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.