Ascoli Piceno, Italy
Gianluca Staffolani graduated from the F. Mengaroni State Institute of Pesaro in Goldsmithing, and continued his studies at the Fine Arts Academy of Macerata in sculpture. He also attended TAM directed by the sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro, continuing his professional training alternating between sculpture and jewellery and working in various laboratories between Marche and Abruzzo. In 1994 he worked in the laboratory of Vinicio Antonelli, holder of the first hallmark in the province of Ascoli Piceno. From 1996 to 1998 he was the first student, and then assistant, to the goldsmith and sculptor of the Vatican Museums, Giovanni Contri. In 2001 he opened his sculpture and goldsmith studio. In 2009 he participated in the seminar held by the artist Stefano Marchetti “Surface in depth”, Lucca at the goldsmith school directed by Giò Carbone.
Morte e Vita, brooch
Death: plexiglass, nylon and silver 925/000
Life: plexiglass, nylon and silver 925/000 and wheat germ
The “Death” brooch, where one can spot Dante Alighieri in the background, is white, the colour traditionally associated with death in African countries, the exact opposite of our European culture. Dante is an icon of the beyond, a symbol of the human spirit that wanders the underworld or gets lost within the divine light. The brooch is therefore a representation of the interior journey of man who mingles with mystery, sins and graces, and is the ineffable symbol of ambiguity and the enigma that is engraved within the human character.
The “Life” brooch, on the other hand, is in black plastic, symbolising a deadly grass field of grass, where each strand is substituted by needle – looking threads that make everything look dead, extinguished when indeed digging within one can find a single natural grain, symbol of the life that still blooms and represent the unstoppable will to life of humans.
SISMA, brooch
Materials: 925/000 silver, Plexiglass, recycled plastic.
The pin was made partly with recycled plastic.
Gian Luca lives in Ascoli Piceno, in the Marche region. Because of that he personally experienced the earthquake of 2016: he felt the power of the earth screaming and jolting, it was not possible to oppose or even escape, he simply expected everything to calm down: then everything changes.
This is the beginning and from here the “SISMA” brooch was born.
It wants to give the sense of something powerful, lava, which moves beneath us, then, the propagation of invisible but devastating waves and forces. It is the story that is repeated, it is the Arab Phoenix, pain and healing, death and life.
In this brooch there is no pain, on the contrary, in it there is a feeling of calm given by light transparencies. The reason for this lightness is because it represents the moment immediately following the “tremor”. It is the beginning of re-birth. It is a kind of planetary explosion from which a new thing is born. It is the normal cycle of existence: from the ashes it always re-born new life.
