Laboratorio per tutti online: Olimpia Zagnoli

The cycle of workshops for all launched by Palazzo Grassi - Punta della Dogana becomes digital and is conceived in collabortion with exceptionnal guests working in various fields of contemporary creativity.

The Italian illustrator Olimpia Zagnoli leads the workshop Purple Book Meets Green Bottle dedicated to how a casual encounter between two or more domestic objects suggests an unusual color combination.

Olimpia Zagnoli was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy. After years of scribbling she became an illustrator and now collaborates The New York Times, The New Yorker, La Repubblica, Prada, Taschen among others. Soft shapes and chameleonic colours inform her style. She lives in Milan in a house with kaleidoscopic floors.

Day 1

“This morning I was making some juice when I spotted a brown oval that answers to the name of kiwi and a – surprise! – lemon-yellow lemon. This chance encounter at the bottom of the fruit bowl made me think of a perfectly balanced flavor with a dash of surprise. A distinguished lady who, from behind, appears to be wearing an elegant suit. Until she turns around and… Wham! A flash of color.” Olimpia Zagnoli.

Day 2

"There are lots of bottles under the sink. Messy, sometimes toxic, flammable. We call them by name – Comet, Ajax, Windex – and recognize them by their label or shape. Only one needs no introduction and stands out for its colors. Pink like a large, eight-armed woman and red like an alarm button." Olimpia Zagnoli

Day 3

“I’ve had a sky-blue pocketbook for years. When it deteriorates beyond repair, I’ll replace it with a new one. For years, I thought of sky-blue as a tepid color, like when you don’t feel like choosing your favorite color and say “blue, because it reminds me of the sky” or some such triviality. But I really like this shade of blue, it reminds me of an ice cream flavor that I ate as a kid and an artificial color that doesn’t exist in nature and that smells like rubber. I put it next to a bottle-green jar and it felt like standing behind a bush with the sea beyond.” Olimpia Zagnoli

Day 4

“I’ve been studying the combination of red and orange for a few months – but no matter how hard I try to be open-minded, I just can’t make myself like it. Once, when I was alone, I remember distinctly thinking: “This is the year to try”. We’ve made it to April… but so far, nothing.” Olimpia Zagnoli

Day 5

“I try to randomly associate different materials and contents by squeezing my eyes shut and forcing myself to analyze them just from the chromatic point of view. To shake up this cloth-covered book from Paris, I was looking for a vaguely electric color that stings like when you brush your leg against some nettles. I found it hidden in a bottle of kitchen cleaner.” Olimpia Zagnoli

Day 6

“Can you hand me that thing?”
“Which one?”
“The green one!”
“Ok, but which one?”
“The forest-green one.”
“This one?”
“No, that’s sea green!”
“This one?”
“Can’t you see that’s pea green?”
“How about this one?”
“Are you blind? That’s emerald green!”
“Take it easy! Is this one ok?”
“That’s olive green, but I guess it’s ok.”

Olimpia Zagnoli