What are your sources of inspiration?
Nature has always been and still is the main source of inspiration in terms of shapes, materials and colours. Nevertheless, there is something deeper in us guiding our hands as we work: our lives, emotions and experiences are the sparkles that ignite our creativity.
How do you express tradition and innovation in your work?
The essence of our activity is fully handmade in a traditional way but we can be very innovative in terms of content, language, designs, and materials. Techniques may help our work, I am thinking about the use of plotters and 3D printing for instance, but they just serve our quintessentially artisanal approach. The key tools of our job are still martelins and chisels at the end.
© Laura Carraro
What do you love most about your profession?
One might think that being a craftsperson means solitary work. On the contrary, our pieces are born out of a continuous and deep relationship with our customers, in order to understand their wishes and needs. Often, our customers become our friends.
What advise would you give a young student?
Our art is very niche, but in great demand nowadays, on a worldwide level. My best suggestion to any young student is one I learned from the great Italian writer, Tiziano Terzani "find your space, design it and don’t be content with preset solutions".