Meet Sara Lovari

My first job was on the radio. I used to travel there on my scooter. I had to input all the LP records onto a green-screened computer. There were hundreds of them, Roy Orbison, Celentano, “I Cugini di Campagna”…

I used to answer the phone, keep the appointments diary and contact the guests. When I’d recorded the interviews I had to edit out all the breathing, it was really funny. After that I did a lot of other jobs, but always in contact with people. One job I did was selling English courses by cold calling. People had to answer a whole set of questions, it was like interrogation. I also worked on the fruit counter in a supermarket.

In the meantime I was studying. I graduated in Business Studies for Tourism, while working in a hotel bar surrounded by lemon-flavoured canarini, grappa and cigarettes, and in a jewellery store surrounded by bracelets, watches and necklaces.

I was ready for a change. When I graduated, I sent out my CV. I was contacted by a well-established local clothing factory. I was overjoyed, and started selling their coats, made from a magical water-repellent wool that’s used by Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci.

Then I fell in love, and moved to Cortona. I was back in a customer-facing role, as a sales assistant, and three years later came my reawakening. Partly because of the financial crisis in Italy, partly because my father became ill and died… I re-evaluated my life and asked myself if this was what I wanted. It wasn’t. I had a big dream and a promise to keep, so I decided to become an artist.

Today, I have a workshop where I use paper, cardboard, cork, rope, magazines and old documents to create things. I use anything I can find, ordinary things that tell an important story: my life. My reawakening is thanks to art, my little shop, and my passion.