Between the simple and the precious
- Stefania's drawings are made with graphite and gold leaf on paper
- Her practice is hand led and rooted in a slow rhythm
- In her Venetian atelier, she transforms drawing into everyday objects
Stefania Dei Rossi’s drawings are a creative universe of contrasts, where humble graphite meets precious gold on a single sheet of paper. Growing up immersed in the world of artisan workshops, Stefania came to understand gilding not as decoration, but as a language. "Gilding is a golden ground that lifts the drawn subject out of the ordinary and into a quieter, more suspended world," she says. Since opening her atelier Oro & Disegni in Campo Santa Maria Nova, in the heart of Venice, this language has found new forms. Her drawings now leave the page and become placemats, prints and jewellery, created to carry the same suspended atmosphere into the rhythms of everyday life.
INTERVIEW
I draw in pencil on paper and gild the background with gold leaf. Gilding is a restoration technique I’ve stolen from my mother’s world: when I first used it to enrich my drawings, I knew at once it was a perfect match for simple graphite. Together, grey and gold became my signature.
There were many in my mother’s workshop, and I’ve always been fascinated by their double function of highlighting and isolating what they support. By placing hens and other animals on pedestals, I can see and represent them differently, from a new and uncommon point of view.
Drawing eyes. It’s also the most difficult and delicate moment, because eyes are the mirror of the soul: that’s why I always take my time to delineate them in detail. Afterwards, the bulk is done and I’m no longer alone: my subject is finally out of my head, able to communicate and keep me company.
Both my hometown Trieste, where I share my mother’s atelier, and Venice, where I live and plan to open a workshop. The first is a border city, where people search for themselves like I do in my drawings. The second is the biggest and most beautiful archive of settings and decorations, which are essential to my art.
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