Riccardo Marzi History

Riccardo Marzi's workshop is located in Florence, Tuscany, Italy, a region known for its rich nature and wine, as well as its close ties to many artists, including Leonardo da Vinci.

All of Riccardo Marzi's products are carefully crafted by hand by artisans in this Tuscan workshop.

The production process, which spares no effort, time, and labor, and requires a great deal of sensitivity, makes Riccardo Marzi unique.

[Inspiration]

Tuscany is also known as a mecca for sculptors and ceramic artists because of its high-quality marble.
Ricardo Marzi himself originally worked as a ceramic artist, but after seeing fossils trapped in amber, he began creating his current works of art, which consist of natural fruits and plants covered in resin.

Ricardo's first attempt was to create a plate filled with corn kernels encased in clear resin, but the finished product did not impress him with its beauty or uniqueness.



A few days later, he noticed that the failed project had been left abandoned in the workshop's courtyard and that several chickens had gathered around it.
The chickens were busy pecking at the corn kernels trapped in the clear resin.

The sight strongly inspired Ricardo to create, and he experimented with plants such as wheat ears, oak trees, poplar leaves, broom, and oats, eventually succeeding in creating a number of beautiful works that seemed to capture the Tuscan landscape in transparent resin.

[Production Process]

Each of Riccardo Marzi's works takes one to two weeks to complete.
The delicate handcrafted production process requires time and effort, but this is what makes Riccardo Marzi's work so fascinating and unique.

<1. Arrange the ingredients in the mold>
Because we use natural ingredients, each fruit and plant has a different shape and color.
Ricardo and other craftsmen arrange these pieces by hand on molds such as round or square plates, carefully checking the balance of each piece.



<2. Hardening with resin>
After firmly fixing it in the mold, resin is poured into the gaps.
The resin is liquid, but it hardens in about a day and is so hard that it can be polished to a beautiful shine.
It is also less likely to break than glass or ceramic and is lighter, making it an ideal material for tableware and decorative items.





<3. Sanding>
After drying for a day and the resin hardens, it is removed from the mold and any burrs are cut off to reshape it.
The surface is sanded by hand using different fineness of sandpaper to remove any unevenness.





<4. Varnishing>
It is polished until it becomes transparent and then coated with varnish to give it a glossy finish.
Sanding and varnishing each take a day.
The surface of the varnish is then smoothed with a fine sandpaper, and another coat of varnish is then applied.




<5. Inspection work>
Finally, each item is carefully inspected.
In this way, it takes at least one week, and depending on the design, it can take up to two weeks to complete one piece.

【The Museum of Modern Art】

The Museum of Modern Art in New York is known worldwide as a mecca for modern art.
This museum, known as "MoMa," is also popular in Japan, and Riccardo Marzi's works were on display there.

While the exhibits are frequently replaced to reflect the times, Riccardo Marzi's works have remained on display at MoMA for over 20 years.





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