Venice, Ialy / Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy
Walter Stefani – Venetian, is currently a student at the architecture faculty of IUAV University of Venice. In 2016, he won the O-Six for Art contest, organised by Italian company Thema Optical, with his project Wearing Architectures. The glasses, produced in a limited edition, were displayed at Palazzo Mora in Venice during the 2017 art Biennale and are currently displayed as part of Pieve di Cadore’s Eyewear Museum’s permanent exhibit.
Mattia Menardi – Born and raised in Cortina d’Ampezzo, after getting his state diploma in the arts, he is attending the architecture faculty of IUAV University of Venice. Since childhood he has demonstrated a keen interest for arts and craftsmanship, particularly carpentry and woodwork, a passion which he pursues in order to be come a master carpenter.
OMBRA – The mutability of light in Venice, the infinite nuances it shines on every surface it touches: water, stone, walls, glass. Indirect light illuminating the artworks by Tiziano which populate the palaces and museums of the city on the lagoon, instants made eternal by the hands of one of the most important artists ever to have worked on the island. Ombra is the product of such suggestions, made up of typically Venetian materials: papiermâché, Murano glass, gold leaf. Ombra is comprised of two opposed papier-mâché plates, akin to Carnival masks, their interior sides coated in gold leaf. Like Venetian masks, their external side lends itself to being painted and decorated via a number of different artistic techniques: monochromatic paint, reproduction of famous paintings, paper marbling etc. Hidden between the two plates like a pearl, a bulb made of Murrina-style glass contains the light source and shines on the golden surfaces and thus the surrounding environment in infinite shades of colour without ever being seen. Other than controlling the intensity of the light source, domestic systems allow to move the two discs gradually and reciprocally from a closed to an open position, according to the different lighting needs of the environment throughout the day or the user’s will. The intersection of the two circular elements, generated by this particular movement, recall the shapes studied by Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa. Due to the mutability of its external appearance and the simplicity of its installation on a wall, Ombra can be placed in a wide market, to illuminate both public and private spaces, bringing Venice’s light in every corner of the world.
