User:Miro Marion/Giancarlo Bonato

Carlo Bonato photographed together with two sculptures made in the "Fusina" workshop which he founded in 1971, in the background.

Giancarlo Bonato, also known as Carlo, (born in Marostica, 1930 - died in Nove, 2016) was an Italian craftsman, artist and entrepreneur. He is known for the pioneering production of art objects and furniture in Poly(methyl methacrylate) (or Plexiglas). Carlo Bonato’s artworks, designed and produced at his own Fusina workshop he founded in 1971, are characterized by a tireless investigation for distinctive technical solutions and by a sophisticated interpretation of shapes linked to contemporaneity. Notably, Carlo Bonato’s art and furniture objects have been awarded, among others, with the highly esteemed Golden Medal at the XV Triennale di Milano and can be admired in famous scenes of films by directors such as Terry Gilliam (sculpture "Lens" mod. F635, in the film The Fisher King, 1991), Ermanno Olmi (extra-large tray commissioned for the movie Lunga vita alla signora! 1987) Richard Rush (sculpture "Lente" mod. F635, The Color of Night, 1984), in sequences with actors such as Ugo Tognazzi, Bruce Willis, Isabella Rossellini.

Biography

1930-1949: childhood and apprenticeship

The third of four siblings and the son of a miner and a factory worker, Carlo Bonato was passionate about technology and engines from an early age. At the end of World War II, the then fifteen year-old Carlo found work as an apprentice at the local branch of "San Giorgio" -  the historic Genoese optical instrument industry. It was then, as he became acquainted with the production processes of binoculars, viewfinders and rangefinders, that he discovered the existence of Plexiglas, an industrial plastic material not yet used in the production of consumer goods. The qualities of Plexiglas - its transparency, lightness and malleability - captivated him. Meanwhile, whilst continuing work as an apprentice he also successfully attended and completed formal education at the School of Arts and Crafts in Bassano del Grappa where, in 1949, he earned the diploma of mechanical adjuster.

1950-1969: from factory worker to craftsman

Carlo began working at a car workshop in the nearby town of Nove, renown for its centuries-old production of artistic ceramics. In Nove he would meet his future partner in life and work, Maddalena Cornacchio, a skilled, sought after ceramics decorator and a former student-assistant of artist it:Andrea Parini. Carlo and Maddalena would marry in 1959 and, in 1962 Luca, their first of three children, would be born. Over the years the couple would work hard and intensely in order to finance the construction of their "dream" house-workshop, designed by their close friend and artist it:Alessio Tasca. During this highly formative period Carlo became a worker specialized in the production of injection molds for the then flourishing plastic industry. However it was in the evening, after work at the factory and in the settings of his home-workshop, that Carlo began experimenting with the design and production of metal objects. Meanwhile his wife Maddalena would continue working as a ceramics decorator and a mother, giving birth to Giorgio (in 1965) and Silvia (in 1975). Their house was visited regularly by important artists and friends such as the designers Alessio Tasca, Gigi Sabadin, Cancio Canciani and the photographer Luciano Svegliado. During those years the atmosphere was animated by a fervent and innovative cultural climate solidly steeped in tradition.

In January 1969 the issue of the prestigious architecture magazine “Ottagono” it:Ottagono (periodico) dedicated its cover to Alessio Tasca’s "Nuovi trafilati" - with illustrations by the photographer Luciano Svegliado. It is then, right at the turning of the decade, that Carlo began sensing the unexplored aesthetic possibilities and the affinity, complementarity between ceramic extruded products and the metal profiles of industrial production. As a result, together with his friend and collaborator Alessio Tasca, he set about designing new, inspiring objects for the home and office, while his desire for autonomy grew. Under Alessio Tasca's artistic direction, Carlo began developing technologies linked to precision mechanics and transferring them to the processing of Plexiglas, thus creating innovative shapes that had never been tried before.

1970-1971: from craftsman to entrepreneur

At the beginning of 1970 Carlo resigned from his post at the factory in order to devote his time entirely to entrepreneurship. On Friday, 1st May 1971, his Fusina workshop was incorporated. The name “Fusina”, a word Carlo borrowed from Venetian dialect (meaning "forge"), marked and celebrated the 10-year collaboration between Alessio tasca and Carlo Bonato. Indeed Fusina’s logo, designed by the photographer Luciano Svegliado, was conceived as a tribute to the sculpture “Arcovasi” by Alessio Tasca.

