Interview with Giulia Alberti: a life dedicated to art and experimentation

When and how was the artist Giulia Alberti born?

I have always drawn and painted, at home, at school, I attended schools where artistic aptitudes were valued. The family encouraged me. I had good aptitude and liked to paint.

Then I went to art school. And the Faculty of Architecture. And I considered developing my talents in the arts as a profession.

Tell us about your works, what inspires you?

At first I dedicated myself to the creation of works for interiors, tempera paintings, glass panels, even large ones. Also stained glass windows for public and religious buildings. Both bonded with lead and with thick glass bonded with resins.

I have always been attracted to materials and their consistency, and glass has proven to be a ductile material that lends itself to narration with shades, textures, but also with bright colours.

Color has the quality of creating an environment, of immersing a place in a colour, as in one of the colors of the rainbow, of transfiguring reality, the perception that the person experiences.

You talked about many different materials and techniques, do you have a particular preference?

Yes, experimentation with materials has always attracted me, and therefore alongside commissioned works I experimented with different techniques beyond painting, with fabrics, wax, collage.

And especially with glass I have experimented over time with acids, the superimposition of colors, the printed glass of the 1950s, until I found a furnace in Milan that bent glass in the oven to create objects and with the help of the craftsman I tried to create new glass that didn't exist, a print with an imprint generated by a specially constructed matrix or with recycled objects.

And I succeeded. I took part in a competition promoted by Abitare and won second prize. I then used this patent to create walls, doors, tables, tableware, environmental sculptures, with colorless float glass.

We know that nature is also central to your work, tell us more

My attention and perception have always been moved and attracted by the changes in nature: from its colors to the metamorphosis of forms that occurs with the passing of the seasons. I then explored this inspiration further, coming to read the movement that surrounds us in terms of the unique energy that shapes the vital rhythm, following the thoughts of Rudolph Steiner .

This led me to look for a new material to experiment with: clay, as it is extremely ductile and perceptive, in close contact with the creator of the forms, who can record the most subtle intentions. From here the "Imprints" were born, signs left by the plants on the fresh clay, first mixed with the "neriage" technique which draws colored shapes that tell the energy of the plant. And then the "Seeds" , elongated shapes, mixed with "neriage" and cut in half, which have the movement of the growing material imprinted on them.

Where can your works be discovered?

With ZamaLabz I present both the clay sculptures, Imprints and Small Seeds, and the glass objects for the table "Glass Art Structures" . They have in common the reference to nature, as they differ in that the sculptures are looked at and enjoyed while the objects are used.

My path is certainly artistic and therefore clay sculptures are my vocation, but the beauty of transparency on the table is priceless.

Some of my works can also be seen in the Tornosubito&Ester atelier in Corso Como 8 in Milan.