Mosaic and reuse · Somma Vesuviana, Naples
It always starts
with something broken
Cira Pignatiello, known as Nef
Bottle caps, tiles from a demolished house, fence wire, newspaper. Materials nobody wanted, put back together one at a time until they are worth something again.
Geometrie di scarto
mosaico
How I work
From the bucket to the wall
No school, no course. A method worked out at home, by trying and getting it wrong, from 1998 until today.
Setting things aside
Caps, buttons, broken tiles, fence wire. They come from the village bars, from building sites, from neighbours who know by now that I take them.
Making the paste
Used frying oil from the kitchen, mixed with other materials, turns into a clay you can model by hand. That was the 1998 idea and it still works the same way.
Cutting and laying
Tiles are broken with pincers, one piece at a time, and set into fresh mortar. The pattern comes later, from whatever colours are left in the bag.
Looking at it for days
A finished piece stays propped up in the house until it convinces me. Some end up on the wall, others go back in the bucket.
Commissioned work
A piece made for the place it will live in
A panel for one particular wall, a doorstep, a pot for a courtyard. Tell me the size and where it goes, then I will think it over and let you know.