In 1997 I started my business in Civitanova Marche, where I spent some time designing and selling decorations in Pietra Leccese for exteriors, collaborating with architects and builders that carried out the decoration of villas and palaces in various countries around the world. During my travels, I realised to what extent my clients love Italian craftsmanship. They asked me to find artists capable of frescoing their villas. I still remember the frustration of those who, aware of how much work there was to do, did not know where to start.

In 1998 I met the artist Francesco Palma and, driven by the same passion, we started FRADA together, a private art studio that still continues to create hand-painted frescoes for luxury projects including royal residences in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

Brooklyn, New York

Thanks to my friend Rocco Alessandro, I got an appointment with the head of a leading company in the interior finishing industry. On the trip, I took with me some samples of real frescoes and a great dream: to travel with my artists and make Italian art and beauty known to the world.

The old disused offices of the production of the then “Puccio Marble & Onyx.”

 

I was finally in Paul Puccio’s office. Walls were lined with photos of villas he had made for famous American actors and singers. Paul, despite being fascinated by the skill of the artists, refused my offer due to the long-time required to paint the frescoes on the spot. They could not entrust construction sites to us for weeks or months. Clients did not grant them all that time. It was just a matter of delivery times for the villas.
The meeting lasted less than 15 minutes.
I left “Puccio Marble and Onyx” offices in tears, disappointed by the expectations and illusions I had for weeks. Inside me, however, a challenge got started, a sort of desire for redemption. I promised myself that I would get back to Paul with the solution.

I realised that I needed to get the only problem solved. Time. To overcome that obstacle, I had to create the frescoes in Italy and then get them shipped and installed on the site. To make art travel, not artists. I had to create transportable walls; therefore rollable, flexible and resistant, to be shippable by air.
Back in Italy, I contacted the greatest experts in the industry, but all of them told me that it was an impossible mission. In my imagination, however, this was already existing: I saw it, touched it, smelled it. I even listened to the words of Mr Paul amazed by my product and solution. It was now an obsession. I didn’t know how, but I just had to bring it to life. Thanks to the footwear industry in Civitanova Marche, the town where I lived, in the workshop of a friend of mine, I was able to experiment with different raw materials that he used to make shoes. I kept carrying tests for months, even using imported special materials in order to get better results.

I will always remember this day as one of the most significant ones of my life: AC Milan came back from Manchester with a victory – they raised their sixth Champions League the night before.
I went to work with a smile on my face and, deep inside, I felt it was going to be a special day. Sandro, my test partner, called me to see the results of the latest tests. We unsealed yet another scroll and as if by magic, the sample unrolled in my hands without crumbling.
I had a thousand adrenaline; I was euphoric. I remember that I raised my face to the sky and, with my eyes full of tears, expressed all my gratitude.
Thus began a long period dedicated to improving the product, a period that continues to this day thanks to the study and use of new raw materials that allow us to optimise it and make it more and more performing.

We started the tests to get digital images directly reproduced on the plaster.
There was no technology that could print on such material.
It was thanks to an expert, Pino Friuli, who became passionate about the project, that we were able to find the right way to open up to digital printing.

Together with my friend Denis Beltrando (partner of many failed experiments and many successes), we found the first dealer in Pinerolo (TO)