Soon after my studies I decided to work with my hands and focus on Pietra Leccese, a common limestone in my region. A ceramics professor taught me the theory, but I spent the rest of my life experimenting and studying the expressive potential of that stone, to find a universal, contemporary language.

I am inspired by the natural, organic shapes of my land: the wind, the sea, olive trees, dry stone walls. Shapes – and emotions – which are surely linked to my land, but they are also universal: a message of beauty and purity, which speaks to everyone’s heart.

Instead of replicating baroque designs to create cheap souvenirs, I took the opposite direction, earning the “antibaroque” nickname. I was a pioneer – the first one to use stone for lamps, for instance – and now my shapes are copied everywhere. But throughout my career, the key aspects have always been love, commitment and research.

It has been a brand for a while: I had my gallery in Lecce and shops around the world. But I still feel like an artisan and in 2010 I came back to my roots: I work in my home-workshop creating only unique pieces, using just my simple tools, the same that artisans used 400 years ago.