Katarina Rothfjell’s Profile

I was born in Stockholm, the city where I also grew up.

Without doubt, my first contact with artistic creativity came through my parents: my mother´s talent for art/colour/composition and my father who was a photographer and inventor, his company was located in the same crazy building where our family lived.

My years spent at Franska Skolan (French school) provided a diverse cultural input already from the beginning of my education and this was followed-up by a yearlong

kibbutz program in Israel during the late 70ies.

I already began working with images at Ab Rollfilm, my father´s company; dealing with portraits, identity cards and magnetic codecards. I expanded my knowledge by working at Forsgren Produktion (video-& filmproduction for TV and Schools), as well as for the Swedish photographer Bo Appeltofft/ Uggla & Appeltofft Photo Studio (fashion, food and interior design). Previously I´d been working as the private assistant of the former Indian dancer Lilavatii Häger at Dansmueet, Stockholm (archive,

exhibits and photo).

I then attended a one-year program at the Paris American Academy, Paris (art history, drawing, fashion, French and painting). By the mid-80ies, I had enrolled at Anders Beckmans Skola, where I attended the fulltime Advertising Program (art history, drawing, exhibitions, graphic design and photography). I also did some

free-lance photo services for the weekly press and private clients.

I had the good fortune during that period to become friends with some people who later became important figures in Swedish Design and Culture: Anna Holtblad, Camilla Thulin, Erica Pekkari, Karin Westerberg among many others. Often there were professional collaborations between the students at the School. Meanwhile, I also attended the summer- semester at the American College in London (fashion, marketing and textiles).

By the late 80ies, Venice became my base. The small, quite but very remarkable lagoon city, has been a melting pot for many centuries where other cultures blend with the very Venetian way of life, a crossroad where people inevitably still meet, these two factors have always influenced one another.

I soon came in contact with the main local activity: the tradition of glassmaking on the island of Murano. My curiosity led me to experiment with beads for glass jewels, sketching compositions and ordering a variety of beads directly from a number of smaller artisan laboratories and glass factories, depending the technique (most of these techniques were invented in Murano between the 16-19th Centuries).

My necklace production was unique and became quite successful. I believe it was the fruit of a unique combination: my Swedish background and Venetian style - the unlikely blend of two almost diametrically opposed cultures!

Collections commissioned by private clients: Jill Mercedes/Luxembourg Pavillion, Sent Glassfactory, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Marie Brandolini/Laguna B (a company designing exclusive glass objects, with Palazzo Grassi among her worldwide clients).

My small-scale business brought me a bit closet to Sweden again, where my work was appreciated for its originality, simplicity. Svensk Tenn, Stockholm, (fabrics, furniture and interior designed objects) were among my clients.

Just at the beginning of the 90ies, I had occasion to take photos for the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, publishing articles about the new generation of Swedish architects and the designers.

I dealt with photography by working at the Scuola di Grafica, Venice, teaching Photography to the biennium- students (workshop lessons based on different themes that I had chosen to structure the Program).

Some other collaborations worth mentioning have been with Vesign Studio, Murano (photo) and Franco Vecchiato Studio in Abano Terme (film), the French editor Gallimard (photos for the Guide Gallimard on Venice), documenting the work of glass designer Laura de Santillana and the poet Joseph Brodkys appearance at Fondazione Querini Stampalia.

During my last 10 years in Venice I have been free-lancing together with the Norwegian journalist Kristin Flood (reportages for Norwegian newspapers and magazines) and photo documentation of the Nordic Pavilion/Biennale di Architettura in Venice 2004 commissioned by Arkitektur Museet, Stockholm.

Since 2006 I´ve been collaborating with the Venetian glass artist Massimo Micheluzzi (ancient Venetian techniques applied to contemporary glass). You´ll find some photos of his works by clicking on my homepage gallery. Working for Micheluzzi´s Gallery has given me the opportunity to document his unique production; in natural light which is what I favour.

I curated all the photo material for M. Brandolini´s pinpoint presentation at The Louvre in Paris. The images show the different steps of her production in the furnace and some portraits.

Lately, my interest in photographing people has led me to return to wedding photography again, Venice being a extraordinary romantic and internationally appreciated setting for such events. In this area I regularly collaborate with my colleague Eva Maria Ohtonen, Renata Nani/The Swedish Consulate in Venice and Venice Events Agency.

When it comes to portraits, I have a marked preference for b/w and for wedding events I blend it with colour for the ceremonies, panoramas and people.

B/W has had an irresistible fascination for me ever since I saw the first films on TV as a child. The non-colour image conveys a inique impression to the spectator.

I occasionally guide the Phototours proposed on the Venice Events´ website. The participants take pictures while discovering unusual itineraries through the city. This season the Agency offers Photo tour biking on the lagoon island Sant´ Erasmo.

The antique Venetian palaces (palazzi) provide a fantastic opportunità for important local feasts and private parties set in a magic atmosphere. These festivities often call for a photographer on the spot. You can see some examples of these events in my gallery.

ACTV, the local Venetian Transportation Company is now updating the photo mapping of their services on the mainland and I was asked by Giga Media Consulting to take care of that documentation. This type of photo documentation is very different from other types of photographic services, but that´s exactly what attracted me, finding my way to tackle the challenge within the enormous variety of artistic and commercial photography.

Living in Venice has given me the opportunità to being research into the vineyard tradition on the lagoon islands during the Venetian Republic. In this case, the photo documentation needs to be based on ancient Venetian documents. There will be some images from this embryonic work further on, when the whole idea has been more officially developed.