Why did you decide to work with glass, when you were already a painter?
As I like to repeat to the apprentices who have trained with me over the years, one must never tire of experimenting with new forms of expression. There is continuity between my paintings and the glass I create: the colours I mix come to life when I melt them. I melt glass several times before I achieve the result I am looking for.
Is this research the part of your work you enjoy most?
Yes. Only when I open the furnace do I know if all the work I have imagined has come true. Although I know the material and have worked with it for years, once you fire it you always have to expect the unexpected. The moment I loathe, instead, is conceiving the work.
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For what reason?
Because I am a perfectionist and I am never satisfied with what I do, so it takes me a great deal of time before I define my projects. It took me one year just to draw the stained glass window dedicated to the Apocalypse, which I created for the Santissimo Crocifisso parish in Pavia!
You are very skilled in working both with hot and cold glass...
I have had to expand my knowledge of all glassmaking techniques in order to be able to express myself without limitation. The starting point, however, is always the same: my box of watercolours. I sketch the work I want to create and I keep the sheet in front of me until the very end.