Camilla Pintonato is an Italian illustrator born and raised in Venice.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Communication Design (IUAV/Venice), a Master’s degree in Editorial Illustration (Mimaster/Milan), and a second-level academic diploma in Communication and Design for Publishing (ISIA/Urbino).
She then returned to live in Venice.
Her most beloved and famous books are Il Gallinario, Il Porcellario, and Il Pecorario, published in Italy by Edizioni Quinto Quarto and translated for the English-speaking market by Princeton Architectural Press under the titles Chickenology, Pigology, and Sheepology.
Since we greatly admire Camilla’s work, we have decided to feature in the new SULLALUNA NYC her books, both in Italian and English, the puzzles and the wonderful fine art prints of her hens, made in Italy and signed by the author.
If you want to book your favorite hen fine art print, please send an email to hello@sullalunanyc.com indicating the number. We will check availability and respond as soon as possible!
And to help you get to know Camilla better, we asked her a few questions.
Your first book of this serie is Chickenology. We know you love these animals so much. Can we ask you why?
As a child, I used to spend summers in the countryside at my grandparents’ place, who had a very large chicken coop. My grandfather always sent me to look for the ‘difficult’ eggs, the ones that the chickens hid along the ditches or in the most unexpected places. Then on Saturdays, we went to the animal market and always came back with a few new chickens; I got attached to them and gave them names, like Ciuffolotto, a Padovana, or Nerona, an all-black Australorp. Chickens are intelligent animals, they followed me around and didn’t even fear the company of my cat (she was also named Nerona, how creative!).
Why, after experiencing life in other cities, did you go back to the starting point, the place where you were born, Venice?
Sometimes I think my life so far has been like a game of snakes and ladders. What I like now is that I have finally found my rhythm, meaning I can set my days as I wish and sometimes, if I really have nothing to do, I can go to the sea, which is nearby.
When did you start illustrating?
I started during my undergraduate studies in industrial design at IUAV. Actually, I enrolled in design because I wanted to become an interior decorator; it was a professor, Gianluigi Pescolderung, who introduced me to the world of illustration. I remember that during that period, after 15 years (I had only gone there as a child), I returned to “Le immagini della fantasia,” an annual exhibition held in Sarmede, in the province of Treviso, where I discovered the illustrations of Beatrice Alemagna. I left that exhibition two hours later thinking that this would be my job.
Graphics and illustration. What is your relationship with both?
I see graphics as a means to create my illustrated books in the best possible way. I have never viewed it as a discipline in itself, perhaps because I always considered myself quite inferior compared to many of my former classmates and now colleagues who are brilliant in comparison to me.
For me, it is an indispensable tool for creating complex projects like “Il Gallinario” or “Il Porcellario”, and I think that if I hadn’t done many years of graphic design, I wouldn’t even be able to conceive a book project in its entirety. So, I am very happy to be a graphic designer as well as an illustrator.
Can you tell us more about what it’s like to live in Venice?
I am a very anxious person, so I need a lot of slowness and tranquility around me. Venice, in this sense, offers a beautiful silence to those who know how to listen, especially in the evening, and the sounds of the lagoon – the waves, the seagulls, the wind, and the boats – create a fantastic white noise. This is a human-scale city, naturally slow, and I find it very pleasant: I’ve been living here for almost 2 years in a small apartment with Rosmarino, my Siberian cat. Perhaps the only thing I miss is a garden and direct contact with the earth. Nevertheless, living in Venice is a choice for me, and I would like to stay here and maybe, one day, find a house with a nice garden.
And this is our wish for Camilla: to continue creating magnificent books for us and to find in the lagoon the place she is looking for, where the land and the sea can harmoniously meet.
In SULLALUNA NYC you can find Camilla’s books, both in Italian and in English, the farm animal puzzles, and the wonderful fine art prints, made in Italy and signed by the author.
SULLALUNA independent bookshop & italian bistrot
41, Carmine Street 10014 New York NY
hello@sullalunanyc.com
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