Johnny B. Goode…Italian Style

You won’t believe what I discovered in Deruta; home to traditional Majolica ceramic artists for about 600 years. In one of the smaller ceramic studios along the main street I met Giovanni Andreani, a young ceramic artist, musician and guitar maker, who has combined his passions to create one-of-a-kind, museum quality instruments.

From a distance I thought the ornately decorated, electric guitar in the window was just another humorous jab at an Italian tradition…like a “paint-by-numbers” Mona Lisa or an over sized partial sculpture (from his waist to his upper thighs) of Michelangelo’s David...you get the picture. Anyway, I just couldn’t resist stepping inside for a closer look at this incredible work of art.

I was greeted by Giovanni’s father, himself an expert ceramic artist, and asked if the guitar was functional. He flashed a quick smile and summoned Giovanni who proceeded to switch on and plug into an amplifier, strap on the guitar and played a few rock and roll riffs and cords proving both he and the guitar were the real deal. I was blown away.

Following Giovanni’s demonstration, he showed me four other ceramic guitars; each was decorated with different traditional renaissance designs and patterns. The ceramic control knobs were similarly decorated, the heads were inlayed with tiny ceramic pieces with mother-of-pearl tuning keys. He explained that it took him at least three months to make one guitar and his estimated their value of at least €12,000 ($15,000 USD) each…if they were for sale…which they are not!

Giovanni said that he might consider selling one of his masterpieces to a very serious collector, Eric Clapton, ZZ Top or a major museum. Besides his artistic talents, I think young Giovanni has inherited his father’s business acumen.

By the way, in Italian John is Giovanni. So here are some photos of traditional Deruta ceramics and Govanni's creations.