Efisio Usai
The tradition of Assemini ceramics

Saverio Pastor is one of the last "remèr" (oar maker) masters in Venice: an ancient trade, which was born in Venice many centuries ago, when mobility around the lagoon was entirely by rowing.
This noble craft is nowadays in danger of disappearing, because there are few craftspeople who are able to carry on this important know-how, and even fewer young talents who have the courage to invest many years in such a challenging job.
Nevertheless, this tradition is deeply rooted into the Venetian history and culture. 
Saverio Pastor trained alongside masters Giuseppe Carli and Gino Fossetta. In 2002 he opened his own workshop, "Le Forcole", specialized in the construction of oars and oarlocks for Venetian gondolas, according to traditional techniques dating back to the Renaissance.

Laura Inghirami, journalist and advisor specialized in the jewelry sector, and Founder of Donna Jewel, interviewed, for the Cologni Foundation, the Master artisans who have been acknowledged in 2022 as “MAM – Master of Arts and Crafts”, in the category: Jewelry - Silversmithing - Goldsmithing.

Vincenzo Aucella, Marketing Manager and Master artisan of Aucella, and President of Assocoral, awarded MAM - Master of Arts and Crafts, has accompanied us to discover the history of his family company, which is based in Torre del Greco (close to Naples), home to a fascinating centuries-old tradition, and specialized in the processing and production of corals and cameos. “Post Fata Resurgo”: this is the motto of the city, which, like the legendary phoenix, has always risen from the difficulties to build a future made of uniqueness, art and beauty.

Anita Cerrato is a ceramic restorer with a great passion for the Japanese culture and aesthetics.
She specializes in Kintsugi, a ceramic repair technique that does not hide the fractures of the object, but enhances them by embellishing them: an imperfect beauty capable of restoring life and meaning to any object.
In her atelier in Milan, she creates objects and furnishing accessories of the highest quality, with original raw materials from the Empire of the Rising Sun: clay, precious Urushi lacquer, and Marufun gold.
In 2022 she was awarded the title MAM - Master of Art and Craft by the Cologni Foundation.

The history of the Barbini family goes along with the tradition of Venetian mirrors, which dates back to the 16th century. The brothers Giovanni and Vincenzo Barbini, with the support of their children, still nowadays personally carry out all the stages of processing using the traditional techniques of the craft. In 2018 they received the accolade MAM - Master of Art and Craft, promoted by the Cologni Foundation in collaboration with Alma. They took part in Homo Faber Event 2022 in Venice, exhibiting an extraordinary monumental mirror in homage to the Empire of the Rising Sun.

Antonella Cimatti, a teacher and ceramicist from Faenza, bases her poetics on creative, aesthetic and design research and innovative experimentation with contemporary techniques. Her works are designed to arouse wonder and enchantment: the whiteness of her very light porcelain crepes, large lace cups hovering on transparent crystalline stems, immaculate butterflies on the verge of taking flight with their long shadows projected on the wall, still life and light installations played on shadows through digital and LED processing. Chasing the miracle of lightness.

Nicolò Morales was born in 1973 in Caltagirone, where he lives and works. He attended the Art Institute in his city, and since an early age he has been practising in the workshops of master ceramists. His atelier is in the historic centre of the Sicilian town, where he creates both functional objects and sculptures, some of which of considerable size, with inexhaustible creativity. Here he displays his anthropomorphic vases typical of the Caltagirone tradition, but also his avant-garde interpretations, as well as reproductions of 13th-century protomaiolica. Morales literally uses the colours of his land, which he derives directly from minerals collected in the countryside around Caltagirone.

Elvira Keller was born and raised in Naples. After graduating, she devoted herself to learning ceramic techniques in several studios. She specialised in the art of majolica at the Ballardini Institute in Faenza: here she settled and opened the workshop where she still practices her profession. Thanks to her expertise and know-how, she has taken part in personal and collective exhibitions in Italy and abroad. Her highly personal poetics are inspired by cosmic space and nature, with architectural contaminations.

In 1873, Domenico Conti Borbone founded the bookbindery that still bears his name. An accomplished master bookbinder, he left the baton to his niece Giuseppina and her husband Isacco Marchesi. The two moved to Corso Magenta in 1919, and it is still here that their grandsons, Gianluca, Gabriele and Angelo, officially at the helm of the company since 2000, cultivate and innovate the art of bookbinding. The workshop produces marbled papers, special colouring on leather, gold embossing and perfect bindings. Everything is done by hand, from sewing the book, gluing, cutting, making the cover to the beautiful decoration and printing.

Lorenza Bessone is the driving force behind Solelò, a brand of handmade ceramics with a minimalist style. In her workshop in Saluzzo (Cuneo), the city where she was born and raised, she crafts objects and accessories in stoneware entirely by hand, from the design to the processing, from the finishing to the enamels, which are also handmade. In 2021 she was one of the finalists in the "Artigiano del Cuore" (Artisan of the Heart) competition of the platform Wellmade.

