“The thing is… you have to Shampoo your hair to go to Mitte,” explains Italian artist Daniele Sigalot as he describes why his art collective isn’t located in the hip center of Berlin, but instead located far-out in Weißensee – a district that many new-school Berliners may not be familiar with, unless they happen to be students at the arts academy in Weißensee. Daniele is a co-founder of the artist group known as La Pizzeria, which caught our attention not just because we adore pizza, but because they also make some pretty impressive art. A few S-Bahn transfers, a tram ride and a healthy amount of walking later we finally arrived at our destination – determined more than ever to find out what drives these mad-scientist-like artists hidden in the outskirts of Berlin.

As hoped, all Italian generalizations that could come to mind before walking through the doors of their studio space held true. The artists were charming, very open, incredibly laid back, and of course, talked a lot about their mothers (or mama).  So what brought them to Berlin? Why would any sane Italian leave the land of perfectly cooked pasta and come to Berlin, a city where Turkish pizza is considered a legitimate type of pizza?

Quit Your Day Job and Become an Artist

Daniele and Fabio La Fauci, the second co-founder of La Pizzeria, spent years working together in the creative department of the global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, taking over cities from Barcelona, to Milan and London. After years and endless nights of pushing out artwork and working at the mercy of corporate interest, they decided to start a comic series together for a real creative outlet. 

Daniele Sigalot with an airplane art installation in his studio at La Pizzeria. Photo: Chris Phillips

The resulting comic series “Blue and Joy” effectively turned out to be an outlet for emotional turmoil as both puppet characters constantly fall in love with girls and then somehow always end up heart broken – certainly a deliberate reaction against the always sunny, positive advertisements surrounding both in their professional lives. 

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