Mitja Ficko is an established artist with international recognition and we’re grateful to be able to work together with him at Galleria l’arte di seta. The decision to collaborate with Mitja Ficko was both spontaneous but also carefully planned. My familiarity with Mr. Ficko’s work is what allowed this idea of collaboration to be spontaneous. In hindsight, two main factors led us to think of Mr. Ficko for collaboration: firstly, it’s the feelings one experiences when looking at his art. His paintings invite us to enter them, to come to the backstage; new worlds open, new stories, in the painting and in the spectator. His art slows us down and makes us focus. As Mr. Ficko has said, “through the sensing it brings us back, embodies us and returns to the present moment”. This is something that we at the Galleria wholeheartedly agree with and consider very important. The second factor that contributed to our decision of reaching out to Mitja Ficko were the colors he uses, in particular in the two chosen artworks. They are colors of high intensity, joy, opening up, everything we need so much in the post-pandemic world.

While the decision to reach out to Mr. Ficko may have been spontaneous, the whole decision making process from start to finish was definitely not. Together with the artist we carefully considered how the final presentation of his motifs on headscarves will look like. We also took into account the demand on the market, the current trends, and other business considerations.

Going back to the motif, the print is not just the reproduction of the existing painting. The author adapted his existing work onto the new format, so that it would still retain his original artistic spin and message. He also oversaw the printing process and experimented with different color shades and other details in order to have the final product reflect the qualities he deemed necessary. Through this process, a unique work of art was created, this time printed on silk.

We decided on limiting this edition to 200 prints because we want to retain the appreciative relationship with the artwork, to avoid banalization through infinite production which the technology would allow. Attention to every detail was present throughout the entire process, from the selection of motifs to color, the quality of the paper used in handmade packaging and sustainability of its production.

At Galleria l’arte di seta, we tackle projects with extreme care and precision, as we aim to uphold a level of aesthetics and quality that will accompany and delight our customers through the lifetime.