Orienthera

Back for the 2024 edition of the Fuorisalone, the Piccoli Smalti, a brand designed by the talent of the architect and artist Giovanna Ferrero Ventimiglia strong of its constant search for original artistic expressions and its unique creative abilities, has been able to combine Italian craftsmanship of the highest level with an ancient technique of enamelling, cloisonné, looking for aesthetic effects of great elegance and femininity.
Piccoli Smalti is a collection of bas-reliefs that uses thin wires of metal to delimit different parts of a design, thus creating cells filled with colored enamel.
Cloisonné is a decoration technique that has remained almost unchanged over the centuries in which thin threads (filigree) or metal strips create alveoli (cloisons in French) within which the enamel is poured. The origins of the cloisonné are ancient: already known in ancient Egypt, it has developed through different civilizations, reaching its maximum splendor in Byzantium in the twelfth century and finding ample use in the twelfth century in France and Italy.
Enamel is a technique used for centuries in the production of jewelry and decorative arts. It consists of melting powdered glass on a metal surface, typically copper, silver, bronze or brass, to create a durable and colorful coating. The process requires great skill and precision, since the glass must be applied in thin layers and baked at high temperatures to achieve the desired effect. Each piece of the Piccoli Smalti collection, made in a single format of 10X10 square slabs, tells a story and represents an original artistic vision.
The enamels, unique and numbered, are populated by abstract designs with vivid colors that are transformed depending on the material on which they are presented.
After having started to use wood and stone supports, the artist started an experimentation that led her to work with marble, her great passion, with leathers, brass, silver and, more recently, with parchment and papyrus, a happy encounter during his recent research trip to Egypt.
The different materials create an interaction with the color changing the shade.  For her works Giovanna uses "cold" enamels that can be mixed together to obtain sophisticated shades.
The alternation of opaque and transparent colors makes it possible to bring out the geometric designs engraved by hand by the artist, almost a subtext that offers a second reading of the work.
Each enamel, made entirely by hand by a team of skilled craftsmen in Italy, highlights a variety of colors, from vibrant blue and green to warm orange and red. Chromatic scans that give off vivacity, emotions and energy.
Since 2022, the abstract universe of Giovanna Ferrero Ventimiglia has attracted the attention of a selected international audience.
In February 2024 he opened his second solo exhibition at the Sonne Gallery in Silvaplana; while on the occasion of the Design Week 2023 it was hosted by the Orienthera Showroom in Milan and, in February of the same year, at the Nomad exhibition in St Moritz;In October 2022 he opened his first solo exhibition at the Galleria Marta Sala Editions in rue Jacob, Paris.

Who is Giovanna Ferrero Ventimiglia

Giovanna Ferrero Ventimiglia was born in Milan where she graduated in architecture. His artistic career began with oil painting, a technique that he cultivated with passion since the time of the artistic high school to which he joined courses in nudity and decoration. For over 15 years he worked as an interior designer without ever neglecting his artistic activity.

The desire to resume a journey started by her grandfather, Renato Morganti, led her four years ago to experiment with the ancient art of cloisonné to create contemporary and constantly evolving works.