 18th-century emeralds, totalling more than 470 carats. Transformable into a choker, two bracelets and a clip, this necklace is a spectacular example of the art of metamorphosis elevated to the highest levels of excellence by Van Cleef & Arpels.

Giovanna Marchello

In the course of his career, Andrea Zambelli has developed an approach to his craft that embraces sound woodworking skills and a focused design vision.

Zambelli took his first steps in his hometown, Bologna. While he was a young university student, he acquired all the secrets of cabinetmaking during an apprenticeship in the workshop of an antique dealer and restorer. He soon realised that this was his calling, left his studies and, after finishing his training, opened his own workshop. A process that lasted 15 years, during which he began to experiment with different materials, such as resin and cement, which, together with ancestral wood construction techniques, became the basis of his signature style. His desire to broaden his horizons and find new creative stimuli led him to Berlin, where, in 2009, he founded Hillsideout in partnership with artist Nat Wilms, who graduated in Sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and further specialised at the Universität der Künste in Berlin.

“Our vision,” explains Zambelli, “is opposed to that of the ephemeral world of design, which compels you to churn out new items every year. We wanted to make real objects of substance that are built to last. And we wanted to give each piece a story of its own.” Their partnership yielded projects that combine not only the spheres of invention and know-how, but also of playfulness. A game based on the combination of materials and colours, on antique objects recovered and reinterpreted in a contemporary perspective, on allegories and symbolism. Like the Social Love Thonet bench conceived during the 2020 lock-down to represent social distancing. Acrylic seats with a mosaic of coloured tiles covered in transparent resin are inserted into original Thonet chairs. One seat is more masculine and the other more feminine, generating a harmonious imbalance. But their production also includes actual games, such as the Mexico billiard table created in 2014 for the Rossana Orlandi gallery. The Black Light Tropics series made its debut in 2017, on their return from a residency in Brazil. Built in collaboration with the legendary Hermelin company in Milan, this billiard table merges a European neoclassical style with the chaos of São Paulo. The series includes also a screen made with Murano glass inserts inspired by the last Caduvei natives of the Brazilian jungle. When placed over the billiard table, it transforms it into a monumental table.

The exploration of the playful dimension spans across other creations, including Chaturanga, inspired by the origins of chess. In the 7th century, an Indian Maharaja who had lost his son in battle managed, through the game of chess, not to think about his death. The metaphor of war is embodied in the table legs, turned in the shape of bullets. And again, the chess case with Bauhaus-style pieces that contains a backgammon board on the inside. Like the rest of Zambelli’s production, it is made using the offcuts coming from industrial production in

Brianza, and reflects his philosophy of recovery and upcycling. Just like Futbolin, the table soccer born from the encounter with sculptor Michele Balestra. Back in Italy, Zambelli decided to settle in Milan because, he explains, “Berlin has become a kind of Silicon Valley, no longer stimulating from a creative point of view. Here, instead, there is everything I need: the artisans, the territory and the smaller size, which makes everything more accessible.” It is precisely from Milan that the adventure of Andrea Zambelli Design has started anew, on a journey of introspection that has yielded new creations, such as the two-meterhigh clock that will be presented at this year’s Salone del Mobile. “It’s about my sense of change, my perception of time. The straight lines of the base represent Hillsideout, while the rounded, softer, more organic lines belong to my current mindset, which I could not have shared with others.”

The screen Tela Do Nascer Do Sol conveys an equally complex message: Murano glass panes made by master glassmaker Raffaele Darra evoke the shades of colour that Zambelli used to see at daybreak, when he would cycle to the workshop during the Covid lockdown. In the middle of the screen is a spy-mirror: if the light is strong only on one side, you can see your reflection, but those on the dark side can see you without being seen, creating an intriguing divertissement In contrast, the chess and backgammon board, designed to be hung up on a wall, is overtly playful. It was designed by Zambelli together with his sixyear-old son, who drew the dog whose eyes and teeth are stylised on the backgammon side. “I was interested in the pictorial aspect, in which the beauty of the picture derives from the arrangement of the natural colours of the different kinds of wood.”

Andrea Zambelli looks to the future with a curious eye. He makes no plans, because he knows that life will mess them up. “But of one thing I am sure,” he says. “I want to keep evolving without compromising, without betraying my ideas. I know that this will take me down the roughest road, but that’s the price you have to pay to be free.

