Marco Ripa Marco Ripa is an artisan and designer at Officina Art & Craft; his specialty is to create furnishing elements in Iron and Steel. Every object that comes from the hands of the visionary Marco Ripa is a truly unique handcrafted product. Marco Ripa come from Italy's Marche region; he is a craftsman and designer who creates minimalist objects, light and elegant but also more massive objects with soft lines. Marco Ripa was born in 1977, and he graduated as a mechanical engineer. From the age of 15 he starts working as a blacksmith in t

Marco Ripa Marco Ripa is an artisan and designer at Officina Art & Craft; his specialty is to create furnishing elements in Iron and Steel. Every object that comes from the hands of the visionary Marco Ripa is a truly unique handcrafted product. Marco Ripa come from Italy's Marche region; he is a craftsman and designer who creates minimalist objects, light and elegant but also more massive objects with soft lines. Marco Ripa was born in 1977, and he graduated as a mechanical engineer. From the age of 15 he starts working as a blacksmith in the carpentry workshop of his uncle, where he acquire manual skills and the ability to work with iron and aluminum. After completing his studies in Fermo he started working full time, and he devoted himself mainly to iron, the leading material of his works. He describes iron as the "less repetitive, more noisy and damn dirty" material. He started reading and loving the books by A. Calder, that lead the boys to get in contact with art: and so in his mind (and in his hands) metal begins to take shape and balance. He discovers Ruskin and the Arts and Crafts Movement: the man is unique and unrepeatable, just like the object that he builds. But the work as a blacksmith didn't satisfy Marco Ripàs artistic talent. In fact, he has always developed a passion for art and design. In 2011, after years of hard work and despite the economic crisis, he finally decides to found his own workshop in which to work with metals with a great attention to the artistic side. From this point of view, the American sculptor Alexander Calder was for him an inspiration and then a master. A.Calder mainly created metal sculptures, but light and mobile. We are all accustomed to associate metal with a certain sense of weight and a static nature: it's hard to see it as a dynamic material. Calder instead revolutionized these concepts, giving metal lightness and movement. This is what at first changed Marco Ripàs vision of metal. And here's where he started his adventure. His collections of metal objects are intended to give a sense of lightness and movement to a material that, in the common view, is generally associated with immobility and heaviness. Ripa has a creative talent who likes to subvert the traditional rules and pushes each of its projects to the limit. One example of it is the magazine rack Who's Next, where all the weight of this geometric object rests on one corner, giving the impression that it is in a precarious balance. The magazine rack Who's Next is produced by Officina Art & Craft, a brand that produces only handcrafted items, mainly designed by Marco Ripa who creates objects with a minimalist and elegant style but also modern and functional. Who's Next presents well-defined geometric shapes which create different useful sections, both for support or contain objects or just to decorate a room. If you ask Marco Ripa where he gets his inspiration, he will answer that as well as being a fan of art and design, he constantly it enriches his burden of images. He keeps always at hand, on the bedside table, a notes pad and pencil and during some sleepless nights his mind travels and gives birth to new projects. The next day they he looks at these sketches and (occasionally) finds out that he has thought of something really good that could become a feasible project. At this point, prototyping work begins, which can last several months. A few adjectives to describe his style? Clean, contemporary, fresh and always looking for the detail that makes the difference. Being an artisan and personally creating the objects he designs, Marco Ripa pays the greatest attention to safe finishes. In fact, he is extremely precise in each welding and grinding of his works. During an interview published by the Foundation Cologni, he was asked what his brand would be if it were a kind of music. His answer is multifaceted exactly like him: "Music is a dear theme to me. The first thing I brought to my workshop was the stereo system. I listen to music all day. Over the years, I have gone through many stages: from rock to jazz, from classical to electronic, from reggae to funk. But if I have to pick one, I stay true to the line and rock music wins. And if I have to choose a song that represents me, I would probably choose "My Generation" by The Who". Marco Ripa has met also some difficulties in his career: to make people understand the difference between an industrial and an artisanal product was perhaps the greatest one. The biggest challenge for the Italian designer was to figure out on which market to offer his products, since Italy's domestic market was not enough for him. He tried to get out of the Italian borders, in countries where Made in Italy is a sought after and appreciated. And he is succeeding especially thanks to the Internet. Through e-commerce he reaches all Europe and also North America. Ripa wants aims at the internationalization with the help of trade associations and public incentives. According to him, this would also make the entire country grow on the market. According to Marco Ripa, the most important part of its formation as a designer is not the working experience, but curiosity as considered as the driving force that moves everything. To be curious people form our personality, each in a different way and with a richness and added value that we can develop and then share with others. Nowadays, thanks to the minimalist and essential design, the use of a material such as metal is experiencing a new era that Marco Ripa never misses a chance to ride. Thanks to the minimal design, in fact, we have rediscovered the high resistance of iron and abandoned Art Nouveau decorations in favour of increasingly thin patterns. In such a difficult historic moment, Ripa understands that with a new idea and an attractive image it really is possible to emerge. Clearly, like every great artist, Ripa is supported by a team of designers and architects such as Matteo Giustozzi and the old-school blacksmith Daniele Mattioli. Together they form a team that ranges from 3D design, through forging, up to the realization of minimal design elements. Every team member is specialized in a certain field, and this adds value to every single project.

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