The technique of enamel decoration has ancient origins, appearing as early as in Egypt and Greece, but it became firmly established in the West during the Byzantine period, with its finely enameled icons.
It later flourished again in the Middle Ages across various European countries,
through objects for liturgical, domestic, and personal use. During this period, the Limoges school
saw the dominance of color over metal in enamelwork, producing refined results that were interpreted differently over the centuries: the enameled jewelry of 15th-century Venetian goldsmithing, 18th-century French and English snuff boxes, and the exquisite sculptural jewelry created for the last Tsar by Carl Fabergé, as well as the modernist interpretations by Sonia Delaunay and Giò Ponti.
Technically, enamelwork is the result of the fusion of glassy materials and metallic oxides
that act as colorants. Depending on their individual properties, they render the glassy surface either more transparent or more opaque. The glass substances used for enameling are pulverized and washed to remove impurities, then applied to the metal base and fired in a refractory kiln.
The firing times depend both on the base material (gold, silver, or copper) and the glass substances used.
For example, opaque enamels melt at a lower temperature than transparent ones, and sometimes a double firing is necessary to enhance the color’s brilliance.
Depending on the quality of the glass mass and the characteristics of the base material, enameling is divided into several techniques used throughout the centuries: Cloisonné, Champlevé, and En ronde bosse
are among the most well-known.
In Cloisonné, the base is formed by a honeycomb structure (cloisons),
made up of dividing strips that enclose the individual enamel fields,
which usually correspond to the internal lines of the design and composition.
The technique of enamel decoration has ancient origins, appearing as early as in Egypt and Greece, but it became firmly established in the West during the Byzantine period, with its finely enameled icons.
It later flourished again in the Middle Ages across various European countries, through objects for liturgical, domestic, and personal use. During this period, the Limoges school saw the dominance of color over metal in enamelwork, producing refined results that were interpreted differently over the centuries: the enameled jewelry of 15th-century Venetian goldsmithing, 18th-century French and English snuff boxes, and the exquisite sculptural jewelry created for the last Tsar by Carl Fabergé, as well as the modernist interpretations by Sonia Delaunay and Giò Ponti.
“For me, color is a vital force. Pairing them
means creating emotions, telling a story
through the eyes”
-Yves Saint Laurent
“Proportion is what gives balance to forms
and balance is the key to classical beauty”
-Charlotte Perriand
“Design must make us feel alive. Light, colors and materials are tools to create spaces that nurture the soul”
-Ilse Crawford
“Color is emotion. I like to use it to break
away from the traditional norms without
losing the sense of classicism”
-Patricia Urquiola
To understand the work of Giovanna Ferrero Ventimiglia – or GFV, as she prefers to be referred to in a somewhat brisk manner- and to grasp her dimension as both a designer and an artist, one must look just above her shoulders. She is petite, so it’s not difficult. With a touch of imagination, one can see Milan, not only the contemporary, international, and bustling Milan of today, but, above all, the Milan of the past: the post-war city, beaten down but unbroken.
“For me, color is a vital force. Pairing them
means creating emotions, telling a story
through the eyes”
-Yves Saint Laurent
“Proportion is what gives balance to forms
and balance is the key to classical beauty”
-Charlotte Perriand
“Design must make us feel alive. Light, colors and materials are tools to create spaces that nurture the soul”
-Ilse Crawford
“Color is emotion. I like to use it to break
away from the traditional norms without
losing the sense of classicism”
-Patricia Urquiola
To understand the work of Giovanna Ferrero Ventimiglia – or GFV, as she prefers to be referred to in a somewhat brisk manner- and to grasp her dimension as both a designer and an artist, one must look just above her shoulders. She is petite, so it’s not difficult. With a touch of imagination, one can see Milan, not only the contemporary, international, and bustling Milan of today, but, above all, the Milan of the past: the post-war city, beaten down but unbroken.
Giovanna Ferrero starts from here, from the carré cloisonné invented by her grandfather, applying the original concept to a totally new range of design objects. The carré are squared metal plates, meticulously engraved using the cloisonné technique and sometimes the champlevé one, to create carved cells with flat or chiseled bottoms, separated from each other by thin metal filaments, into which the enamel color is poured and fired. Each element of Piccoli Smalti‘s designs has its own story that makes it unique. The transparency of the color, the processing of the background, the firing times of the enamels: all have to live in the head and eyes of the designer long before they are crafted by the skilled hands of the artisans in Florence. Each Piccoli Smalti design piece is special, is the result of an artistic vision and meticulous manual workmanship that make it unrepeatable.
The Piccoli Smalti Collection started at first with a free standing little sculpture where the intricate and vivid enameled pattern is embedded in a fine support, from leather to marble, with a sort of elegant “wunderkammer” touch. Later Giovanna designed the Lei Lamp which blends effortlessly tradition and contemporaneity with a deco allure given by the lamp base adorned with unique, numbered, cloisonné enamels. The latest addition is a series of luxurious boxes whose cover , embellished with a translucent plaque enameled in vibrant colors, gives to the object a jewel-like feel.
The creative reinterpretation of ancient enameling techniques is at the center of GFV’s design research, but the designer is too fascinated by shapes, colors and materials to be able to contain herself within a single perimeter.
Aware of having created something unique of its kind with the Piccoli Smalti,
Giovanna decided to carve her out a tiny space for free formal experimentation: GFV Creations.
A limited line of made-to-order design pieces guided above all by her taste for fun, play, surprise and paradox.
There is the Corno Lamp, which fuses the biomorphic forms made of bronze with the elegance of the shiny black lampshades in an edgy update of the “hunting core”. Her latest creation: the Forget Me Not, a bronze fusion which transforms the softness of the female breast into a voluptuous sculpture piece.
Giovanna Ferrero Ventimiglia is a designer at heart.
She loves the unexpected that flows from
a special collaboration: a project developed with
an interior design studio or the
particular request from a singular client.
A recent example of such custom made pieces includes
a gigantic version of the Forget Me Not, the fused in bronze
feminine breast sculpture,
exposed during the Venice Biennale 2024 and realized on demand for a client in Los Angeles.
Giovanna Ferrero Ventimiglia is a designer at heart.
She loves the unexpected that flows from
a special collaboration: a project developed with an interior design studio or the particular request from a singular client. A recent example of such custom made pieces includes
a gigantic version of the Forget Me Not, the fused in bronze feminine breast sculpture, exposed during the Venice Biennale 2024 and realized on demand for a client in Los Angeles.
Giovanna’s creations have garnered international attention,
with her works featured in renowned exhibitions and galleries.
Exhibitions & Galleries
2024 Milano, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Libreria Bocca.
2024 Venice, Palazzo Franchetti, Breast exhibition,
a satellite event of the Biennale.
2024 Silvaplana, Sonne Gallery.
2023 St. Moritz, Nomad.
2023 Milano, Orienthera. Fuori Salone.
2022 Paris , Marta Sala Editions Gallery.
Press Reviews
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