Drawings in a workshop: the Valadiers of Rome
Luigi Valadier (1726–1785) ran the foremost goldsmiths’ workshop in Rome for many years, and after his death it was continued by his son Giuseppe (1762–1839). An enormous amount of drawings from this workshop has been preserved. They are not just fine presentation drawings, of a kind known from other workshops as well, but also proper working drawings that were kept almost nowhere else. Rough sketches, made during the process of designing and executing silver objects, were not thrown away, but stored in cupboards and folders, even when they had become severely damaged. Therefore, Valadier drawings provide a unique insight in the role drawings of all kinds played in a large workshop.
Left to right: Luigi Valadier, design for a silver chandelier, 1773. Draughtsman in the workshop of Luigi Valadier, presentation drawing of a partly gilt silver frame inlaid with lapis lazuli, c. 1775. Draughtsman in the workshop of Giuseppe Valadier, presentation drawings of a silver fish-slice or cake server and a ladle, c. 1780-1800.
A workshop in Den Bosch
Den Bosch has had its own unique workshop for 70 years: Cor Unum. In this ceramic workshop, people with a distance to the labour market and professionals together realise ceramic objects by national and international artists, designers and chefs. Here, their drawings are executed and, just like in the Valadiers’ workshop, the drawings are kept and stored. In the video below, Charlotte Landsheer, Ton Musch and Bryan van Schooten talk about how they realise designers’ ideas.