Stefania Montani

A creative, restless and curious artist, Emanuela Crotti has received numerous awards. She has always experimented with new approaches to art, embracing a variety of currents: from figurative to abstract art, to Zen Minimalism, right up to her latest creations, which are based on the use of resin combined with a wide range of techniques, including painting, photography, graphic design and textured collages.

For many years she has been focusing on the creation of furnishing items. Tables, cabinets, mirrors, lamps, stools, plates, upholstery, fabrics, carpets, all of which are characterised by a single common denominator: her extraordinary imagination. “I spend a long time collecting a multitude of objects, both precious and not, which I incorporate into table tops and cupboard doors, assembling them with resin. My workshop is like Ali Baba’s cave, a place where I store everything that strikes me while travelling around the world’s flea markets,” confides the eclectic artist, craftswoman and designer.

“When I work, I arrange the objects on the surface I want to decorate. This phase of chromatic and material research is very complex, and certainly the most creative. When I’m happy with the result, I photograph the composition and remove all the material from the surface to apply a first layer of resin. It takes at least 24 hours to dry, after which I place all the previously chosen objects on the surface, using the photograph as a guide, and apply a second coat of resin, overlapping many different layers. My finished pieces can be very thick, up to 20 centimetres, and this allows me to achieve a depth that literally drags you into the work”.

Emanuela’s collages are fashioned from a varied and eclectic combination of materials: from semi-precious stones to sweets, from medicines to sacred hearts, from souvenirs found in faraway countries to pendants in precious metals, shells and coral. Drawing on her past experience, over the years this creative artist has experimented with many techniques to handcraft truly unique and extremely poetic furnishing elements.

“I enjoy giving new life to objects that have already had one of their own,” she continues, “because by merging them with other pieces they give rise to something different. I buy things or take them from the nature surrounding me, depending on what strikes my imagination. If I have to stick to a theme, I may also purchase specific items for that work. I like to change the purpose or location of the objects I find.” The collection entitled Una questione naturale, which was presented a few years ago at the Rossana Orlandi gallery during the Salone del Mobile, reminds us of coral reefs that need to be protected and loved, of woods where we can enjoy a regenerative walk and where we can contemplate extraordinary insect and butterfly species, the beauty of the foliage, mushrooms and flowers. In this way we can nourish our spirit. Many elements that make up her Coral Table are natural (shells, corals, stones, etc.) but others, such as the sea anemones, are entirely made and coloured by herself. “It has been a long and complicated process, but it has given me the opportunity to study and delve into this incredible ecosystem that continues to amaze me with its shapes and colours, like avant-garde paintings. We live in a precarious and fragile balance, we need to awaken consciences and policymakers... in my own small way that’s what I’m trying to do!”

Emanuela Crotti’s future plans include turning her workshop into a small school where she can pass on the experience she has gained through her artistic research: “In order to experiment with young people in new ways, to encourage them to keep exploring and not to stop in the face of difficulties, and to find the connection with themselves that is the driving force behind creating something personal and unique,” concludes the eclectic and imaginative artisan and artist.

Andrea Sinigaglia

Just look at him – he is playing.

At a certain point, quenching one’s thirst becomes a carousel and, in this space, the person expands and turns into a place. The bartender is a place, a pop-up, a creature conjured up and imbued with irony, sarcasm, confidentiality. He is a croupier of relationships, in charge of the gambling table: someone who shuffles and deals the cards, and raises the stakes. He is the one who stirs and shakes, while we are the ones sitting across from him. In reality, he is the linchpin, and we are just passing through. Contradictions flow thick and fast, and our inhibitions melt away. This is a match we enjoy playing. The word spirit, in reference to drinks, was coined by the Arabs, who were masters of distillation. The volatile part in the alembic is the essence of the material known as al-kuhl: alcohol, the spirit.

When we watch a skilled bartender at work, we are engaging in an experience of the spirit that sometimes involves and overwhelms the body. However, before we arrive at actually sipping the drink, which is the essence of the experience, we have to go through the whole performance. The game begins with our initial embarrassment over the choice, although some of us know that the option will once again fall on the “usual”, just to see what effect it will have on us this time. The preparation, the bottles, their shapes, the brands: an entire world is there, composed and distilled, silent, and all it takes to whisk us off to a Caribbean island, to France or heaven knows where, is to remove a cork.

