Amabito and handmade glass beads

Hello, tell us a bit about yourself..

I'm Roberta, I live in Italy and I'm not very good talking about myself…

I was born near the sea so I'm really in love with the seaside, now I live on the plane and I really miss both sea and beach. 

As a baby I spent lot of time at the seaside so I have a great visual memory and sensibility to different shades, I love the colours of the sea: from blue to teal, orange that becomes pink at sunset..

I love coffee and cappuccino! I'm really Italian in this! 

I also love photography so I have a lot of old photo albums and now the computer memory is full of my photos.

tell us about your label and where the name "Amabito" comes from?

The name "Amabito" is an invention of one of my sisters. When I decided to open a blog to share my works she took some syllables from the names of my family and said: "your name is Amabito!". 

I love that my name is a mix of all my family, it reminds me how they support me in this project.

what is your background and how did you get where you are today?

I'm an engineer graduate who loves handmade! 

I've always made things by hand, from when I've seen my grandfather working with wood. He was a great artist, in his youth he made wood boats and then when he was old he started making amazing notched and inlaid wood canvases.

So when I discovered that I could work with glass I immediately took a class for lampwork glass beads in Murano (Venice, Italy) with master Davide Penso. When I've returned from Murano I started to make space in my house for torches, pliers, glass and I took other two glass classes: one with Davide Penso and the other with Kristina Logan.

Now I mix my own glass beads with my little metals experiments. 

where do you get your inspiration from?

I use a problem-solving scheme (I'm an engineer after all!), so I start from a shape or from a colour as if it was a problem and then I try to solve it in the most beautiful way I can.

what designers/crafters do you really admire?

I really admire Kristina Logan, the queen of dots.

I love her perfect glass beads, her precision is wonderful and her jewelry built around her glass beads is really amazing.

what do you love most about what you do?

There are two things that I love.

Fist I love to see all the creative process, from the idea to the finished piece. I love to see how an idea becomes a true object and each step is interesting: blow the glass and make beads, give a shape to the metal and combine all the parts to complete the jewel.

The second thing I love is to see a person who chooses and wears one of my jewels. I can not explain well, but I feel very happy when I see a person that wears one of my pieces, it is as if she brings with her a little piece of my research for beauty.

what new things can we look forward to from "Amabito"?

I'm thinking a lot about new objects. I want to continue making glass and aluminium jewelry, maybe I will introduce little pieces with silver. 

Then I'm thinking about a chandelier and maybe a wall clock, but before I have to solve some little technical problems.

Maybe I think too much!

what is your workspace like and what is an essential aspect of your working day?

I have two work spaces. One is a table with a lot of metal wires, pliers, beads and half finished pieces. The other one is a table with the torch, glass, glass and more glass. 

The essential aspect of my working day is to make glass beads. I only use my own glass beads for my creations so without these I can not make anything.

you write a blog, do you find that this greatly aids in drawing interest in your label?

Yes, I write a blog and it is very interesting to meet different people, it helps me to put some order in my thoughts and I learn always new things. I started this glass making adventure with my blog so it is really important for me.

where can we find your jewellery?

You can find my jewelry in my etsy shop.

If you are in Italy you can find some of my jewelry in shops in Padua, Asti and Florence.

what do you love to do on your days off?

In my days off I love to stay with my family and my friends, to eat a lot and, if possible, to go to the sea!

Also I love to think a bit.. I know.. I think to much! 


www.etsy.com/shop/amabito
www.amabito.blogspot.com