In 1971 a selection of works from the Fusina workshop appeared at the "Laboratorio Tasca" stand at the Salone del Mobile Expo in Milan, arousing interest and commercial orders. At the Expo Carlo Bonato and Alessio Tasca had also the opportunity to meet executives from “Polivar" of Pomezia, an important business active in the production of Plexiglas. Following the meeting, only a few days later, Carlo and Alessio travelled to Pomezia. Once they had arrived at the “Polivar” factory with their car, they immediately loaded it with blocks of transparent and colored Plexiglas scraps and other industrial production waste. The journey laid the foundations of the company, which until then was active in the production of metal. By 1972 Fusina began to be recognized as an innovative company, so much so that it was invited to exhibit some of its works at "Formes d'ltalie Artisanat Italien D’Aujourd'hui", Paris, 1972 - alongside many other prominent representatives of contemporary Italian craftsmanship

1972-2016: artistic evolution - Artwork and creations made by Fusina

Set of plexiglass artifacts handcrafted by Carlo Bonato during the '70s in his "Fusina" workshop in Nove (VI, Italy).

• "Sphere" by Franco Costalonga, one of the major artists of European kinetic art, became part of Peggy Guggenheim's collection in 1969;
• "Arco" (mod. B200 and B205; B201 with semicircular base and "Disco" (mod. C333; later C334) by Alessio Tasca, produced for decades;
• "Lens" (mod. F635);
• "Square" (mod. H210) by Carlo Bonato;
• Objects mod. LU0l, LU02 and LU03 are games that exploit optical properties;
• Sculpture F600/1 is composed of lenses mounted on a pivot;
• Lee Babel - two models, which take up some of the architectural structures she developed with ceramics;
• "color construction" (mod. 87/2, design: Giorgio Bonato);
• "continuous" (mod. 87/8, design: Luca Bonato);
• Sales counter for Guerlain (design Peter Marino);

2016-present

Giancarlo Bonato passed away in 2016. Two years after his passing, Fusina split into two new companies controlled respectively by his son Luca and Giorgio, who are accomplished designers, producers and entrepreneurs in their own right.

Tools, machinery, raw materials and production techniques

Carlo's ingenuity led him towards the experimentation and the introduction of new manufacturing techniques. He would buy used tools and machinery from traditional working environments - such as those in metalwork (cut-off machine, lathe, milling machine), or woodwork (combined machine, band saw, radial saw, etc.). The challenge arising from working with plastic materials encouraged Carlo to look for new approaches and ways to adapt the newly acquired tools and machinery to the specific task at hand. The most important tool/machine modified and utilized by Carlo, to carve and give shape to his Plexiglas creations, was a precision mechanical lathe (model "Pasquino-Milano"). Of equal importance was also the milling machine - an integral part of the “Fusina” workshop. In order to purchase this particular piece of equipment, and lacking the funds to do so, Carlo had to mortgage his own home. The manual finishing work was performed in several steps with increasingly fine-grained sandpaper, plus a final polishing.

“Fusina” workshop would buy the Plexiglas from "Polivar”, Pomezia. The material would be sold in blocks of varying sizes, up to of 200 mm in thickness, that particular measure representing the achievable manufacture limit at that time. However, in 1972, Polivar was able to overcome its Plexiglas factory production thickness benchmark and supply “Fusina” workshop with two blocks measuring 250 mm instead - for the realization of two exemplars only of the sculpture "Arco" (block dimensions: 1000 x 500 x 250 mm). On this occasion, due to the size of the artwork and the inherent operational challenges, Laboratorio Fusina workshop had to borrow suitable equipment from ”Officina Salin”, Marostica.

Awards

• Gold Medal, XV Triennale di Milano
• Gold Medal Diploma ENAPI Selection for "methacrylate arch sculpture, by Fusina, design by Alessio Tasca", World Craft Council, Munich, 1974
• Gold Medal Diploma, Craft Fair, to "Fusina by Giancarlo Bonato" for "Plexiglas sculpture", de:Internationale Handwerksmesse, Munich, 1974
• First Prize Diploma to "Bonato Giancarlo (Collabor. Prof. Enrico Stropparo)", 58^th Padua fair, Veneto Handcraft Exhibition, Padua, 1974
• BNL Cup, 24^th competition "Object or element for the decoration of the house" - 63^rd Padua fair - Padua, 1985
• 2^nd Prize ex aequo to Fusina, 65^th Padua fair - 26th competition "Object or element for the decoration of the house", Padova, 1987
• Bayerischer Staatspreis to "Continuo" by Fusina, 43^rd Internationalen Handwerksmesse, Munich, 1991
• Producer's 3rd Award, Koine Exhibition of Sacred Art, Vicenza Fair, Vicenza, 1991
• Artisan Artist Award, Associazione Artigiani della provincia di Vicenza, Vicenza, 2001