Citrus fruits, leaves and many other “Lego bricks”, such as the gestures and the tools with which the alchemic potion is concocted. There is the knowing and proud smile of the mixology expert, and our eyes that witness a creation made just for us, tailored to our tastes. Our ears hear the noises of the preparation that is coming to life: glass, steel, things being unscrewed and poured, taking the stage before they quickly and tidily return to their place. Bottles occasionally knock against one another, but always in a dignified manner. Everything takes place within a dance of aromas, where citrus fruits are everpresent, together with spices and, of course, essences that spirit us away. Drinking glasses have the right shape and specific purpose, a code of honour that applies to everything, including the decorations, even when it’s just a paper parasol. Which is what makes the rhetoric of the show so intense, demanding respect but not imposing us to take things too seriously.

At last, our turn to play our part in the show begins when the glass is served us and we start to feel and taste. This whole magma of emotions has been managed at a sub zero temperature thanks to ice, the great supporting actor that encapsulates the “explosive” material in a controlled dimension. Ice is the great medium, it is something on which we can skate, even though we are just holding it in our hands with icy-cold fingers.

The tasting, the excitement, then a sigh, hopefully also a smile: it doesn’t matter whether it’s a discovery or a confirmation. We thank the bartender, and then it’s time to start all over again with another customer or another round. Something has triggered, the game has just begun, and we are holding a drink made expressly for us.

In its etymology, the term “ludic” means playful, free. This space, which the bartender creates or turns into, embodies or stages, is that portion, that sip of playful freedom that we crave for in our adult lives or in our youthful nightlife. It is a game but not a trick, it is both an art and a craft. There are masters in this field too, and we are proud to mention four of them here, who dedicate their lives with passion to this universe.

Dom Costa, Salvatore Calabrese, Baldo Baldinini and Agostino Perrone are the "fab four" of mixology who have so far received the MAM (Master of Arts and Crafts) Prize awarded by ALMA and the Fondazione Cologni. The MAM Prizes are assigned according to the recommendations of the ALMA Commission for The Professions in the field of Gastronomy and Hospitality, a special category within the MAM programme. This award acknowledges excellence in every field of artistic craftsmanship and of food and beverage, giving recognition to the greatest representatives of Italian savoir-fare in the world.

Dom Costa

Born in Calabria but raised in Turin, at a very young age he started travelling the world on cruise ships. He visited 65 countries, mixing drinks from Alaska to the Equator and from the North Cape to the Strait of Magellan. After much roaming, he moved back to Italy, to Genoa, where he worked as a consultant for Italian and international spirits producers. After serving many years as bartender at the renowned Liquid cocktail bar in Alassio, he is currently mixology manager at Velier.

Salvatore Calabrese

Having notched up over 40 years of experience in the hospitality industry, Salvatore Calabrese, aka “The Maestro”, is one of the world’s most respected bartenders. In 1980, he moved to London, to the bar of the Duke’s Hotel, where his talent was spotted, and he became famous for his Martini cocktails. A Cognac enthusiast, he quickly became one of the world’s leading experts and a reference point in the field, particularly for the niche market of extra-special Cognacs.

Baldo Baldinini

If we were to define with a metaphor what Baldo Baldinini represents in the world of mixology, we would say that he is an orchestra conductor, a performer and a creator. Indeed, among his hills in Romagna, amidst the ampoules of his atelier, Baldinini composes aromatic arrangements, creating spirits and, above all, some of the world’s finest vermouths.

Hailing from Maslianico, not far from the jetsetter shores of Cernobbio, Perrone initially took a timid, albeit curious, approach to the world of cocktails. At first it was just a part-time job to pay for his studies in photography, which was his passion. But the alchemy between spirits, jiggers and shakers ended up mesmerising this talented Master. He currently works at the Connaught Bar in Mayfair, London.

