The Artisans

Introduced in 2011 at 10 Corso Como in Milan, KnIndustrie is an innovative and eco-sustainable brand born from the cooperation between Francesco Zani and Pinti Inox, a historical manufacturer of stainless steel kitchen components. Top-quality, high-performing cooking tools that become elegant serving pieces, and traditional decorative objects that can be used on gas or in the oven. The great passion for design, quality, and attention to detail combined with high technology are what knIndustrie stands for and creating sophisticated and rich collections that simplify the user experience. In 2015, KnIndustrie launched new tableware collections designed by Piero Lissoni, Davide Oldani, and Matteo Thun.

In 1774, Francesco Pineider opened his first eponymous stationery shop in Piazza Della Signoria in the heart of Florence. Throughout the 19th century, the shop’s prestige spread among European intellectuals, attracting renowned personalities such as Stendhal and Napoleon. In 1864, Pineider produced the first pocket guide for Florence and six years later opened a second shop in Rome. Today, Pineider holds a guarantee of excellence in the field of handcrafted writing instruments and leather goods, boasting an unparalleled ability to interpret trends and traditions.

Established in 1974, Bolcas is a prestigious brand specialized in luxury canes, shoehorns, frames and other refined home decor objects ranging from tabletops to desk accessories. Renowned on the international stage for their meticulous handcraftsmanship, Bolcas’s respect for traditional, artisan techniques results in exquisite production that perfectly synthesizes classical aesthetics. Noble materials like silver, crystal, and horn take center stage and are combined with modern elements that cater to the needs and elevated tastes of their global clientele.

A leading company of luxury lighting and accessories, Estro was founded in 2010 and is located in Cantagrillo, near Pistoia. Estro’s timeless luxury creations are entirely handcrafted in Tuscany with scrupulous attention to every detail, from the materials selected and the handmade finishes to the delicate decorations. Specialized in tailor-made lighting solutions for hotels, restaurants, shops, cruise ships, and yachts, Estro’s artisans utilize technology to transform simple lights into sculptural yet functional masterpieces.

Founded in 2009 by Simone Ciarmoli and Miguel Queda, Ciarmoli Queda Studio combines architectural expertise with dimensions of charm, attention to detail and material innovation, with an unmistakable signature and style. The firm has designed and developed many innovative projects, ranging over different areas and moving between interior, product, textile and exhibition design. A vision shaped by a passion for art and creativity, with a depth of background that produces a balance between refined elegance and emotional impact, which becomes the distinctive feature of all the projects of the Studio.

Nicolò Taliani founded Nita in Milan, combining his experimental approach to sculpture with sources of inspiration from industrial design, architecture and fine art, notably architects Renzo Piano and Le Corbusier, and artists Constantin Brancusi, Lucio Fontana, and Isamu Noguchi. Nita creates elegant lighting fixtures and furniture pieces balancing primary shapes and pure materials with an acute awareness of local and responsible production processes.

Bologna-born Mauro Sarti studied pictorial decoration at the Institute of Art. After twenty years of experience as a designer, he followed his passion for craftsmanship and wood and started crafting unique pieces under the name Mauby &Wood in 2007. Combining rare, exotic woods with resins, soft metals, and other materials, Sarti first debuted with a collection of spinning tops that transform traditional toys into luxury collector’s items. He also designs and crafts jewels, furnishings and personal accessories: precious, one-of-a-kind objects made using traditional methods.

Founded by Andrea Martini and Rienzo Cedri in Vicenza in 2004, Cedrimartini designs and produces sculptural furniture, lighting, and home décor, in small series or one-of-a-kind pieces. Drawing from their different backgrounds, Andrea in art research and Rienzo in jewelry industrial design, this duo harnesses their passion for industrial design to innovate classic designs into futurist pieces inspired by organic shapes.

Franco Zavarise founded ZAVAluce in 1982, combining his creative talent with experience in metal processing and a great passion for lighting. Zava’s collections are distinctive for their unconventional design, creativity, and great attention to detail, each piece outlined using the latest-generation machinery and technology and modeled by skilled manual processing with traditional techniques. Focused on the respect and preservation of the environment, the factory located in Cornuda (Treviso) was built according to the innovative environmentally-sustainable standards.

The stunning evolution of Ciclò monocycle, part of the Italian Design Museum since 2007, Ciclotte is the expression of a contemporary living where exercise and entertainment intersect to create an exquisite fitness tool and design. Conceived by Italian industrial designer Luca Schieppati, Ciclotte Bike is made of high-tech materials such as glass fibers and carbon, and it is the first exercise bike featuring an electromagnetic resistance system with gearbox, providing a unique experience compared to the excitement of a real road race.