Personal exhibitions

• Carlo Bonato - oggetti in metacrilato (Carlo Bonato - methacrylate objects) by Alberto Carrain, Adelphi Gallery in Padua, May 21 - June 9, 1981
• Alessio Tasca I Fusina I Carlo Bonato - Acrylic object - Curated by Saburo Funakoshi, Design Gallery in Matsuya Ginza, Tokyo, February 5 - 24, 1988

Collective exhibitions

• XV Triennale di Milano, Milan, 1973
• 26th Internationalen Handwerksmesse, Munchen, 1974
• 58th Fiera campionaria (Trade fair), Padua, 1980
• 63rd Fiera campionaria, Padua, 1985
• 65th Fiera campionaria, Padua, 1987
• Object: aspects of Italian craftmanship, Jaarbeuersplein, Utrecht, 1989
• "Artigianato d'autore" ("Artisan crafts"), Florence, 1989
• Craft exhibition by CNA, Bologna, 1989
• 43th Internationalen Handwerksmesse, Munchen (DE), 1991
• Fiera Koine, Vicenza, 1991
• "Italian Craftmanship on stage at the market theater", Johannesburg, 1992
• 28th "Florence Gift Mart", Florence, 1992
• 74th Fiera campionaria, Padova, 1996
• "Fatto ad arte", Cervia (RA), 2000
• "Creativita e artigianato" ("Creativity and craft") - CNA, Vicenza, 2004
• 1946-1975: alle radici dell'innovazione (1946-1975: at the roots of innovation), Civic Museum, Bassano del Grappa, 2004

Bibliography

• Quelli di Nove - Tasca, Sabadin, Bonato, Fior by Carla Caccia in "Forma Luce" - year V, n. 20, February, pp. 35-38, 1971
• Italy's Contribution - Vol 1, num 2, p. 38, 1971
• Formes D'ltalie. Artisanat italien d'aujourd'hui (exhibition catalogue, Hotel George Vin, 19-22 January, 1972)
• Notiziario nazionale ENAPI, anno VIII, num 2, p. 15, 1972
• DOMUS, n° 535, giugno, p. 41, 1974
• Present, "vaso arcofiori" (photo), March 1974 issue
• Notiziario nazionale ENAPI, anno X, num. 2, p. 11, 1974
• Gli incontri di Arredorama con... Fusina, by Carla Caccia in "Arredorama", year VIII, n. 36, January, pp. 14-19, 1976
• "Texas Home", Vol. 6, Num. 1, January/February, p. 30, 1982
• "Forme", n. 104, February, p. 27, 1984
• "Gioielli", year 9, n. 2, summer issue, pp. 56-57, 1985
• "Gioielli", year 9, n. 3, autumn issue, pp. 72-73, 1985
• Con l'artigianato una casa piu bella, in Il Gazzettino, 17 May, 1987
• "ROHM. Spektrum", n. 36, 1988
• Object: aspects of Italian craftmanship (exhibition catalogue, Jaarbeuersplein in Utrecht, 6-7 February), pp. 106-107, 1989
• Paradigmi - Forme dell'artigianato (exhibition catalogue curated by CNA - Bologna, Piazza Santo Stefano in Bologna, 14-24 September), p. 16, 1989
• Studi e laboratori aperti, in Il Giornale di Vicenza; Friday 5 October, p. 33, 1990
• II mago del perspex lavora in bottega, by Ida Tonini, in Elle Decor, year 2, n. 3, pp. 17-20, 1991
• Fusina - Vent'anni di trasparenze, advertorial in "Forme", n. 140, 1991
• In fiera il sacro in vetrina. I mercanti tornano al tempio, in "Il Giornale di Vicenza"; 19 June, p. 10, 1991
• Gli artigeni in "L'artigianato Vicentino"; anno 43, num. 5, p. 15, 1992
• Italian Craftmanship on stage at the market theatre, (exhibition catalogue, Marjet theatre in Johannesburg, 5-16 April), pp. 110-111, 1992
• 20 grandi maestri delle arti italiane (catalogo della mostra, Fortezza da basso in Firenze, 19-22 settembre), pp. 20-21, 1992
• Atlante-Repertorio dell'artigianato d'Arte Italiano alla fine del XX secolo, by Giorgio Lilli Latino, Ponte delle Grazie - Florence Mart, Florence, pp. 130-131, 1993
• Oggetti d'arte in plexyglas. Le forme trasparenti di Carlo Bonato, by Valentina Polati, in "Ville&Casali"; year 11, n. 8, October, pp. 98-101, 1993
• Trasparenze. Plexiglas, a Nove i Bonato ne fanno un'arte, book by Riccardo Bonato
• Il suo nome è Fusina, in "L'artigiano Vicentino"; year XLV, n. 3, pp. 37-38, 1993

Notes

Category:1930 births Category:2016 deaths Category:Italian artisans