Story #22 - William
William Bertoia, Valvasone (Pordenone), Italy
William is a master of mosaic. A craftsman. He is over 80 years old and is passionate about mosaics as if he were a kid.
“My journey as a mosaic artist began as a child, with the discovery of a bag of marble tiles belonging to my grandfather, a mosaic terracer since the early 1900s.”
He then attended and graduated from the ‘Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli” in Spilimbergo, Italy. I started working in the workshops of the marble workers in the area and then, in 1981, opened his own company.
When I met him, he shared with me some history of the mosaic, which arrived in Friuli Venezia Giulia (his region, and actually mine as well) already during the Roman Empire in the city of Aquileia. Here it was then transformed from decorative art, for private homes and public spaces, to sacred art for the decoration of the basilica in the early Christian period.
He explained me that after the fall of the Venetian Republic, Friulian artisans, after the closure of almost all the workshops, spread to the major European cities of the time. They opened workshops in Paris, Copenhagen, Berlin.
Mosaic, December, 2023
William Bertoia, Decembe 2023
His dream now is to bring the art of mosaic to Paris. His companies already worked for fashion store.
“The first work we did in Paris was in 1988, the floor of the KENZO store on Boulevard Raspail. Then we did four Gucci stores (Charles de Gaulle, Place de la Madeleine; Faubourg Saint-Honoré; Place Vendôme), but also Dolce and Gabbana ”
If you walk in Rue Faubourg Saint-Honoré, and stop by ‘Dolce & Gabbana”, you can see (even from the shop window) the 36 sqm portrait of Antonietta, made with the tecnique of mosaic).
William wants now to open the art of mosaic to a more general public, to explain and present its richness.
William dedicated all his life to mosaic. I found in his eyes the kindness and the passion of an old man, passionate about his work, who wants now to give back to a wider community. He feels that his region has a heritage that deserves to be brought outside fashion shops. As an artist.
Good luck, William; I hope to attend your Paris exhibition soon.
William Bertoia, December 2023
