I am an Italian Professional Artist, Painter, Book Illustrator, Set and Costume Designer, Fashion Designer, Tailor, with more than 25 years experience in many different fields of Art. I live in Canada, on Vancouver Island, with my husband (Canadian writer and Anthropology professor) and our two Italian cats.
I’m a 100x100 Nature lover that’s why I am also a Certified Wildlife Rehabilitator from BC SPCA Wild Arc and IWRC.
Nature is our house, Art starts from Nature. I have a strong background of studies in Classical Humanities and Art and Restoration, Fashion, Costumes and Set Design. I have a very long experience in teaching art and crafts of the old Italian tradition of theatre and costumes. Painting and drawing are my first and favourite skills, I'm an expert in Storyboards, Sketches , Illustrations . Creativity is my life and my way to communicate and connect with the world. In my experience as Set and Costume Designer in Theatre and Performing Arts, I was working primarily in Drama and Opera to produce approximately 200 shows in Italy, France, New York, and Russia. This work has always been very useful and flexible with regards to painting techniques and manual and conceptual work on alternative fabrics and materials, the different printing techniques and the approach to organic and non-organic materials. My work in fashion and in theatre and films have always gone hand in hand, being strictly complementary. Most recently, from 2013 to 2017, I served as Head of Costume and Set design Department for the Laboratory of Arts at Teatro della Pergola, the Italian National Theatre in Florence. I am originally from the island of Sardinia and spent my adult life working and living in Florence, until moving to Victoria two years ago with my husband, a teacher and writer here on Vancouver Island. As head of Costumes and set Design Department, my work focused on three areas: 1) coordination and production of Set Design, Costumes, and handcrafted props for the internal productions of the Theatre; 2) managing collaborations with international partners, cultural institutions, theatre companies, and museums; and 3) running a costume design workshop—a “Laboratory of Arts”—to train a new generation of theatre enthusiasts, especially young people, in the historic traditions of Art & Crafts of the Italian Theatre. In these three areas, my responsibilities included every step of creation and wardrobe management, from budget lines and labour forecasts, to organizing the workspace and storage, pre-show development, building and construction, and managing the crew of assistants needed to produce multifaceted shows and exhibits.
As a native of Sardinia, I am proud to have been raised in a family that remains deeply connected to the practice of our Indigenous culture and traditions. Though politically part of Italy, Sardinia is an autonomous island whose people who were never fully colonized; we speak our own language (whose roots are Semitic not Latin), and are descended from the Nuragic peoples who mixed with Phoenicians during the early Iron Age: Sardinians are among the last remaining Indigenous people of the Mediterranean. I was introduced to our art, culture, and language from an early age—especially the extraordinary Sardinian tradition of local and village-based costumery that spans the entire island—and my feeling for art and drama is rooted in this unbroken chain with the performers, artists, and artisans of our past.
After receiving a classical education in Sardinia, my professional life began in Florence, in 1994, where I studied at the Institute for Art & Restoration, specializing in restoration of Renaissance textiles; costume design; fashion design, and period costumes. Coming out of university, I apprenticed (a system that is still common in Italy) for six years with one of the country’s top costume designers. Especially this experience was highly formative regarding the artistic techniques necessary for an effective artistic and sartorial creation with a great visual impact, always keeping going with my personal projects of painting and crafting. In the late 1990s, I left Italy to spend two years in New York as a costume design assistant on Off-Broadway musicals, and working as fashion designer assistant at Calvin Klein Group, and afterwards travelled to Russia for six months to work in the majestic opera house of Kazan, an unforgettable experience for me.
After returning to Italy, for over a decade I operated my own design company continuing to collaborate with several Made in Italy Fashion companies and producing costumes and sets for theatre and film across the country, and managing a team of assistants working together from Milan to Palermo. In addition to film and theatre, we also created advertising and marketing campaigns. Now my artistic focus is on Video editing and documentaries, Pattern design, book illustrations and finally I'm working on my first Children's book, written and illustrated by me.
