37-2019 – Luca Tripaldi – Jewelry and Colour

The course is suitable for those who wish to expand the range of techniques at their disposal.
Our focus will be on slip casting with porcelain. The mould of any small form, be it a geometric solids such as spheres or cubes, or organic shapes found in nature like seeds or flowers, allow for precise reproduction in series, including the tiniest details. Being able to decide on the thickness is fundamental for the weightlessness in a jewel. Details like texture and surface decoration may be added to the cast forms by cutting and incising the moulds. The stratification of coloured porcelain slips will open further possibilities.
Those who prefer a more ludic and spontaneous approach to form will be delighted to create intriguing structures by immersing combustible materials in liquid porcelain, which when fired at high temperature will leave precious and unique exoskeletons in porcelain. Some of the elements obtained with the techniques described above may further be embellished with decoration and surface techniques, using metal salts, dry glazes with craquelé effects,

Luca Tripaldi was born in Turin, Italy, where he currently lives and has his studio. After training in graphic design, he worked for ten years in Mario Audello Studios as a sculptor, making masks and special effects for many opera houses like “Scala di Milano” and “Arena di Verona”. In 1998 he opened his own ceramics studio in Turin. He uses porcelain, preferring unglazed surfaces or only glazed in some parts with crystalline glazes and dry glazes, in order to get strong contrasts. The most part of his jewels are in black or white porcelain, decorated with ceramic transfers. He conducts an intensive teaching activitie, holding workshops throughout Europe and the United States. He writes a technical ceramic column for the Italian ceramic magazin ”La Ceramica in Italia e nel Mondo”.
www.lucatripaldi.com