Patterns

Violin 2009

I have a life made of simple things: there's never a great bustle in my studio, so I have the needed quiet to focus on the design of this or the next instrument, there's a lot to understand, more instruments I make, clearer some concepts become, I discover new problems, new different shades, other rough edges to knock off.
Every detail brought to light is a step into a deep darkness where just a faint light guides me and I am there, ready to adjust to every sloping change, every sharpness of a mostly unknown landscape, while behind me, a bright afternoon, the sky is clear and I can see my starting point even from a great distance. Beginning with doubts you'll find your certainties. I don't know where I'll go, but meanwhile I enjoy the pleasure of overcoming my limits.
I love my job.

Pieces of wood

From theory to practice: the soundboard

I clearly remember the story of each one of the pieces of wood that sourround me: I remember when, how and where I first met them and why I decided to keep them with me.

Far above time, I sharpen my tools and dig the blades in the material, feeling its thickness, its grain, its scent and sound.

My work proceeds with the needed slowness, as when, discovering a new landscape, we carefully look around, choosing to follow those streets, those alleys that more attract us.

The Beginning

Outline drawing

Divisions of spaces. A segment, a harmoniously divided distance between two points: these are the basic elements to make a musical instrument.

Natural shapes. The beauty of the crest of the wave, of the glowing wheat, of the honeycomb, of a tree, of a hand, of a body, of a movement.

Each instrument is a little world where everything has its color, where everything seems like a face able to speak its feeling aloud, with a voice that utters, announces, screams, tells, cheers up, enchants. 

Who am I?

Inevitably, following the stream of events, of feelings and choices, you always find yourself deeply involved in realities that you’ve never even dreamed of.

I’ve always been good at making summaries and, to prove it, I’ll quote an essay I wrote in Primary School with the title “Describe yourself”:

“I am a human being, short, fat and who gets easily pissed off”

As you understand from the blog title, I’m a violin maker, but also  a mate, a father, a son, a brother, a friend; I have a cat, a dog, a hen (there were three of them, but a fox  might be responsible for their missing), I live and work in the country between Tuscany and Umbria, in a small village that counts about 2000 inhabitants and whose church bells are so out of tune that, if I were God, I’d get really angry and I'd not be able to restrain myself from sending them a bright lightening.