RhosaSpina^Design.com

When ideally sketching my new activity, I was confronted with the necessity to find a proper name...

When ideally sketching my new activity, I was confronted with the necessity to find a proper name: a name that could represent me and all my world, health problems included. At first I had found that LeftHandMade was the right choice. Not only had it got a nice sound: it was indeed all I was, I had been forced to be and will be in the future.

Yet, after some months, I saw those terms did not entirely correspond to what I want my artwork to be. One sleepless night, I got up with a name in my head. Rosa Spina – Thorny rose, that is. It was so clear, so obvious it is the name my life could carry, if lives could carry names, that is, so I opted for that, with an H in it to echo both the name of the rose in ancient Greek and the word “thorn” in English. I was not aware at that time, but “Rosa” reminds also Rosa Genoni, one of the most interesting personality in Italian fashion and workers' rights movement – I discovered it later (I wrote a blog post about her). Curiously enough, the visual aspect of the logo was formed into my mind the exact moment I caught a glimpse of the right name: the plant, the exact font and the interlacing letter were already there, ready to be drawn with my software.

A rose among many thorns. A thing of beauty born and grown among many difficulties. Resilience in the face of adversities, trust in times of despair, help despite people’s indifference and colourful, joyous art made by an aching wrist, sometimes a shaky left hand and a chronically sick body. Perfection among many imperfect traits. We humans are imperfect, no matter how hard we strive to reach perfection. Imperfection is our nature and nothing can take that away from us. If we want to stay human, we have to be brave so as to protect our rose, our inborn beauty and our depths from the thorny aspects of life. We have to be brave as to let our light shine even in dark, cruel times even if that means exposing our weaknesses and looking strange, odd, abnormal or disabled. We have to be brave as to look at perfection without fear, knowing it is something we cannot compete with nor reach but only aim at. 

To me, perfection is love, acceptance, balance, harmony in variety, comfort and inner light. They are my core values, my beacon and my North Star. They are what I try to instil into my work and they are what I hope people can see in it. My artwork is far from being perfect but what I see and feel in it is and will always be. Beautiful. Shiny. Perfect. As perfect as a rose among thorns. A rhose with an H, of course!