CRETAZ Ornella
Ornella began her journey in sculpture around the year 2000 with a well-known artisan from Aosta Valley and continued by attending regional woodcarving courses, eventually starting her independent activity in 2008.
In a short time, she developed technical skill and confidence in execution, enabling her to create refined works in walnut wood in a completely personal carving style, using chip carving techniques—which allow for ornamental patterns—as well as floral and Gothic carving.
Her works include bas-reliefs, high-reliefs, and sculptures, sometimes of large dimensions, such as “The Owl,” “The Harvest,” and “The Nymph of Lys.”
The delicacy of her works, which resemble lace, has earned her numerous awards in various craft exhibitions.
Since 2016, Ornella has been a master artisan and teaches regional workshop-school courses.
DESANDRE Katia
Katia has always experienced the fair as a spectator, but she has been deeply fascinated, especially by wooden flowers. This is why she decided to bring some into her home and, by observing them day after day, a question kept growing stronger: how were they made?
Driven by increasing curiosity, she began searching for wood and pinecones, challenging herself with her first creations. The beginnings were not easy: her first works were far from perfect. But with patience and determination, shape after shape, her flowers began to come to life, until in 2013 she officially became an artisan, through mistakes, attempts, and a great deal of practice.
Her flowers are mainly made of linden wood: each petal is cut by hand, one by one, with scissors. They are then colored with water-based food dyes and assembled onto black pinecones. The stems, on the other hand, are made using apple tree branches, making each flower unique and natural.
LE TOUCH NOÉMIEN – GIOVANNINO Noemi
Born and raised in the Aosta Valley and passionate about art in all its forms, Noemi graduated in Media Design in Milan. With the outbreak of Covid, she returned to her homeland and rediscovered a passion that began in middle school: carving. During a period of professional uncertainty, she felt the need to step away from the screen and return to creating with her hands.
From a blend of coincidence and destiny, this project was born, standing against the anonymity of industrial objects through creations that tell stories, evoke emotions, and restore identity and warmth to spaces. Her aesthetic combines classical decorative carving with creative elements inspired by nature, giving life to works that bring a touch of enchantment to everyday environments: a Touch Noémien.
BOIS ET ROIS – CAPUZZO Katia
With an artisan background and spirit, Katia has long wandered through various courses and professional trainings: from dressmaking (and velvet embroidery) to sculpture and wood and clay carving, driven by the desire to create freely without rigid patterns.
Since 1999, she has taken part in the Sant’Orso Fair, where interaction with the public continues to inspire the evolution of her creations. Her experiences in international fashion-related fairs have also encouraged her to broaden her horizons.
For over twenty-five years, however, it is Aosta Valley craftsmanship that has been Katia’s main source of inspiration: she creates sculptures but above all tatà (wooden and ceramic toys) and home décor items inspired by the local fauna and flora, combining different techniques, materials and colours. More recently, she has also created a line of natural walnut jewellery, “because even wood scraps are too precious to be thrown away”, as she likes to say.
ATELIER DU GRAND-PÈRE – VAJ PIOVA Silvia
Atelier du grand-père is a project born from Silvia Vaj Piova’s passion for wood and love for her family.
The central figure of this new venture is her grandfather: he is the “grand-père,” the master who introduced her to the world of craftsmanship, just as he had done a few years earlier with her father.
Since childhood, together with her brothers, she has breathed the air of his workshop — a magical place where wood takes shape.
The ancient techniques of carving and turning that her grandfather is now passing on to her form the foundation on which she is building this journey.
Her goal is to combine them with her own artistic vision, nourished by creativity, to bring something new to life.
COOPERATIVA SOCIALE LA SORGENTE
The artisan workshops of the cooperative La Sorgente were established in 2018 within the day centers Orchidea and Myosotis to offer a work experience to people with disabilities. Over time, the staff organizing the workshops received guidance from numerous local artisans to identify the most suitable techniques for each participant’s individual characteristics.
The products are unique, handmade pieces crafted from wood and clay, in keeping with the traditions of the Aosta Valley. The types of wood used include walnut, chestnut, Swiss pine, maple, linden, oak, and larch.
Animals such as roosters or tatà shaped like horses, ibexes, and cows have, over the years, found a place at regional fairs alongside brightly colored ceramic tableware.
BUILLET Yvette
The smell of wood has always been a familiar calling for her: her father Giuseppe Buillet is a well-known and highly regarded figure among the wood craftsmen of the Sant’Orso Fair in Aosta. Since childhood, Yvette has taken part in many activities in his workshop, showing a particular interest in creating flowers and small wooden objects.
Nurturing this passion allows her to maintain a strong connection to her land and her roots.
The wooden flowers she creates are inspired by three models: the daisy, the rose, and the edelweiss. Among these, she undoubtedly prefers the edelweiss, as it is the flower that immediately evokes the mountains.
DANDRES Demis
Demis began his journey with wood in 2012, eventually turning the skills he developed into a profession by 2020.
Fascinated by the history of local craftsmanship and its key figures, he distances himself from a strictly commercial or entrepreneurial mindset, constantly seeking a language that makes his creations intuitively connected to both the artist and the region. At the same time, he aims to place them within a broader and more universal artistic context.
His eclectic body of work moves along the boundary between art and craft, including everyday objects, home décor, toys, jewelry, full-round sculptures, bas-reliefs, and everything that nature, life, heart, mind, and hands inspire him to create.
BOTTAN Stefano
Tsenevalla was founded in 1998 by Stefano Bottan, who was already successfully working in sculpture.
Today, its production includes a wide range of walnut wood objects such as cutting boards, letter holders, bookmarks, and frames decorated with knife carving or gouges and chisels.
Tsenevalla also makes numerous tatà, the typical wooden rocking horses of Aosta Valley craftsmanship, as well as various roosters in different shapes and sizes.
LES AMIS DU BOIS
Les Amis du Bois is a small company that has been in the handicraft business for over fifty years and has participated in the millennial Sant’Orso Fair continuously since 1976. Its production consists mainly of grolles and friendship cups, two symbolic objects of Valdostan craftsmanship, but it also makes plates, mortars, bowls, cutting boards, sculptures and bas-reliefs, all made strictly of wood. The company also creates one-of-akind models to order: in the past, it has been commissioned to make some grolles to give to Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, frequent visitors to Introd as a vacation spot.
BARBARA LEGNOART
Originally from Acqui Terme, she moved to Valle d’Aosta to follow her dream: to learn how to work with wood.
Barbara has loved wood ever since she was a child and working with this material has always been a passion for her.
However, in 2021, she decided to turn it into a real profession and therefore decided to take up teaching in the workshop of a well-known master craftsman in Valle d’Aosta thanks to the Botteghe Scuola course.
What Barbara loves about sculpture is seeing the wood take shape: starting from her imagination, passing through the raw wood, then arriving at the finished animals.
LE TOURNAGE SOCIETÀ COOPERATIVA – FUSINAZ Joel
Le Tournage is an artisanal cooperative founded in 1976 by Bruno Fusinaz and Serafino Cossard. Since 1996 the company has been family-owned and operated by Bruno Fusinaz, his two sons, Thierry and Joel, and his son-in-law, Remy Maquignaz. Their production, consisting mainly of grolles and friendship cups, also includes sugar bowls, wooden bowls and plates, and traditional Valdostan games, and is characterized by their ability to maintain respect for tradition while incorporating elements of originality. As for the materials used, Le Tournage works with local woods such as walnut, maple, birch, and ash.