Young Promises

Leonardo Bianchi

Florence, Scagliola at Bottega Bianco Bianchi

“I was born in Florence and I am part of a family of artisans who deal with the art of scagliola. A few years ago I entered the laboratory and I took part, following the family business, in exhibitions in Vilnius, at the palace of the Grand Dukes, in Paris, at the Salon international du Patrimoine culturel in 2018, and at Homo Faber in Venice, in 2018 again. I put myself at the service of my father to learn, step by step, to become more familiar and mastery of a technique whose difficulty, at first, scared me. Only by practising and practising a lot I realised that I could be part of this world too, the one of craftsmanship. Working hard, earning people’s respect and consideration for what you can do and how well you can do it.”

Even as a child, I enjoyed working on small pieces of wood for fun. Over time, then, the world of handicrafts became more and more captivating to me.
My father has always been my teacher. Every day I learn new lessons from him, but the most valuable teaching is to ‘steal with my eyes,’ as when as a child, while cleaning frames in the workshop, I watched him at work: his positions, how he held his hands, how he spread the plaster and how he applied the gold leaf. I love every single step, but if I had to choose one it would be the frame carving part. My father framed works by artists like Leonardo and Titian. For my part, this summer I had the honor of making a frame for a painting by Felice Casorati.

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