Giuseppe Giudici
Sculptural sundials
- Giuseppe is a self-taught gnomonist
- He creates sundials and armillary spheres
- His youthful passion has become his career
Giuseppe Giudici was a teenager fond of painting and the fine arts, when an encounter with gnomonics led him to fall in love with the discipline. Now he’s a self-taught craftsman with over 30 years of experience. He creates sundials in marble, stone, bronze, steel and other solar timekeeping devices, such as armillary spheres (astrolabes) in steel for exteriors. Since a solar clock quadrant is the mathematical projection of the celestial vault, every sundial is site-specific, to grant a chronometric precision: a gnomon indicates the time of the day by casting a shadow as the sun moves across the sky. Giuseppe takes care of every phase of the project, the scientific, technical and artistic elements which include astronomic calculations, production, installation and decoration.
Interview
- How would you define what you are?
- I’m a gnomonist, that is to say I build solar clocks, sundials and spheric astrolabes. I am totally self-taught, I began just for passion, and today I am one of the few Italian craftsman who produces these kind of devices.
- What do you like the most about what you do?
- Solar clocks are fascinating artworks, in which science and art are blended together. They come from the most ancient human knowledge, dating back many centuries. They’re sky mirrors, that make you think about the nature of time and our place in the Universe.
- Why order a handcrafted armillary sphere in 2021?
- Armillary spheres are ancient but timeless objects, that have always been a symbol of knowledge and a prestigious item. They can be installed as garden sculptures, through which people can observe the flow of time and the cycle of the seasons in harmony with nature.
- Could your craft be considered in danger?
- Not at all! On the contrary, gnomonics is a lively discipline today, especially compared to the last century, thanks to the Internet. The web has broadened the access to information about solar clocks and the mathematical methods to create them.
Giuseppe Giudici is an expert artisan: he began his career in 2010
Where
Giuseppe Giudici
