FACES AND ARMOUR

My journey begins at the pace of elegant ladies and glorious knights, along the grain of wood and the polished surfaces of metal. After careful study, the raw material takes on increasingly defined shapes after hours of physical work during which the idea travels, vibrates and asserts itself in its splendour. In keeping with tradition, Orlando, Rinaldo, Bradamante and many others now have faces and armour that have been perfected over time and in technique, bringing detail to the highest level, as a work of art dictates.

Puppet theatre as we know it today developed in Sicily at the end of the 18th century, with the Pupi in paggio, unarmed puppets representing Sicilian stories; of these works, only the farces that are still performed today have survived. The Sicilian puppet is nothing more than an evolution of the puppet artfully embellished to play characters such as the Paladins of France, protagonists with their shining armour of the Opera dei Pupi.

The creation begins with modelling the face in clay and then, through a number of working stages, obtaining a papier-mâché mask to be placed on a wooden base. Once the pieces that make up the pine and beech framework have been cut out, they are carved and shaped. The metals used for reinforcement are copper, brass and nickel silver. A ‘template’, i.e. an outline drawn on the metal, is made for each individual part. The cut piece is chiselled or embossed according to techniques handed down from our ancestors. Once the armour is finished, the seamstress sews the clothes and at the same time all the parts that need pigment are painted. The final assembly of all the pieces that make up a Pupo takes about a day, while the creation of a whole Pupo can take up to a month.

The Puparo’s craft revolves around various craftsmen, handed down skills that have found expression in the creation of numerous objects and works of art: jewellery, bracelets, parure, products of refined craftsmanship that interweave metalworking with contemporary sensitivity and design. From the most precious metals and beyond wood, the same hands shape with the same care papier-mâché, the simplest element from which the whole tradition moves. Through careful processing and finishing, it is also possible to create much more, such as sacred statues. This is the meaning of my activity, the meaning of creating does not end with giving form, but is completed by capturing the breath of life in my creations and revealing it to the world.