I never imagined I would be passionate about the world of goldsmithing. And instead, thanks to the students of the school "La Bulla“, I discovered how deep and intense it can be love towards a banquet. And, above all, that the fantasy it can also have one metallic form.
I found myself in this adventure thanks to Stories of Naples: we have established an agreement to tell the excellence of Borgo Orefici and, between one shot and the next, I tried to know people's faces who, with their hands, will produce the jewels that they could in the future stay on your neck or around your finger.
It is a job that requires imagination and patience: after having designed the model to be made, in fact, we move on to the practical act, sitting at the workbench in the company of a lamp, a small wooden end worn by time and by the infinite amount of metal passed on the tiny stump. It is a job that takes hundreds, thousands of identical steps to finish the metal which has been first heated and then molded into the preferred shape. And, at each step, you must always use a more refined file, adapt hand pressure and even change the speed of movement. An operation that would stress even the Dalai Lama. But for the boys it is "relaxing", rather, “Every time it is a challenge against myself“Explains Elena.
The school is attended by about ten children from the most varied ages, ranging from those who have just come out of the world of adolescence up to the age of thirty. A personal difference that is canceled in the complicity of looks that the pupils throw themselves among the banquets, while they work stoically in the suffocating summer heat.
The workshop is a sort of “Neverland” of craftsmanship: everyone has chosen the path of goldsmithing, leaving a different path, some even abandoning a university career that has now ended to embrace the art of metal. Others, such as Libera, were struck by the encounter with a craftsman, so much so that they were convinced to take a new and ancient path.
The first rule I learned is a life principle: no one touches the banquet. Or you have earned an enemy for life.
The countertop is the soul of its owner, from the deformations of the wooden support you can understand what he loves to do and what personality he has.
The affection towards the tools of the trade it's really difficult nowadays: if twenty years ago we dreamed of the iconic Leica or the indestructible Nikon F, today a professional photographer changes cameras every 3-4 years. So in many other jobs it is now difficult to keep the same tool for too long.
A "betrayal" that would be impossible for a goldsmith, custodian of an ancient bond with his tools, almost all deformed by use. "It would be great to go to Germany. But how do I fly this banquet?“, Mariarosaria jokes.
They hit me the surgical and almost robotic movements of the hands, ready to move a few millimeters to be able to refine every detail. So, while I am delighted in watching the movements of a hacksaw that perfectly defines the round curves of an earring, I throw a generic question to everyone present: "What do you plan to do after the course?“
Cristiano replies: "Dream of work on their own because I want to give vent to my imagination, to experiment in many fields. Working in a large company is stressful and you are often not valued for your skills". From the first benches Aurora joins the choir: "I dream of creating a brand with my sister, I am already thinking about the design of the boxes!“.
And that's how I learned the second rule: jewelery is not just art, "it's culture", Elena points out.
A painter has a fantasy made up of shapes and colors; a writer instead imagines in feelings and words. Here, in the case of the goldsmith, ideas have a metallic form. But that doesn't make them any less noble.
The "University of Design" is the place to which many aspire to complete their training even if, according to what I understand, it is definitely expensive. And almost everyone prefers to rely on shops or large companies, in the hope of being able to establish themselves one day.
And each has its own material and its own preferred processing: “Do you know that a wedding ring is born from a square thread? - Mariarosaria intervenes - The work to soften the angular shapes is very long and is done by thousands of small hammers and work with the blowtorch. When I made the first perfect circle, I got excited. But that's when transparencies the ring that really beats your heart, it's the moment you've been waiting for since you start handling the first raw metal“.
A bit of the sensation that rises when you wait for the negative to come out of the last - and infinite - bath of development, makes me think. Lovers of the vintage world will understand me.
“Do you want to see something really difficult?“, A boy interrupts me. He takes a small bag and drops a dozen tiny ones on his workbench wrist watch dials, with gears of almost invisible dimensions. "Were you surprised why we work with small things? Look at these watches: if I had been crazy, I would have been a watchmaker!“.
“So you could repair cameras too? ”, Spontaneously replies my soul as a photographer.
“Yes, we could theoretically repair mechanical models, but it would take us a long time to study how they work. A true enthusiast does not improvise“.
A rare and beautiful phrase.
Today there is a competition to see who has more skills, between invented titles and jobs completed without any qualifications. And instead the true professional is the one who does only what he excels at.
Good luck guys!
-Federico Quagliuolo
