ANNALISA BONSUAN

After a few years of activity spent between architectural and interior design, the Venetian architect felt a calling to fly and, having obtained her pilot licence, transformed her passion into that of a profession, becoming a commercial airline pilot.

Annalisa lives on the island of Mazzorbetto in the Venice Lagoon, where she renovated an old farmhouse using salvaged and recycled materials. There she developed her artistic and design activities through sketches, ideas, drawings and the creation of small-scale models.

From Mazzorbetto she makes frequent boat excursions into her beloved Lagoon during which she retrieves driftwood and floating waste that is harmful to the environment and dangerous to navigation. Amidst the unspoilt beauty of salt marshes and canals, her creative vein is renewed in the recovery and regeneration of materials salvaged with skilful craftsmanship and machinery that nowadays is considered obsolete.

The ancient briccole and poles worn out by the sea are thus transformed, thanks to her intervention, into unexpected and unique modern furnishing accessories, modelled by time, nature and the skill of the artisans.
She has always nurtured the dream of seeing the lonely islands of the Lagoon re-inhabited and the waters surrounding them cleaned up. For years she has been fighting a gruelling battle against wave motion and the progressive and relentless degradation of the Lagoon, stigmatising the frequently irresponsible behaviour of those who ply the waters with their fast boats with no regard to a potential danger their trails cause when they encounter smaller boats.

During the Venice Boat Show in 2021 and 2022, the furniture made from reused wood reclaimed from the Lagoon furnished the exhibition stand of Ingemar. The company manufactures and supplies floating pontoons for the mooring of the yachts on display on the Boat Show and the main landings of the Serenissima, as well as the floating bridges across Venice main waterways during the Redentore festivities, Madonna della Salute and Venice Marathon events. Annalisa’s focus on environmental restoration is well matched to the environmentally aware Ingemar Group of Casale (near Venice), which creates non-invasive floating infrastructure that is highly respectful of the host ecosystems.
© AnnalisaBonsuan 2021