Art Scene

July 10, 2025 – Published in Design & Decor Spring-Summer 2025 issue

Unfolding the creative genius of Angela Caruana – the gifted woman with hands of gold!

Words Shirley Jobson

Photography Matthew Mirabelli

Tucked away in a quiet street in Rabat, a family home showcases the expert craftsmanship of a wife and mother who, sadly, left this world a decade ago, but whose legacy lives on in the stunning collection of cherished items she conceived throughout her industrious life.

Together with his daughter Sandra, George Caruana walked us through the two-storey residence he once shared with his beloved Angela. As father and daughter recounted their loved one’s story—often tripping over each other’s words as they eagerly pointed out her assorted creations still spread around George’s home—their shared pride was palpable.

“There was nothing she couldn’t do,” George smiled fondly, “and no one could stand in her way. She would get a new idea, and off she’d go to recreate it!”

Sandra added: “She had an eye for absolutely anything, moving from one thing to another with ease—with Dad as her assistant!”

Angela Caruana née Di Rubbo was born in Italy in the idyllic mountain village of Cerreto Sannita, around 60 km northeast of Naples.

Angela’s interest in needlework flourished from a very young age, and she was taught how to sew by a woman from her hometown. At school, if she came across a piece of wool, she would fashion her hairpins into knitting needles and make something out of it.

Angela first met George at age 17 while living in London with her family. Their bond soon deepened, and they eventually got married in Malta, going on to have two daughters: Sandra and Marielouise.

Throughout the years, Angela’s hands rarely stopped working.

She would often be knitting, sewing, painting, or experimenting with any sort of handiwork. She attended classes for specific projects she was unfamiliar with, but she was so quick at grasping techniques that two or three lessons would frequently be enough.

”She would start off as a student and end up as a consultant to the teacher,” declared Sandra. “She never sold anything, but she was a point of reference for many Maltese people who knew that, if they asked It-Taljana, she would, somehow, find a way to help.”

Angela had numerous local contacts for the high-quality materials she sought, and every time the family went abroad, she attended fairs and scoured shops in remote locations for anything she could not find back home.

The Caruana home is a veritable museum exhibiting Angela’s skilled artistry.

The entrance hallway displays Angela’s colourful tapestries, which she encased in frames retouched with gilded motifs. These masterpieces hang alongside beautiful hand fans—made from lace after she learnt how to use the traditional Maltese ciombini—together with gilded light features and several paintings which Angela skillfully reproduced whenever a family member or friend took a liking to a particular artwork. She had even begun crafting a miniature version of the façade of her house in stone—one of her many unfinished works.

In the family lounge, the upholstery on the vintage sofas matches the embroidered curtains perfectly. A Maltese clock she fashioned herself presents gilded patterns surrounding a painting of Mdina in its centre. An enormous mirror overlooks the dining room table, with its wooden frame enhanced with intricate gilding interspersed with the written names of each family member, including Angela’s grandchildren.

Three doll’s houses around the room represent different eras, which Angela researched intensively before recreating the tiny abodes, complete with furniture, wallpaper, carpets, curtains, window boxes, and garden furnishings. She also managed to install electric wiring to light up each doll’s house.

The floors incorporate sensational mosaic patterns, crafted with tiny glass pieces which Angela painstakingly cut and glued in place. This project entailed removing the original tiles to provide a recessed area where she could set the glass fragments and create a flat surface with a dynamic design.

The three bathrooms are works of art, all innovatively decorated by Angela!

The guest bathroom downstairs presents gorgeous mosaic flowers in the centre of the floor, with dark green tiles covering the whole room. Angela outlined the matching flowers set in the wall mirror using a soldering iron.

The main bathroom upstairs made us feel like we had stepped into a luxury spa. Angela added sparkling white mosaic tiles with gold touches to cover the walls, the floor, and the three steps leading up to the jacuzzi. Artistic recreations in mosaic tiles adorn two of the walls, while Chinese silk curtains add a splash of colour.

The third ensuite bathroom is again proof of Angela’s incredible talents, with a striking circular mosaic portrayal of a Grecian woman sitting in nature, an elegant design surrounding the mirror opposite, and a mosaic pattern of vases, plants, and leaves bordering the top section of the walls.

George and Sandra proudly ushered us into Angela’s work studio, which remains exactly as she left it. 

Several incomplete projects, various tools, and crafts paraphernalia are a vivid testament to her self-taught expertise. A partly finished doll’s house sits in a corner, surrounded by tubes of acrylic paint and glue. Paintings of local landmarks, Maltese houses, and portraits lie next to rolls of silver wire Angela had bought to try her hand in the art of filigree.

The pool downstairs—covered in light blue mosaic tiles—is surrounded by 18 massive boulders which Angela shipped from Italy and lowered into the garden with a crane. But it is the swimming pool at her other daughter Marielouise’s house that truly captures Angela’s dedication to her work. Enormous flower motifs were patiently laid along the whole pool, creating a shimmering effect with the movement of the water.

Inside Marielouise’s home, George pointed out a large painting of a lady in a red dress standing next to a horse.

“We visited a famous artist’s showroom while in Italy,” he recounted, “and we saw this painting, which Marielouise loved. We took photos, and Angela reproduced it for her at home. It needs a few more coats of paint—you can still see where she had sketched the outline—but I’d rather leave it as it is.”

Angela’s handmade treasures are a precious tribute to her artistic genius—and a tangible reminder that people can truly achieve whatever they set their mind to, even when others may deem it impossible!