THE WEAVING ART IN PERUGIA

Marta, weaver

Welcome to my atelier in the heart of Perugia! It will be a pleasure to host you in my atelier, the former Church of San Francesco delle Donne, a deconsecrated building that in 1200AD was the first Franciscan church in Perugia. Since 1996, the hand-weaving workshop of Giuditta Brozzetti—my great-grandmother and founder of the atelier—has been based in these magnificent premises, and today it is one of the last places in Italy to practice hand-weaving. I will tell you the history of the workshop, started in 1921 with the intuition of Giuditta who recovered traditional motifs and designs from the Umbrian territory and founded the workshop-school for the production of high quality artistic fabrics for home furnishings. Millennial techniques and ancient production phases are still used today to create incredibly contemporary fabrics of historical inspiration. I will show you our artistic production that has been hand-woven in linen, cotton, silk, cashmere blend and gold and silver laminate on antique eighteenth-century pedal looms and nineteenth-century Jacquard looms. You will understand the functioning of our imposing Jacquard looms and of my beloved original loom of the 1700s, with which I still make copies of the fabrics found in the frescoes by Pinturicchio, Giotto, and Luca Signorelli, but also the initial phase of the work process: the preparation of the warp and weft, set up with a machine that was modified by Leonardo da Vinci, according to a system that is more than 500 years old! After discovering the secrets of production, you will test yourself under my guide, creating a decorative tassel made with the yarns I use for my production, which you can take home with you as a souvenir of the experience!

PERUGIA, Pg

STUCCO WITH THE FAMILY

PATRIZIA, artisan of gypsum

Are you ready for a journey among beauty? I'm going to take you in the fascinating world of stucco, a history as ancient as man. Imprints in mud can be considered as primordial molds. It all begins from the gypsum's dust that capable hands transform into artworks. With this you will prepare the mixture to be poured into molds that are made in the atelier. All the creative-productive process, in fact, is the result of research, experience and know-how accumulated over many years. Now have fun: wear Renaissance fashion aprons, use brushes, colors, soils, glues, shine with brass, silver, and gold leaves, paint with ancient lacquers, rub the beeswax, sign your work to make it unique! The story of your family, of your memories, of your plans, what matters most to you, all fixed in the fine and elegant preciosity of title blocks and hearts. During this workshop I will initially present to you my activity. After an introduction to the ancient art of stucco, we will go through the preparation of the dough base. Once we have done this, we will proceed with the pouring in the hearts' and title blocks' molds. We'll then get ready for the leaf gilding. At this point we'll move to the leaf lightening of the relieves, before passing to the pictorial decoration and to the brush writing. Once we are done with these stages, we'll be ready for the painting, the coating and the final lacquering. At the end of the workshop I'll provide you with the object that you created, the booklet, the Diploma of Participation and the “weirdo license” of Gubbio. This envisages a really particular procedure to be carried out, exactly in front of my atelier!

GUBBIO, Pg

RESTORATION AND FAMILY

Maria Josè, restorer

We'll tell you the story of our artisan family, showing you the various activities, from faithful reproduction of vintage furniture, painting, gilding, restoration, cabinetmaking, up to turning. We'll experience together the emotion in the final creation of a wooden-tile. We'll use the pounce technique, the original gilding technique (“doratura a guazzo”), and/or the painting with colors prepared as our ancestors used to do. You'll keep the final artwork as a memory of the morning we'll spend together.

GUBBIO, Pg