Emanuela Crotti
On the contemporary craft scene, in addition to creative duos made up of a designer and a master artisan – as celebrated by Doppia Firma – there is also another crucial figure: the artist-artisan, the person that possesses both design skills and know-how. In this case, the artisan is also the person who designs his or her own work, successfully rolling creative talent and technical expertise into one. Emanuela Crotti holds a special place amongst the great Italian artist-artisans. Her works provide a highly original and personal take on playfulness, to which the 2023 edition of Doppia Firma is dedicated. Emanuela Crotti crafts unique pieces of art and design in her atelier in Crema. Her work is represented by major galleries, including Rossana Orlandi in Milan. She has always experimented, making new forays into art and taking in many different currents in the process: from figurative to abstract and Zen minimalism, right up to her very latest creations, for which she uses different techniques on a resin base, including painting, photography, graphics and textured collage.
She explores ideas surrounding memory and nostalgia, arranging objects and images in the liquid resin to create intricate layers of overlapping forms that bring memories and emotions to mind. They are highly expressive creations that shift in tone and intensity according to the light. For a number of years now, she has created fantastical furnishing accessories. For her textured collages, she collects a multitude of objects, some precious, others less so. She inserts them into the surfaces of tables and wardrobe doors, using resin to assemble them, using anything from semi-precious stones to sweets, from medicines to sacred hearts, from souvenirs picked up in faraway countries to pendants in precious metals, shells and coral.
Her work is crammed with references to nature and the animal kingdom, something which should be loved and protected. For the lighting of Doppio Gioco, Emanuela Crotti worked with Moritz Waldemeyer and Nazanin Farahbod, owners of an internationally renowned design studio based in London. The studio was built on a philosophy of playful experimentation, creating connections between cutting-edge technology, art, fashion and design, with a series of bespoke installations, also in the musical field.
