Scultore Rocchi
I recently had the distinct opportunity to completely re-imagine and rebuild a retrospective website for celebrated Italian sculptor, maestro Gualberto Rocchi. Concentrating primarily on portraits, Rocchi sculpted some of the most important people in politics, the arts and beyond throughout his career. His subjects have included Arturo Toscanini, Jack Nicholson, Nelson Rockefeller, Richard Nixon and the Royal families of both Spain and Holland, as well as many politicians in both Italy and the United States.
I wanted the design for the site to be understated so as not to draw attention away from Rocchi’s work. The warm, dark color palette was chosen to echo the medium in which Rocchi does the primary stages of a piece—clay. The subtle textures and shadows add depth without overwhelming the content.
Some of the technical bits: powered by a PHP backend structure and some robust JavaScript on the front end, the interaction with the site is not what you might expect. The navigation takes you through a horizontal continuum as you go from place to place, and everything transitions smoothly. It’s like a Flash site without the Flash. It makes use of some of the newer capabilities offered by CSS3 and degrades gracefully. It’s also completely accessible and search and engine friendly. To round things off, has content in both Italian and English, and detects a user’s preferred language between the two, serving up its content in the appropriate language.
I’m really proud of the way this project turned out. I hope you enjoy it, too.
