Bringing the house back to its former glory was the aim of the owners of the charming 16th century villa on the outskirts of Florence, the protagonist of this story of good taste, aesthetic sense and respect for the artisan traditions. Fifty years of state of abandon have been ‘solved’ in two years of uninterrupted work, only three masons, a master and two workers, and the two owners who with passion for design and blessed with good taste, have followed the work personally deciding everything, from suppliers to materials, interfacing in person with the Superintendency of Fine Arts for all delicate interventions such as the restoration of the fresco entitled “the coronation of poets” in the music room of the villa.
The workers, as well as the suppliers of the furnishings, were carefully chosen among local, Florentine or Tuscan artisan companies, from that which created the precious parquet floors, to the one that took care of the boiserie, up to the personalized taps and faucets, this is the spirit that guided the entire project and that created the exclusive relationship with the Bronzetto’s artisans who followed the customer by creating all the lightings furnishings of the house: from classic products such as the brass picture lamps, the most used the Studio 479, to the Studio 416 floor lamp, to the contemporary lamps of the collection Brass Brothers & Co. by Bronzetto such as the Satellite and Wormhole lines.
The craftsmanship dimension is the essential component of the whole project the ‘fil-rouge’, which finds its expression in the precious materials and accessories that personalize the rooms of the house. All the works were made to measure, in addition to the artistic floors in antique oak wood, the counter and the kitchen table were created by reusing, in true eco-friendly spirit, the parquet boards recovered from an old Spanish farmhouse. On the other hand, all the ceiling, wall and floor lamps in the house belong to Bronzetto, many pieces are in the catalog, while many others have undergone ‘ad hoc’ changes to meet the taste and requests of the customer.
With the support of the technical office and the Bronzetto’s special projects director, Michelangelo Moroni, the customer was able to transform many classic catalog products into truly unique pieces: a chandelier created for billiard tables, the Novecento 250 from the Bronzetto Timeless collection, it has been modified to become an outdoor wall lantern. This ‘change of destination’ of a product created for indoor and ceiling, in one for outdoor and wall, has involved changes such as the change of light bulbs with LEDs, the creation of an iron support for the wall and the special treatment of the brass to protect it from external agents, all processes were carried out manually within the Florentine workshop where the ideas come to life thanks to a continuous brainstorming with the customer.
Another reinterpretation is the one that involved another historical model of the same collection, the Studio 448 wall lamp: turned upside down and with the lampshade in grind blue or orange glass, has become a picture lamp for the guest bedroom and a light point downwards to illuminate the staircase.
“Sometimes I would like to be able to hire some of my clients!” says Simone, one of the 5 partners of Bronzetto, “some of them in fact allows us to see our work and objects in another perspective, this mutual exchange of ideas enriches our work and I do not deny which helps us to always find new creative ideas “. Some examples of this are the creative design of the garden pathway lighting system: according to the customer’s design, burnished brass tubes, like ‘umbrella handles’ whose ends end with a 1 watt LED each, light up the path of the large garden like small fireflies, and the creation of brass wall lights, tilting and adjustable in length, created for the dining room from starting from a Simone Calcinai’s model and adapted to the needs of the customer.
In projects like these where everything is studied in detail and created ad hoc, the flexibility and attention dedicated to the client is highlighted; the SLOW DESIGN is the reevaluation of the small artisan reality versus big industry. The mix of passion for beauty, craftsmanship and new technologies and the search for personalization to create ‘unique’ objects, are the main reasons why many privates and professionals return to rely on artisan workshops to study their interior projects.
Photo: Studio fotografico Francesca Pagliai
