While Donna Touch has had the pleasure of collaborating with many talented artisans and makers over the years, welcoming a full-time apprentice marks an exciting milestone for The Feather Fan Shop. Apprenticeship has long been one of the most important ways crafts are preserved, allowing knowledge, techniques, and experience to be passed directly from maker to maker.
That's why we're thrilled to introduce Valentine Fiorello Salamone!
A Chance Encounter and a Natural Talent
Valentine's journey to The Feather Fan Shop began with a bit of serendipity.
When Donna posted the position in a Chicago artist group, Valentine applied on a whim. It wasn't the first time Donna had put out a call for assistance in the form of an audition, offering applicants the ability to try out the deceptively difficult skill of wiring.
Valentine turned out to be a natural.
Watching him work, it felt as though he had been wiring feathers for years. After only thirty minutes of meeting and working together, Donna knew she had found someone special. Valentine was hired on the spot and sent home with a bag of staves and feathers to continue working.
The timing couldn't have been better.
Just a few weeks into his apprenticeship, Valentine found himself helping build fan sets for a major artist. Since then, he has become involved in many aspects of the creative process, from constructing fans to making custom duster bags, developing accessories, and assisting with photoshoot styling.
His passion for design is already evident. He has already begun sketching original fan concepts and exploring ideas we'd love to bring to life in the future.
A Love for Craft and Preservation
A painter, plumassier, fiber artist, and self-described "human craft preservationist," Valentine is dedicated to learning, practicing, and reviving historical crafts. His interests span a remarkable range of disciplines, including oil painting, quilting, beadwork, needlepoint, fiber processing, fashion conservation, and countless other arts.
For Valentine, these pursuits are much more than hobbies. They are living connections to the people and skills that came before us.
Every technique carries generations of knowledge. Every handmade object tells a story. Behind every surviving work of craftsmanship is a maker whose skill, creativity, and dedication deserve to be remembered.
Valentine is fascinated by both the techniques and the personal histories of artisans, artists, and makers of the past. By studying their work and understanding how they approached their craft, he continues to build his own skills while helping ensure that valuable traditional methods are not lost to time.
It's a philosophy that feels right at home at The Feather Fan Shop.
Evolving Feather Fan Making
Feather fan making combines many of the things Valentine values most: history, materials, artistry, design, and technical skill.
As our Fan Apprentice, Valentine is exploring every aspect of the process, developing hands-on skills while gaining a deeper understanding of the materials, techniques, and design decisions that transform individual feathers into functional works of art.
Apprenticeship is about much more than learning a task. It's about understanding why techniques work, recognizing the importance of materials, training the eye for detail, and developing the confidence to make thoughtful creative decisions. It's also about curiosity, experimentation, mistakes, and discovery. Some lessons can only be learned through practice.
We're excited to share our knowledge with Valentine while also learning from the fresh perspectives, creativity, and interests he brings to The Feather Fan Shop.
