Travel Guide Florence & Venice
by Richard Saul Wurman – 2007
GUALTI
Gualti is one of the new wave of Venetian artists and craftsmen. And what a wave! What this man does is somewhere between art and craft and represents the best of both. He works in resin, glass, and nylon to create what can only be described as wearable sculpture. His works have the lightness and delicacy of glass, yet are pliable. Gualti says he sees them as extensions of the wearer’s body. I only wish I thought my body were beautiful enough to extend into anything like these earrings and necklaces, headpieces and shoe ornaments. They are like exotic sea anemones, or sometimes flowers or leaves, extending tendrils from a tiny central point-sometimes an eye or a “pool of water”-that frequently is made of glass crystal. The tendrils of his brooches, especially, cascade over the wearer’s shoulder like a fabulous corsage. The colors are rich, and each piece is crafted by hand with the point of a hot needle used to bore and solder. Gualti not only creates exuberant shoe ornaments, but hand dyes
the handmade silk shoes to match them. The latest addition to the art of Gualti is an array of fabulous wraps and some breathtakingly gorgeous jackets. All come in his wonderful colors-and most are reversible. The wraps and jacket collars are malleable into undulations and peaks as suits thewearer’s fancy. Truly this is unique, wearable art.