The Busato family print shop has been based for over 70 years in the historic centre of Vicenza, in a 16th-century building. Giancarlo Busato has inherited the workshop founded in 1946 by his grandfather Ottorino, who had worked for over twenty years in the most important print shops in the Veneto region. His grandson continues the family passion and has been working since 1996 in chalcography and lithography, using exclusively artisan printing systems that have remained unchanged over time, spending his days among the presses, templates, inks and paper. A visit to the print shop in the heart of the city is a truly fascinating and very special experience. Its passionate owner is always ready to welcome visitors with stories and live demonstrations. Busato also does a lot of teaching to pass on his beloved craft to young people.

Giuseppe Peluso, known as Pino, is one of the most illustrious names of the prestigious Neapolitan tailoring tradition. Born in 1972 in Caivano, his father was a tailor and his mother worked as an embroiderer. At the age of fourteen he already made and signed his first jackets, after having learned to cut and sew vests, jackets and trousers to perfection. Since 2017, Sartoria Peluso has been welcoming its customers to Posillipo, in a splendid and panoramic lounge overlooking the Gulf of Naples.

Martha Pachon Rodriguez is Colombian, but Italian by adoption: for more than 20 years, in fact, she has been designing and manufacturing beautiful porcelain artefacts in her atelier in Faenza, one of the most important centers of Italian ceramics. With her experimental and creative attitude, Martha draws inspiration above all from nature and human spirit, creating a perfect combination of shapes, colors and sounds. A poetic and refined know-how that fascinates anyone who crosses the threshold of her magical cave. An overwhelming passion, a happiness of doing that captivates since the first meeting.

Georg Demetz Pilat was born in 1962, the fourth generation of a family strongly linked to the art of wood carving. After completing his sculpture studies at the Institute of Art in Ortisei, he had the opportunity to learn the trade from various masters. In 1987 he obtained the title of master sculptor and started his own business. He works in his workshop in Ortisei where he creates unique pieces in wood and bronze.

The atelier of Ulderico Pinfildi, the supreme master of crib art, is in San Gregorio Armeno, in the heart of Naples. He grew up in the family workshop, and he likes to define his history as a true genealogy. Opened in 1986, the atelier is led by Ulderico and his wife Imma, who took over from his father Alfredo. In his house-shop you can breathe the atmosphere of that extraordinary world of which the Neapolitan crib has been a unique expression since the eighteenth century.

Luciano Fagnola, has been working in the field of bookbinding for over 40 years. He graduated in the Bookbinding at the Colle Don Bosco Graphic School, in the province of Asti. During his career he has collaborated with several important artists, such as Ugo Nespolo, Guido Giordano, Francesco Casorati, Giuseppe Uncini, Ferdinando Texidor, Aldo Mondino, Francesco Musante; thanks to these contacts he has developed a personal style of binding, poetic, suggestive and magical.

Carraro Chabarik is a project centered on mosaic art. It is a contemporary artisan workshop that combines creative thinking and manufacturing skills. The laboratory is located in the historic center of Udine; we work on both the conception and the composition of the mosaics;, we develop artistic research works in dialogue with clients; a line of jewels with precious mosaic inserts; furnishing elements and architectural projects, such as wall and floor coverings... all our products are born from the tradition of high craftsmanship, re-interpreted to achieve very modern results.

Antonino Negri (Lodi,) 1961: crafts his ceramic masterpieces in his workshop, “Terra Crea”. Earth, water, fire and air are the recurring primordial elements that permeate the archetypal forms of his production, where technical expertise and poetry merge. They are pure and perfect forms that tell ancient tales.

Victor Fotso Nyie was born in Cameroon in 1990. In 2010 he graduated from the Artistic Training Institute of Mbalmayo, in his native Country. In 2012 he came to Italy to attend a Mosaic course at the Ravenna Academy of Fine Arts. At the same time he became passionate about the ceramic language and in 2015 he obtained a diploma in Cesena as Technician for the design and prototyping of ceramic products. His artistic research led him to collaborate with several ceramic artists including Bertozzi & Casoni and Bottega Gatti. His talent has soon be noticed: he has already inaugurated a solo exhibition at the Carlo Zauli Museum in Faenza. Victor is the winner of Artigiano del Cuore 2021 contest, and until 31 August it is possible to support his activity through a foundraising on: link to the gift network.

The M&Dusa textile company, founded in the 1960s in Samugheo (Oristano) and taken over by Marcella and Daniela Sanna in 2004, is acknowledged for its rich production of textiles, inspired by the traditional Sardinian weaving techniques and motifs. Carpets, delicate curtains, precious tablecloths and fabrics are mainly intended for home furnishings and the hotel sector. The atelier boasts, among its clients, important hotels and resorts on the Costa Smeralda. An ancient textile art, which only the skilled hands of women can recreate, is expressed intact and precious in the M&Dusa textile workshop, a small, all-female reality.

Rita Bargna was born in 1942 in Como, but has almost always lived and worked in Cantù. She learned the art of bobbin lace from her mother at the age of 5, and then cultivated for over sixty years the passion for this discipline, both as a collector and as a creator of more than one hundred unique pieces. Rita Bargna is also proactive in teaching bobbin lace, and has directed some schools for the transmission of this noble and ancient art. In 1999 she founded and still presides over the Associazione Merletti d'Arte di Cantù.