#MadeInItaly collection now online

I’m excited to announce the launch of my Made in Italy collection to the online shop including original artworks produced using traditional printmaking techniques onsite in Florence.

As many of you already know, Italian culture brings great inspiration to my life and work, and I have been fortunate to study and work in Italy for two to three months each year over the last decade.

Usually I would be working in Florence at this time of year, but instead my heart and thoughts are with the incredible people who operate the Atelier 51r l’Armadillo printmaking studio and space for the arts, as they are locked down for the second time this year in the face of COVID-19.

I’ve had the privilege of learning from and working with l’Armadillo founders Gian Carlo Aiosa and Manuel Ortega who have dedicated their careers to mastering traditional printmaking techniques, dating back centuries.

In 2017 I produced a series of lithographs in the studio in Florence on a 200~ year old lithography press and these will be the first works to launch the Made in Italy collection.

 The method for traditional lithography involves drawing directly onto a special limestone slab, which then goes through several processes to produce an image that can be inked and printed. 

Only a limited number of prints are produced before each design is destroyed.

 The traditional method sees the limestone start out as a thick slab. Once the required number of prints have been made with an artwork on the slab, it is ground down to remove the image. 

 The limestone is then smoothed, leveled and prepared to accept the next artwork, before the process starts again with a new image.

 These works are available on the website, but are obviously in limited supply. I’ll be uploading different pieces over the coming weeks to my shop – keep an eye out for the #MadeInItaly tag.