Masters’ Hands
F. Scianna

We arrive at the studio of Ferdinando Scianna. “Are you from Sicily?” and he replies, “Yes, but then nobody’s perfect” and his loud laugh promises a successful collaboration.
We get on right from the start and strike up an instant rapport.
The idea comes out of the blue, a story told only in portraits. Of hands.
Hands that, in a series of photographs Ferdinando shows to us, taken by him at different moments and in different places, tell of lost sensations, rediscovered and recognised, as if answering a silent request for new emotions.
Hands that know, that think, that remember.
Hands that represent the principle, hands that create: like those of craftsmen, the only ones skilled enough to add those style details that make some creations unique. Which serve to pass on a “handmade” feel.
Hands that are calm or joyful, worn, lived in, small hands and big, affectionate, hardworking, solitary or linked, creative hands, that stroke, rest, caress, touch and shape, at times leaving a wonderful aura of “unfinished”.
Our Master’s hands work with matter and make the difference that a machine never can.
Dynamic, untiring hands that hoard that incredible capacity for Italian-style “doing good”. Hands that reveal a skill without presumption. Authentic hands.
Without which an extremely long story of elegance and Italian tradition of great quality would no longer exist.

Diego, Dario and Luca Rossetti