Antonio Mancinelli

Playfulness, culture, experience. Expertise takes the form of a workshop of joyful experimentation. For over ten years, Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Moda, Alta Sartoria and Alta Gioielleria events have been the expression not only of Italian savoir-faire at its finest, but also the unfolding of a way of narrating fashion that has to do more with the wonder of a fairy tale than the realism of the headlines. For wonder is the primary source of playfulness, the original source of wisdom that deserves to be learnt according to the precepts of St Thomas Aquinas, who stated: “Those who never play and never say anything pleasant commit a sin against truth.” It also led Dutch philosopher Johan Huizinga to write, in his preface to Homo Ludens, that “human civilisation arises and develops through playing, as a game.” Huizinga also claimed that playing is associated with beauty and rhythm, with harmony and art. It stands isolated from other forms of thought, a free activity that cannot be imposed neither by a physical nor a moral necessity. It represents an alternative to ordinary life. The concept of playfulness embraces inventiveness, creativity and audacity. It defines a cognitive approach that differs from science and philosophy and which, in its transition from theory to practice and in the categories it embraces, qualifies as “aesthetics”. Appearance and rationality are closely linked and united by cultural bridges, in a dialectic in which every topic is reflected in its opposite. But there is no need for competition, nor the desire to shine. Typically, playing generates fellowship, and for this reason Plato associated it with music and dance, in a way that does not require one to be pitted against the other. The experience of playing is not just about “taking part in”, but about “being part of” something: the essential quest for identity that is sought both by a nation and an individual. We tend to bestow exceptional designers such as Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana the role of dignified and almighty couturiers. Whereas the creators of Beauty are actually imaginative, original, capable of conceiving authentic handmade masterpieces, whether they are clothes, jewellery, watches or accessories. In addition to this, a feature that transforms creative thought into action is connected to the genius loci of the cities where their majestic shows are staged: the last one was held in Syracuse, but before that came Venice, Palermo, Agrigento, Capri, Portofino, Como, Naples, Milan... A kind of 19th-century Grand Tour in which “we want to convey a lifestyle and offer our customers, friends and the international press a unique experience. We are delighted to give them the chance to get to know the best that Italy has to offer,” stated the two designers. A prerequisite for combining play with knowledge is the presence of interlocutors. In every city where the collections celebrating savoir-faire have been presented, conversations are held with the very people who have made craftsmanship their raison d’être, and who are encouraged by Dolce & Gabbana to go beyond their limits, inviting them to “play the game” with them.

“We want our collections to tell the story of a place and nothing is left to chance. We find the location, study its history, geography, legends, traditions and cuisine. Down to the smallest detail. We want to know and understand everything that revolves around it, today, yesterday and always. The theme of the collection therefore goes hand in hand with the location we have chosen. In Venice, for example, we would never have known how to reproduce the effect of ground glass on a dress if we hadn’t seen an artisan doing it. The creations inspired by the craftsmanship of Murano required us to experiment every day, every moment. It involved adding and subtracting, aware that not everything can be done, like the dress made entirely of glass that was so delicate that it could not be worn on the catwalk. At the same time, we managed to create four dresses that looked like crystal glasses.” Revealing the miracle in everyday life, allowing the meaning of an object to slide into another context, is a very difficult exercise, but Dolce & Gabbana pursue it with gentle determination. Through their design approach, on the one hand they suggest that irony and playfulness are aesthetic exercises that remain impressed in our memory as sensitive events, emotional and spiritual experiences, and that the representations that derive from them become culture that can be passed on. On the other hand, the game possesses an essential feature that allows it to be repeated, thus resuming its regularity. In other words, the rules of the game are a constant of which the many matches are as many variations. Thus what makes a game constant, namely its rules, is also fixed and handed down in the form of culture. The culture of knowledge and know-how, the legacy of competence that allows craftsmanship to be interpreted as a constant form of evolutive drive. Adopting a playful methodology does not mean neglecting one’s commitment. It means engaging in a quest for those things that are meaningful.

Alessandra de Nitto

The seventh edition of Doppia Firma. Dialogues between design and artisanal excellence, which will be staged at Palazzo Litta on the occasion of the 2023 Salone del Mobile in Milan, focuses on the fascinating theme of playfulness: a concept that has always been a feature of contemporary and applied arts, yielding very interesting and often original projects, unfettered by rules and conventions. Indeed, playfulness can embrace everything from game to humour, from irony to allusion, from metaphor to jest, to conscious confusion, right up to the overturning of perspectives and values. In this conceptual area, designers and master artisans are called upon to express their personal vision, drawing on cross-pollination and transgression to combine irony and amusement, in a dimension of unrestricted pleasure and creative freedom. As Ernesto L. Francalanci observed in a fundamental essay on the subject: “The phenomenon of playfulness uncovers a broader constellation of references, which orbit around the concept of allusion, ranging from the notions of playing and joking to that of the various types of humour, and therefore of wit and comicality (...) playfulness is expressed above all by the power of cross-pollination and transgressive fusion of contents related to knowledge and memory.” (Del Ludico. Dopo il sorriso delle avanguardie, Milan, Mazzotta, 1982).

