Rossella Casadio

Mosaic maker | Cesenatico, Italy

Recommended by

Fondazione Cologni Dei Mestieri D'Arte

Maritime mosaics

Rossella mixes many different materials
She is mostly inspired by sea life
Each of her mosaics is unique

Rossella Casadio is a mosaic artist who has an unmistakable style and great originality. Educated in Ravenna, the capital of early Christian mosaics, she developed a personal vision which led her to the renovation of this ancient art through the creation of unique, contemporary pieces. Born and raised by the sea, in Cesenatico, where she now has her atelier, Rossella is inspired, above all, by the marine world and its creatures. To make her mosaics, she “paints” on wooden reused boards, with a variety of materials: rich and poor, traditional and uncommon, new and recycled, from the Venetian gold and smalti, to old rusty nails. In a never-ending technical and imaginative research path.

Interview

Have you always been inspired by the sea?: I began like anyone else by making furnishings and ornaments, mirrors and so on. Later I focused on this great passion: I was born by the sea, my mum is a photographer specialising in underwater photography and almost all my relatives are scuba dive instructors.
Did you learn from a master in a workshop?: I learned at a school in Ravenna: an inexhaustible treasure, also studying restoration. There I met a teacher, Marco De Luca, who suggested I should let my vision grow, looking around at anything but other artist's mosaics. It worked! And then I was ready to start.
What materials do you use?: Any: the Venetian smalti tiles, marble, stones, Raku pottery, ceramic, porcelain, the precious Venetian gold and many poor or recycled stuff, such as old tools, pieces of copper, iron, steel, rubber, glass, plastic, crystal. Re-use is metamorphosis.
Are materials crucial in the process?: Definitely. When I’m ready to realise a vision, at first I look for the wooden support. Every mosaic is a unique piece, made experimenting with materials, which are colours and textures, playing with light. The choice is very accurate. Then I cut and treat them.

Rossella Casadio is an expert artisan: she began her career in 1995