Loris Marazzi's Art Studio
Arriving in Venice by train is very
civilized, affording tantalising glimpses of the great historical city as the train crosses the lagoon whilst cocooned in
calm.
Peace was shattered immediately on leaving the train to join the throng trying to make sense of the water bus
routes.
We eventually found the refuge of our hotel right by the rialto bridge and spent the next few days exploring the
treasures. It was on such a walk that I noticed an old poster on a wall showing some very interesting wood carving of everyday items by Loris
Marazzi.
So we went to look him up.
His tiny shop is also his workshop and is crammed with carvings of coats, hats, parcels, umbrellas, washing on lines, etc. the accuracy and realism was uncanny.
Loris was there, working on a furled umbrella.
fortunately his english put my italian to shame and we had a nice chat. Although I'd not heard of him he seems to be well enough known to make a decent living from private clients via his shop, word of mouth, participation in local artistic events and his website ( www.lorismarazzi.com ). Almost everything he makes is a commission and over a third of his output goes to british customers. He had a full size carved coat stand complete with coats and walking stick that he was crating up to go to Chichester. I thought better of offering to deliver it.
He uses mostly pine from the northern italian mountains with some hardwood for finely detailed parts. Everything is carved from wood, even the string on parcels and the wire on coat hangers. He uses waxes to finish and though he does not color the wood, he does use waxes of different shades to get some contrast.
The pictures will give you some idea of the quality and humour of his work and the website has much more.
If you go to his spectacular city, before it slips beneath the rising sea and you're suffering from an over-rich diet of art-galleries and churches, I can recommend a visit to Loris
in front of the Peggy
Guggenheim Museum. you can have a chat to this very nice man and be bowled over by his work. There is also a cafè a few doors away that the tourists don't seem to have found where you can get to drink or a coffee without taking out a mortgage. |