The 22 creative couples of designers and master artisans invited by the Michelangelo Foundation, Fondazione Cologni and Living to take part in this new creative challenge, combining their visions and skills according to the well-established and much-appreciated format of Doppia Firma, have interpreted the theme with the greatest expressive freedom. These collaborations manifest themselves in different forms, materials and colours, giving rise to a rich and surprising range of furnishing accessories and iconic objects, some of which were specifically created for the event. Luca Nichetto, Chris Wolston, Supertoys Supertoys, Adam Nathaniel Furman, Victor Cadene, Giampiero Bodino, Matteo Cibic, Lucia Massari, Jaime Hayón and other designers of international standing have worked alongside famed master artisans and manufacturers, such as De Castelli, Barbini Specchi Veneziani, Emaux de Longwy, Craman Lagarde, Simone Crestani, Lunardelli Venezia, Ceramiche Gatti, Lladró to name just a few.

Doppia Firma has always championed the alliance between design innovation and the heritage of great master artisans. This is where the roles of designers and craftspeople intersect, complement each other, and both parties work with the same authorial dignity (hence the principle of the “double signature”). Materials and techniques come together to generate new interpretations of functional or decorative objects. This year, the narrative path unfolds once again through the magnificent halls of the main floor of Palazzo Litta, a magnificent Baroque jewel in the heart of the city, which is also the prestigious headquarters of the Regional Secretariat of the Ministry of Culture.

The 17th-century cour d’honneur designed by Richini will host a large site-specific artwork crafted by Milanese master sculptor Gianluca Pacchioni, who specialises in stone and metal, in collaboration with Girasole Pietre Naturali, an artisan laboratory in Verona dedicated to the research and processing of stone in keeping with the rich local heritage. The exceptional artisan-artist, a veritable demiurge and heir to the Renaissance tradition, will have the opportunity to express, with the sculptural energy that characterises his works, the strength and intensity of his creative process, arising from the convergence of art and inspiration, talent and originality, in the name of his great artistic and technical expertise. In Palazzo Litta’s piano nobile, where Doppia Firma is staged, the motif of playfulness is developed with surprising inventive freedom and a great wealth of references, mixtures and inspirations, in the name of a creativity that knows no bounds.

The recurrent reference to playfulness is always interpreted with irony and levity, often on a larger-than-life scale, as in the case of the oversize ceramic sculpture by Atelier Biagetti and Ceramiche Gatti inspired by children’s beach moulds.

Childhood also inspires the shapes and colours of the collection of glass vases, created by Czech designer Frantisek Jungvirt with Ajeto Glass Studio, which are decorated with decals of grandmother’s plates evoking fairy tales, beloved characters and memories. Likewise, the Danish Helle Mardahl and Jørn Friborg play creating a collection of extravagant and joyful vases: they look soft and colourful like marshmallows.

Playful, modular shapes and shades of colour characterise the moving sculptural glass lamp imagined by Adam Nathaniel Furman and made by Curiousa. Jamie Hayón and the Spanish manufactory Lladró created the Embraced porcelain collection in charming, delicate pastel tones: the star is a character who has stepped straight out of children’s games and who, marrying irony and tenderness, wraps itself around its own body, offering the perfect portrayal of loving care for ourselves.

Adriana Gómez and Yecid Robayo Ruiz, from Colombia, have drawn on their tradition and local territory to create their highly original ash, teak and fabric armchair based on the figure of the armadillo, an animal that inhabits all of Latin America and often appears in popular stories and folk songs. Victor Cadène, artist and illustrator, has designed a playful and exquisite screen in wood, printed linen and brass for the historic Maison Thévenon, featuring a refined orientalist decoration, a sort of ode to “Mediterranean idleness”, inspired by the paintings of Ingres and Matisse. Playfulness is expressed also in a baffling way by overturning reality and the function of an object. This is the case of the balloon that does not float designed by Austrian duo Yvonne Brunner & Daniel Zeisner and crafted by the Breitwieser atelier: a minimalistic lamp in which a very light balloon is secured to the ground with a large stone, apparently against all rational logic.

Trompe l’œil and faux materials provided yet another more contemporary and conceptual interpretation of playfulness. The floors of Palazzo Litta find new life in Giampiero Bodino’s windscreen, which De Castelli has crafted in metal. While Swiss designer Philippe Kramer and Atelier B have created a table with a lamp and vase made of wood and synthetic materials, ceramic and metal, where the technique of finely painted faux marble and trompe l’œil combine to create a sensorial and perceptive deception.

Never forgetting the pleasure of making things, the love of materials and craftsmanship, one of the most successful examples is the enchanting project that Pierre Marie entrusted to Lison de Caunes, a master of straw marquetry in Paris. Thanks to her unique savoir-faire, the fabulous world of the French