My name is Roberto Grimani, I was born in Milan where I live and work;
I am a technical designer. I did not attend artistic studies, but I matured various years of experience
in workshop to learn the craft ("rubà el mestè"... as they say in Milan). I began to attend the workshop
of Master Chiseller Fedele Caffini in Cesare Correnti way in Milan at the end of the 70ies.
At the same time, I attended a course of goldsmith’s art recognized by the Lombardy Region. I practice the chisel
on an amateurish level with much passion and enthusiasm. In the next future, I hope to succeed in offering
everyone the great archives of original drawings of goldsmith’s art belonged to the great master
Fedele Caffini, left me in inheritance for being handed down among fans.
The art of EMBOSSMENT and CHISEL, "the TOREUTICS" is noble and ancient.
The TOREUTI were held in great esteem and honoured in ancient Greece
where this Art had earned the maximum levels.
The CHISEL is one of the numerous uncutting tools fit to create
any decorative drawing with hammer blows on metal leaves.
These small steel bars, long about 11 cm, with the tip modelled in
an appropriate and tempered way, are made by the chiseller himself according to his needs and their number
changes according to the kind of working. On the average the necessary chisels are about 250.
The work completed by the CHISELLER is indicated with the same tool name,
but where the work appears more or less in relief in consequence of endured working, the word CHISEL
is associated to that one of EMBOSSMENT. The technical difference between embossment and chisel is that,
for the first one, the relief is obtained on the opposite face of the leaf, so operating in negative, while the
chisel models the metal leaf in positive. Anyway EMBOSSEMNT and CHISEL are always complementary,
even if there can be works totally embossed or totally chiselled. Also the chiseller’s hammer is a very important
tool, it has a particular, level and flat shape, the handle is thin in the middle and large in the handgrip.
The best handles were made in CORNEL TREE, a very tough wood. The CHISEL moves on the metal
surface, while the hammer strikes on the CHISEL with a regular rhythm. A good CHISELLER must be
first of all a good drawer so that the possibilities of production with the technique of EMBOSSMENT and
CHISEL become endless. Limits do not exist for the TOREUTA that, with simple and ancient tools,
can make nearly everything and rule the matter without offending but exalting it; just because of this purity
and authenticity, the preferential use of these work tools is determined by the fact that they cannot rule the
work development, as instead it can happen with modern mechanical tools; they force to a continuous creative
effort and to a steady research of new things. Perhaps greater time is employed, but time allows reflection
and reflection helps the research.
