The Italian-Polish theatre designer and artist Gilberto Giardini is best known for his set and costume design, having worked widely in ballet, operetta and opera, designing stunning themes and settings for theatres and opera houses in Germany, Poland, France, Austria, Estonia and Japan.

Giardini lived for the first five years in Warsaw, then as a child spent most of the time between Italy and Germany with his mother, an international opera singer. His early encounters with artists and musicians marked the beginning of a life-long love of art and theatre. He designed his first costumes at the age of sixteen for a gala evening of Polish ballet at the State Opera in Wrocław, and after graduating from high school and an inspiring year-long stay in Paris, he studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, graduating with distinction in 1989. His mastery of five languages – Italian, German, Polish, French and English – has been enormously helpful both in staging works in their original languages and when working with international artists.

A position as stage and costume assistant at the Bremen Theatre in 1990 opened the door for Giardini to work with international artists from opera, theatre and dance theatre, including Gabriele Lavia, Hubert Monloup, Tobias Richter and Johann Kresnik. In 1992 he began his freelance career as a stage and costume designer, initially as an assistant, then with his own productions and designs.

Giardini’s artistic activities go far beyond theatre and opera, and include painting, illustration and photography. His paintings, illustrations and collages have been shown in group and solo exhibitions in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, England, USA and Canada. Since 2001 he has worked as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer, becoming increasingly active in graphics and illustration for books. More recently his attention has turned to art photography, and his portraits and male nude studies have been widely exhibited.

In 2011 Giardini moved to Berlin to live and work, where he is actively involved in the artistic and gay communities.

Gilberto Giardini’s website, where he showcases all his most recent work, can be found here.

We are very grateful to our Russian friend Yuri for suggesting the inclusion of this artist, and for supplying most of the images.