The workshop

Anna in laboratorio After more than one hundred and fifty years the Moretti Caselli Studio is still working; Maddalena, who represents the fifth generation, carries on the family tradition.

Maddalena Forenza was born in 1980, but even nine months earlier, in her mother’s womb, she began breathing the workshop atmosphere and took part in the execution of the stained glass windows of the Church of St. Francesco at Deruta, near Perugia.

That’s how, little by little, watching the work going on around her from behind the netting of her playpen, then a bit higher from her pushchair, “helping” her mother became normal.

Maddalena nel passegginoAs soon as she was the right height – work-table level – she started to work seriously, or almost, reproducing her drawings with small scraps of coloured glass. This is the same experience we want to offer even today to the children who attend our “Vetropark” courses.

Some more years went by, but passion and desire to learn increased, and so one day mother and daughter really did begin to work together, and Maddalena finally reached a decision: she would carry on the family activity.

But there was a long way to go. Only after work experience abroad, life drawing courses, ceramics and engraving at the Academy of Fine Arts in Perugia and restoration of stained glass windows at Laura Morandotti’s workshop in Milan, Maddalena was finally ready to learn the secrets of her forebears.

She dedicated herself completely to the Studio activity and, by improving day after day, she proved to be up to the artistic production of the family workshop which now relies on her.

Maddalena in laboratorioAt present Maddalena executes and restores stained glass windows: it is a unique production because she uses the painting methods which were rediscovered, studied and revised by Francesco Moretti, but she has also adapted to today’s taste and also devotes herself to new creations with different techniques. The old methods come to life again and are brought up-to-date in the execution of a wide range of works from large stained glass windows to small ornaments.

The pursuit of perfection is not over: like Francesco Moretti, Maddalena keeps on exploring new ways to carry out artistic and craft work, while maintaining the continuity of the family tradition.

Francesco Moretti put all his mastery at the service of the stained glass window technique: his works were akin to marvellous oil paintings, but transfigured by that fundamental ingredient – light. It is with the same spirit that still today Maddalena wants to achieve something new, surprising, remarkable, particular – in one word, unique.

Tessere di vetro sabbiate pronte per essere dipinte
foto SMC
« di 10 »