Mario Belloni creates papier-mâché masks.  He was a student and amateur artist in 1984 when he decided, almost just for fun, to rediscover traditional Venetian masks and experiment with their techniques. Between the '70s and '80s, following a certain cultural ferment, the city administration decided to relaunch the Venetian carnival by organizing events. At that time, there were no Venetian carnival masks in stores, but only glass objects and some plastic souvenirs. So, without almost realizing it, along with some friends he laid the foundations for the future mask workshop in Venice. He began by selling handmade masks arranged on the floor on a piece of cloth in the streets of Venice late at night, when the police were no longer passing by; he wanted to see if anyone was willing to buy them, and it was a success. Since the opening of Ca' Macana in 1986, Maro Belloni has not supplied other stores and has worked only for his own business, which has expanded and now has two storefronts and two workshops, reaching out to other forms of art and craftsmanship such as sculpture, sets for films, and furnishings for fashion stores. Today, Mario's children, Davide and Eloisa Belloni, who represent the "new generation" of artisans, also work there. The masks produced by Ca' Macana are made according to the so-called "ancient technique" that involves sculpting the clay model and then creating a plaster mold that will later be filled with multiple layers of a particular type of blotting paper ('cartalana') soaked in water and glue. Once dry, the mask will be painted with a base of white acrylic paint and decorated as desired.