Papier-Mâché Is Patience

«Papier-mâché means patience.» It’s the phrase we hear most often when someone passes by the workshop and watches us work. The question is always the same: how are these papier-mâché pieces made?

And our answer is always the same: it’s easy! You just need a lot of patience, two eyes to look and two hands to make. It can’t be explained in five minutes how things made entirely by hand, artisanal things, come to life. It takes time: time to look, time to shape, time to let the paper dry, and patience on top of that.

An ancient tradition

Papier-mâché is a material used for many centuries. In Italy, artefacts made of it date back to the 16th century: sacred sculptures, theatre sets, carnival floats. It is a deeply artisanal tradition, made of paper, glue, hands and imagination.

We began in the early 1980s with the traditional masks of the Commedia dell’Arte, and since then our minds and our imagination have travelled a great deal. But the materials, the techniques and the faithfulness to a centuries-old tradition have remained unchanged.

Our hands are our only tools

In our Florentine workshops there is no mass production: each piece is born from the hands of whoever creates it. Nothing is imported, and no piece is identical to another. When we apply gold or silver leaf and engrave it with decorations inspired by Michelangelo and Leonardo, the result is a unique object that carries with it the time and care of its maker.

If you come to visit us, don’t expect a five-minute explanation. Expect a story forty years long, made of patience, paper and hands.