Ally’s Mind Is Sculpture for the Contemporary Class
Allegra Santini reinterprets classical art with a modern-day brushstroke.
T he natural light that floods ISAC Statue is like an apostolic message from the high heavens. Here, in the family-run manufacturing facility in Cecina, a seaside community not far from Florence, Italy, is a vast assortment of religious figurines. It’s not just likenesses of Mary, Joseph, and their Almighty Son that are produced but also countless other busts and figures: Bacchus, horse’s heads, and private commission requests from around the world. Allegra Santini, the third generation, carries on in the tradition of her grandfather, regenerating Carrara marble (combining marble powder and resin) into objects of beauty.
“I did feel the pull to continue in the family tradition,” says Santini, herself an architect who juggles the family business along with her own architectural practice. But she wanted to create something of her own. During the pandemic, she conceptualized Ally’s Mind, a line of thoroughly classic figures in regenerated marble and “updating them,” as she says, with gilded highlights. Sculptures include Milo con Maschera di Bellezza, a bust of the Venus de Milo with a gold beauty mask, and bestselling Busto Artemide, with a pour of gold that cascades from her hair. Ally’s Mind is rooted in tradition while reimagining the future.
