Aesthetic Journey into Fabscarte’s world

Article from ARTIMI

A modern and welcoming laboratory spread over three floors immediately makes it clear that we are in a very special place.

Today we have come to visit Fabscarte, an artisanal company that has been producing wallpapers for several years.

“We have over 30 years of experience in the industry,” says Luigi Scarabelli, co-founder of Fabscarte along with Emilio Brazzolotto.

“Our story began by working for high-profile architects” he continues, inviting us to sit under a cozy wooden loft. “It is only when you are asked to deliver the best that your work can progress.”

In fact, looking around the laboratory, everything is covered with wonderful designs. Samples of wallpapers created over time by the artisans of Fabscarte, with a variety of decorative patterns.

“Today it is also rare for wallpaper to be made of actual paper,”

Luigi continues, taking us deeper into his world. “Most wallpapers should not even be called paper anymore, but vinyl or plastic wallpaper.”

While it is true that the world has automated many of its productions (including in this specific industry), it is equally true that this speed has left something behind. This is Luigi’s vision.

“Today, most wallpapers are made on the computer, and those who make them often don’t even know how to made a color.”

What he points out is how craftsmanship and know-how are now often overlooked as essential aspects of their production.

“You have to know that wallpapers originated in the 17th and 18th centuries and were made by painters and decorators. We took inspiration from that and started with it as a reference point.”

So how do we explain the success of Fabscarte and what sets it apart from other companies in the industry?

“We come from 30 years of classical decoration,” Luigi answers. “We have the skill and expertise to do our job.” that thanks to the work done over all these years with the world’s top architects, they can only improve every day.

“When you compare yourself to such high standards, you are expected to deliver the best. And that’s how you specialize.”

The company’s journey as we know it today began in 2012. It originated from the experience gained by the founding members working on major projects and eventually evolved into an independent entity.

“At a certain point, we wanted to create our own wallpapers,” Luigi says. “We took a year to create free samples and started developing our own style.”

Luigi Scarabelli studied music and doesn’t skimp on comparisons between his craft and being part of a band.

“It’s like being in a band. At first, you play songs from different bands that the members like. You like The Beatles, I like Led Zeppelin… After a while, though, you start finding your own identity and heading towards your own path.”

“We are two partners,” Luigi continues, “and each of us has our own style, our own identity that we put into our work. We played others’ pieces for many years, and now we started writing our own.”

To discover Fabscarte’s identity, one simply needs to look around and admire the patterns and decorations of the dozens of wallpapers adorning the studio.

“These are us,” says Scarabelli, pointing to each one. However, the beauty and uniqueness of Fabscarte’s work go beyond mere decoration.

“What sets us apart is also the material component of our work,” Luigi specifies. “Our work is not just about wall decoration, although we do that too. We work with specific materials that we manufacture ourselves, such as velum or three-dimensional stucco,”

For instance, there is a representation inspired by the white ginkgo figure, with delicate leaves breaking the two dimensions of the paper. Or a splendid colorful arboreal representation, of which he shows us a sample on the table.

“This is a type of rice paper we use,” Luigi explains. “By applying color on it, it can either stay on the surface or penetrate deeply, creating unique effects.”

Luigi emphasizes that craftsmanship is required not only in decoration but also in understanding the medium on which one paints. This is part of the artisanal and artistic study that enhances all of Fabscarte’s work. This uniqueness is an important element of their work, but not the only one. The conception of decorations according to Luigi and his collaborators is also fascinating. It is what Fabscarte applies in their work, something that closely connects them to art and its thinking.

“What we do is start from the object to reach its essence. Anyone can paint a forest of trees on paper. That is a clear and easily understood message. Fabscarte takes it a step further.”

“We seek our identity not by reproducing classical formal painting,” Luigi clarifies. “In informal art, there is no finished form. Instead, there is emotion. The less form there is, the more we can capture the emotion from which it originated. In our decorations, we deconstruct the image to restore its essence.”

This is something more difficult to communicate but much deeper and open to interpretation.

“It’s a bit like what the Impressionists did,” Luigi says, trying to help us better understand the concept with an analogy. “Classical painting, with artists like Raphael, Michelangelo, and many others before them, expressed themselves impeccably. The Impressionists, as creative individuals, developed a new way of expressing themselves. This search for novelty is something intrinsic to human nature.”

Although the conceptual aspect, the underlying thought behind each creation, is inevitably connected to the work of artisans like Emilio and Luigi, in our conversation, we understand that thought and craftsmanship cannot travel on separate tracks.

“The paradox is that everything is now done by machines, so ‘handmade’ has become synonymous with beauty. Once everything was made by hand, but that doesn’t mean it was always beautiful.”

Luigi and Emilio have coined a different term to describe their work.

“We define our works as ‘thoughtfully handmade.’ When you have a profession and you make something by hand, there must be thought behind it. When that thought flows through your hands, it becomes a work of art. If you only have thought without craftsmanship, you cannot achieve the same results.”

“It’s not you who has to understand,” Luigi concludes, recalling a phrase an artisan once told him. “At a certain point, it will be your hand that understands.”

Perhaps, this is the essence of craftsmanship. The ability to express an underlying thought, a concept, an idea through materials and the competence to create them manually.

We are nearing the end of our meeting, but before we leave, we want to know more about their collaboration with international artists.

“Many of them contact us to work together,” Luigi explains. “While we also reach out to some of them.”

Through these partnerships, new and original fantasies and decorations emerge. The artist shares their ideas and intertwines them with Fabscarte’s style. Once again, Luigi refers to the music world to better explain the nature of these encounters.

“I can call Eric Clapton and have him play a piece I’ve written. But since I appreciate his style, I prefer to do something different: I want to write a piece together with him because each of us appreciates the other’s work.”

We conclude with a brief visit to the actual workshop where Fabscarte’s panels are concretely produced. We bid them farewell, leaving with a pleasant conversation about Impressionism and blues. Another rich testimony of exceptional Italian craftsmanship.