Jessica de Salis

Jessica de Salis (b.1993), the daughter of Isabel de Salis and Hugh Herzig, has been coming to the Bregaglia every summer since she can remember. In 2017, she graduated from Manchester School of Art with a First Class degree specialising in printed textiles. Jessie now lives and works in London and has a business making and selling printed silk scarves and wall hangings, bespoke wallpapers and dress fabrics. Her work is characterised by bright colours, intricate patterns abstracted from nature, buildings and machines, and bold images of plants and creatures. To combine motifs such as birds, fish, plants or flowers, with architectural, geometric or linear structures, Jessie might use embroidery, digital and silkscreen printing in the same design.

“I love to find surprising combinations of organic and man-made imagery as I create new patterns…

Coming to Bondo every year inspires me. There’s so much beauty and variety in the landscape, the architecture, the natural world. I’m attracted by everything I see here. I’m amazed by the changing landscape, as I walk from flower-filled meadows through the beautiful chestnut forests and up above the trees to the blue-grey glittering granite mountain tops…

It was very sad to come to Bondo in Summer 2018 and see the damage from the terrible rockfall the previous year. But, although the disaster was upsetting, perhaps it has created a stronger sense of community and cooperation between everyone who lives in our village and up the Bregaglia valley. As a summer visitor, it’s important for me to remember the dreadful and destructive power of these beautiful mountains.”