For me the highlight of our stay in Florence was meeting the wonderful Catalina Brenes in her studio.
Catalina is such a friendly and warm person. Born in Costa Rica, studied in Alchimia School of Contemporary Jewelry and now working in Florence. She welcomed us in her studio, Laboratorio 28r, that she shares with five more jewelers and showed us her work, which is even more impressive in person. We were also very lucky to meet Yoko Shimizu, who was in the studio at the time of our visit. Yoko showed us many of her pieces and I really loved her clean, geometrical, minimalistic style.
After that, we walked with Catalina nearby to Alchimia. I was thrilled to talk with the director of the school, Lucia Massei, whose work I’ve been admiring for a long time. Lucia showed us around the school and now I feel I should definitely come back to study there, at least for a short course!
We left feeling so inspired. I would be satisfied even if the trip had ended at this point. But of course, there was more!
Inside the Museo Marino Marini:
Sculptures by Lluis Cera:
Snapshots from around the city:
Next on our schedule was Faenza and the world of ceramics. More details about this tomorrow!
Thanks for reading!
