BIOGRAPHY:
As an artist and furniture
designer, De Astis pays homage to the numerous man-hours spent by others in
creating these fantastic pieces of metal, creatively transforming each part
into a new work of art. In his studio, he harmonizes the metal with new
materials-glass, wood, stone, leather, metal sheeting, rivets-which results in
impressive, highly crafted pieces of functional furniture, including chairs,
desks, lamps, tables, and other pieces for the home, office and even public
spaces. Aerodynamic and powerful in design, these unique objects reflect the
creative mind and boundless energy of the artist and designer.
Giancarlo de Astis grew up in
various countries around the world--Mexico, United States, Italy, Venezuela,
Tunisia and Australia. As a result of his extensive travels and experiences
with diverse cultures, he is fluent in English, Spanish, Italian and French. As
a teenager, he attended schools in Florence and Rome, receiving a liberal arts
education and exposure to monuments of Western art and architectural history on
a daily basis. He graduated Cum Laude from Tufts University in Boston with a
degree in International Relations and Economics.
In 2001, a series of dramatic
changes in his personal life led De Astis to pursue a longtime dream of
designing and building hand crafted furniture using parts from old airplanes.
He traveled throughout the Southwest, West and Northwest regions of the United
States for eight weeks in a VW camper, making a seminal stop in Arizona to
visit the junkyards where planes await their meltdown. He purchased a number of
parts and rented a U-Haul truck to bring them back to Los Angeles. Even prior
to this moment, he had already begun sketching ideas for furniture. His first
inspiration emanated from an airplane ride over the Mojave Desert in 1995, when
for the first time he witnessed the "bone yards" where hundreds of
airplanes--row by row--are laid to rest.
INSPIRATION:
For Giancarlo De Astis earning
his Artistic license starts in the American West, where millions of creative
man-hours are already embedded in the shapes of tens of thousands of airplanes
glimmering under intense heat.
"When I toured the area in
Mojave where the airplanes are parked, I began to notice the shapes and curves
of the aircraft. They moved me. The parts and pieces of the planes were
beautiful in and of themselves"
Inspired to perpetuate their existence as the works of art they are; Giancarlo
blends the splendor of each part with time-honored crafting materials.
In the studio he refines his
visualization of the finished piece, chooses harmonizing materials and begins
to craft, and so the metamorphosis begins.
During this inventive process a mixture occurs that renews the part as a
distinct and functional furniture piece- transformed, the airplane part then
survives with fresh purpose. Resulting in extraordinary works of aviation art!
"It's not so much about me
it's the piece itself". "I often wondered what it is that makes
people still line up to see a painting that was done 500 years ago, I decided
it was because the artist had left a piece of himself there and it's the
passion of that person - Picasso, Rembrandt and Renoir - that keeps drawing us
back. The moment that you touch somebody emotionally, that's the moment. That's
what I try to do with my furniture."
