DOMOTEX INTERVIEW 74
THE FLOORS THAT BEAR THE IMPRESSION OF ONE OF INSTAGRAM’S LEADING FOOT-SELFIE INFLUENCERS
A Sicilian architect whose love of ornate Italian tiles and shoes has resulted in more than 100,000 people watching her every step Photography | Gabriella Insana Words | Richard Burton
If you’re interested in the latest trends in floor tiles you need only look down at an Instagrammer’s feet. Beneath the soles of the shoes worn by the likes of architect Gabriella Insana and her followers you’ll find a world built on the most elaborate uses of stone, clay and porcelain. It’s a natural blend. She’s a girl who loves her shoes and she lives in Sicily, a small island off the “boot” of Italy, a place well known for some of the finest ceramics in the world. Tiles have become the go-to backdrop for so-called foot-selfie photographers who have been standing and snapping the world over for ten years. And what’s more it’s fitting. The first Instagram picture ever posted featured a foot in flip-flops. The app’s creator, Kevin Systrom, caught it as he turned his camera downwards to photograph his dog from above way back in 2010. Since then, hundreds of thousands of Instagrammers have shared photos of eye-catching floors using the I Have This Thing With Floors hashtag and posting everything that is colourful, geometric or just quirky in everywhere from homes, offices and airports, to museums and public squares. Workmates Edith Beurskens, Josha Jansen and Pien van Wijmen created the account and started the craze during
an after-work drink in an Amsterdam bar when they realised they had something in common. They told their followers: “When feet meet nice floors, take a selfeet.” And they have - more than 2,100 times. More recently, the Messina-born Gabriella, 43, a woman who is happy to admit having a “boundless passion for shoes” launched her own account: I Have This Thing With Tiles. Since then, she has posted more than 2,000 times and prompted House Beautiful magazine to declare it one of their favourite hashtags to follow. So I decided to put my best foot forward and ask her why, exactly, does she have this thing with tiles? “I come from Santo Stefano di Camastra, famous for its pottery and tiles,” she said. “I’ve always lived with all the amazing colours of hand-made ceramics. Both my parents are also teachers of art and artists too and they have always created art with ceramics. Some years ago, before social networks existed, I started to take pictures of the floors that I loved, just to link my
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Gabriella Insana | architect