Acquafresca…a name, a destiny
The direct descent of the Acquafresca’s family dates back to the XVII century. Matteo Acquafresca (1651-1738), who invented the breech-loading system, was a gunsmith from a family of respected and well-known artisans. In this far back century, some of the family made gun stocks reaching a high level of elegance in their work, highlighting skill in the art of chasing. And so, the Acquafresca family begun the historical cycle of this art form.
Centuries later, on December 18th 1969, Fabrizio Acquafresca was born in Tuscany. Later on in his life, he started to work in a small custom jewellery workshop, immediately showing talent and a strong originality.
He could not wait to discover new art expressions and techniques, and after two years he was hired by a famous Florentine silver artisan, Brandimarte, to work in his workshop.
Acquafresca learned the stages, from fusion to soldering and from polishing to chisel. It was mostly in chasing and repousse` techniques that he expressed his art to the highest quality.
The years spent working with silver using the chiaroscuro concept (shading), which rises from the embossment and chiselling and the grey tones built from light that reflects off the metal, lead teacher Acquafresca to a new step in his artistic experience: Charcoal. He prefers working with natural materials such as wood, charcoal, and light. With these new elements he re-discovered shades similar to those with his silver works, using light to accentuate the chiaroscuro effect.
Today Fabrizio Acquafresca is making his own and COMMISSIONED WORKS. He continues to collaborate with workshops in Florence, as well as draws, paints, writes, and teaches in chasing and repousse` courses at art schools in Europe and in the United States.
Dott. Giovanni Giusti