1.What do you create and propose to your customers in your workshop?
I offer a wide range of exclusively handmade creations in my workshop. I experiment with the most different embroidery and lace-making techniques derived from the ancient Umbrian artistic and artisan traditions. Not only curtains, tablecloths and sheets, but also such furnishings as boxes and lamps, which I delicately assemble creating unique pieces that emanate warmth and preciousness.
2. Why are your creations unique?
Paying careful attention to what my customers say, I can well understand their tastes and expectations. Therefore, I create an exclusive article, made according to my customers’ wishes and design. Nothing is mass-produced; everything is rigorously handmade.
3. What materials do you use and transform? Do you employ any special techniques?
The materials with which I work are always of the highest quality and Italian, from the linen that I embroider to the wood of the bases on which I mount the lampshades that I decorate. What characterizes my work? Certainly, the passion that I devote to every gesture and work.
4. Where did you learn how to do this work and how long have you been doing it?Will you pass your wealth of knowledge and experience on to anybody else?
I began to embroider when I was a child and over the years I have attended numerous specialization courses. I first learned from an aunt who lived in our house and I remember that I undertook crochet in my first year of school. So that all this is not forgotten, I organize embroidery and lace-making courses in my workshop. I have also been teaching in schools for several years. I believe that spreading knowledge about handmade work makes us aware of what we buy. Among my many activities, I have also published a book on macramé, a very particular type of lace made with knots.
5. In what way does your activity belong to the history and traditions of this city?
I use many techniques derived from Umbrian traditions, for instance, the Perugian stitch.
6. What is your personal way of participating in the future of Perugia?
I attend many exhibitions bringing the name of Perugia with me. In schools I try to arouse curiosity among young people to motivate them to become interested in this type of craftsmanship that is also an art.
7. What arouses your enthusiasm and what makes you the proudest of what you do?
Behind everything I do is a great passion and I think that Perugia can be proud of having a workshop like mine. In my many journeys around the world and throughout Italy I have never found another workshop like mine.
8. What is the greatest emotion that you would like to convey to someone who buys one of your creations?
Not so much the emotion felt at the moment of purchase, but rather the emotions that become tied to the item over time. A hand-embroidered bib, even if it has been forgotten at the bottom of a drawer, will never be thrown away and, when it is seen again, it will be more beautiful than before, because it will evoke many memories and emotions.
9. How would you persuade, in a few words, a customer to enter your workshop?.
“Here you will find professionalism and authenticity.” 10. What are your customers’ most frequent comments about your creations? They say that I have good taste and, maybe, this is the compliment I like best.
Anna Barola is on ArtiCity.it