Born and raised in Colombia, Criado studied Industrial Design in Milan. She started her own multidisciplinary brand in her native country, producing delicate and unique pieces of jewelry and accessories characterized by a multicultural, eclectic, yet sophisticated style. Drawing inspiration from art, fashion, and her own life experiences, Criado creates her pieces in her Bogotá-based studio using assorted metalworking techniques. She has been commissioned several projects by Latin American and international companies such as Diptyque and Swarovski.

ZPSTUDIO is a design and architecture studio that provides creative interior and product design solutions for cultural institutions, as well as furniture, accessories, and lighting brands. Located in Florence, the studio was founded in 2003 by Matteo Zettiand Eva Parigi, architects and designers who trained at the Faculty of Architecture in Florence. With the ZPSTUDIOTOOLS brand, they developed a limited series of objects with a unique style in perfect balance between tradition and avant-garde, all made in Tuscany in collaboration with artisans and small local companies.

Milano based artist Carla Milesi experimented with concrete since the eighties. In 1987, she established Concreta, a research laboratory within her family’s concrete company. Starck, Ron Arad, Mendini, Sottsass, Citterio, Fiorucci and Anna Mari all collaborated with Concreta sharing their collective know-how. Among her works, Milesi presented 22 light weight concrete silhouettes representing real-life-scale lovers, in Paris, at the Place du Louvre.

Esperia was founded in 1952 in Tuscany, elevating the purity of Light to a timeless expression of beauty. Constantly growing in its dedication to merging design and art with aesthetic and technological innovation, its singular collections comprise highly decorative lighting fixtures of elegant and contemporary allure. Entirely handmade in-house following precise and meticulous techniques, pieces are customizable upon request to suit personal preferences or decor needs.

Salda is the fifth generation, a family-run company owned by the Besana family, decorators of the Royal House of Austria, specialized in high-quality furniture and distinguished craftsmanship. Located in the heart of Brianza, the Italian furniture district near Milan, Salda’s unique creations draw from classic styles reinterpreted with modern sensibility using state-of-the-art technology. The company takes pride in its commitment to preserving age-old crafting traditions, offering one-of-a-kind pieces that are customized even in the smallest details by master artisans.

Founded in 1999 as Euroluce Light of Italy located in the town of Andria in Apulia, this small family-run company has grown over the years, inaugurating its in-house designing department in 2012 and rebranding itself as TXXNTY Brand Design in 2017. Working exclusively with expert Italian craftsmen, TXXNTY creates captivating lighting fixtures in which light and volumes interact in captivating ways to reveal both classic and contemporary pieces of sculptural appeal.

Luigi Fontana brand was founded in Milan in 1881. In 1931, legendary designer Gio Ponti became artistic director of the company, hiring master glassmaker Pietro Chiesa to guide the brand alongside him: in 1932, FontanaArte was born. With artistic directors Max Ingrand in the ‘50s and Gae Aulenti in the ‘70s at the helm, the company grew whilst maintaining its artisanal soul, collaborating with young and established designers. Today, under the guidance of Giorgio Biscaro, FontanaArte still creates lighting fixtures of striking modernity.

Michele Santalucia began working as a ceramist in workshops in Abruzzo in 1994 and refined his craft in Seville, Spain, where he learned new techniques while working with local historical workshops. In 2006, he returned to Francavilla al Mare near Chieti and opened his own atelier, where he incorporates influences of the classic Andalusian ceramics (“cuerda seca“), the typical decorations of “azulejos“, and the Abruzzo ceramic tradition, from Castelli to Rapino. His unique creations stand out for their quality, refinement, and attention to detail.

Lisa Corti’s established her eponymous Home Textile Emporium in the mid-‘80s in her home in Milan. In 2005, she moved the atelier to a 17th-century former-convent to use both as a store and a creative workshop: a symbolic convergence of Western World and Indian and African influences. Corti designs all her patterns in-house and her pieces are designed in Italy and handprinted in India. All pieces are woven using cotton spun on a wooden loom, then hand-dyed using the ancient manual block print technique, whereby carved wooden blocks are dipped in a different color and pressed onto the fabric.

After learning the trade from local cabinetmakers, brothers Costante and Piero Callesella established their eponymous workshop in 1896 in Cison, near Treviso. In the ‘40s, Costante’s son Angelo moved the atelier to a larger space in the town center and, in1965, the business passed to Giuseppe, one of Angelo’s sons, who worked alongside his two brothers. Now guided by Giuseppe’s children Mauro, Marzia, and Stefano, Callesella is a fourth-generation artisan that proudly continues the family tradition of handmade woodworking to create timeless objects of functional decor.