‘I experiment because everything interests me. There is just too much to learn, but I think about perfection in everything I do; it is always in my mind. I think about Michelangelo and the Sistine Chapel. If you spend a lifetime at the bench and you give everything, maybe before you die you can be a fingertip away from perfection – a fingertip away from touching God. We can try, no?’
This quote from Dario Pegoretti was recalled in a tribute written by Silca’s Josh Poertner after the Italian framebuilder died from a heart attack in 2018. Pegoretti was just 62 years old.
For many he was the Godfather of Framers, who laid his artistic foundations by working for the masses before refining his craft on bespoke, artisan projects. He wasn’t just the face of the brand, he was the face of an industry, known for being both difficult and brilliant and for creating frames that cast a spell around the world.
For years Pegoretti had struggled to earn a living, but the second decade of the new millennium was his time. Interest in his work reached a peak. And then time stopped. Leaving behind… what? What happens when the talisman disappears? When a figure so entwined with a brand, a feeling, an emotion, is gone? Leave the welding tools and spray gun to rust
