Turning kitsch into art form
- Andrea was trained by master ceramicists Bertozzi & Casoni
- In 2009 he was awarded the prestigious Premio Faenza
- It takes him up to 15 days to create an elephant
Andrea Salvatori is the perfect example of how dedication and study can enable a pupil to equal his master. Andrea learned the secrets of ceramics from the creative duo Giampaolo Bertozzi and Stefano Dal Monte Casoni. Their Bertozzi & Casoni atelier is one of the feathers in the cap of Italian ceramics. “Funnily enough, in the beginning my idea was to study sculpture. I enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, but in my spare time I started working with Bertozzi & Casoni to earn some pocket money. I ended up falling in love with ceramics.” His passion was soon rewarded by success: in 2009, Andrea received one of the most important prizes in the world for ceramics, the Premio Faenza.
INTERVIEW
At first, I tried to move as far away as possible from the classic Faenza ceramics. Then I discovered the extraordinary creations of the great masters of the 20th century: Pietro Melandri, Carlo Zauli, Riccardo Gatti. In a way, I brought their work into mine.
Exactly. Part of my production consists of taking existing pieces, which I find in antiques markets, and transforming them by adding something of my own. It can be the figurine of a young lady being swallowed by a dragon, or more abstract designs.
I graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts with a final essay on kitsch, and I immediately tried to merge this point of view with ceramics. My first work was a figurine depicting a self-portrait of myself wearing a Hawaiian shirt, representing the stereotype of the average tourist.
A researcher of shapes. I like to start with a commonplace shape and arrive at something unexpected. The moment I love most in my craft is when I sit in my studio, hands in the clay, with an audiobook in the background to help me immerse myself into wonderful stories while I create.
