The world of craftsmanship

Curiosities of Italian craftsmanship

We know how boundless Italian imagination and creativity can be. Italy is also a wealthy and varied country both historically and geographically. Each place is a discovery, with its own special qualities, developed through outside influences or through having to meet needs. And when creativity, ingenuity, history and, why not, meeting needs come together, the […]

Curiosità

The world of craftsmanship

The delicate art of a restorer

The ability to work with wood, to assemble small mosaic tiles, to paint the interiors of buildings with amazing trompe l’oeil, to build beautiful windows and instruments that can play perfect notes, to make clothes, massive chandeliers and sculptures of all kinds: Italian craftsmanship is inextricably linked to art, that becomes a blend of skills […]

Restauro

The world of craftsmanship

The paper artisans in Italy

Paper’s origins are truly ancient. The first description dates back to the second century AD, in China, but it is thought that it had already been in use for some time. Its use was slow to spread in China and there was mention of paper in Italy only in the tenth century, in Palermo. Fabriano, […]

The world of craftsmanship

A light source: the first edition of the biannual Award of the La Grande Bellezza project

To valorize and promote the world of high Italian craftsmanship. This is the aim of the project La Grande Bellezza – The Dream Factory, Starhotels‘ new initiative of contemporary patronage, strongly supported by the Group’s President, Elisabetta Fabri: “I have had the privilege of living in Florence, the cradle of beauty, of the art of know-how. I have […]

The world of craftsmanship

Homo Faber. Artisan Intelligence

Reality has often surpassed the wildest dreams of writers, philosophers, poets and scriptwriters. What was once difficult to imagine even for the most extravagant science-fiction writers- robots, 3D printers reproducing themselves, artificial organs or, more simply, highly advanced cell phones serving as computing devices- is so much part of our life now that we can […]

The world of craftsmanship

The art of decorative binding

Since the 1400s, printers have been creating such items as lunar calendars, playing cards, holy cards, edicts and notices, and also Florentine paper. As a typical Florentine product, decorated paper only emerged around the end of the nineteenth century, after the great burgeoning of the 18th-century French woodcut technique and the influences of early 19th-century […]

The world of craftsmanship

The art of fabric in Florence

In the Middle Ages, working and trading in textiles took on great importance in our country.   In late medieval Florence, more than half of the population worked in the wool sector. These businesses made it possible for Florence to acquire great wealth, later used to create masterpieces that are still admired by the whole […]

The world of craftsmanship

Leather goods of Florence

Everyone knows that, even today, Florence is still dedicated to the artisan tradition of leather goods, shoes, handbags and, above all, the great success of artistic, split leather desk sets.   Where is the raw material prepared? Today, the district of high-quality vegetable-based tanning is concentrated in provinces of Pisa and Florence, in and around […]

The world of craftsmanship

Murano and its magnificent glassware

The first document that attests the presence of glassworks in Venice, where the name of a glass-blower active in the city appears, dates to 982 AD. In 1295, the Serenissima ordered that all glass kilns transfer from Venice to the isle of Murano because of the grave risk of fire that derived from the manufacturing […]