From the Preface

“I have always been fascinated by Oriental art. As a boy, I would linger to admire the bronze and wooden Buddha statues that my father bought at international fairs for his clients. But what fascinated me most were the coloured Tibetan scrolls known as “thang-ka”, with their rigorous divisions into horizontal and vertical registers creating panels within which were depicted many-armed deities and figures at prayer. Over the years, and with the start of my professional career, this interest of mine turned from curiosity into passion. I began buying my first objects and paintings from a well-known Milanese art dealer, which I then displayed in my Turin showroom. I never wanted this to become simply a commercial interest, because at heart my work as a designer and creator of furnishing elements has always taken up most of my time and resources. What interested me was creating projects within which elements of ancient Chinese art (and, in recent years, Japanese art too) could find their place.”