Ramo delle Antipodi

So comes the Ramo delle Antipodi wallpaper, where the realm of Fauna becomes the silent tale of two distant creatures, suspended on the same diagonal of branch and eucalyptus.

I drew a koala clinging with its curved paws to an oblique branch of Eucalyptus tereticornis, its round body and flattened muzzle caught in a timeless three-quarter view, while a cascade of sickle leaves falls in pairs that thin towards the bottom. A little lower, on the same branch, a kookaburra fans out its tail, the dark mask crossing its pale head, drawn with clean arcs and closed outlines, without shadow or relief.

I wanted the ivory ground to let the almost black midnight-blue line breathe, the line that holds shapes and branch together; a single coral-terracotta accent to warm the ear tufts, the nose and the bird’s breast; and matt sage to fill the leaves as a single plane of colour, without gradation. Close up you find the parallel veins incised on every leaf, the bars striping the tail, the small tufts marking ears and claws, the dots following the mask and the knots of the bark: a minute handwriting that rewards those who come near.

In this Ramo delle Antipodi wallpaper I am not after repetition but suspension: a single diagonal gesture, wide and rare, able to hold a whole wall. It is the gesture that in our workshop we call care — the same care I give to every surface that carries our hand.