BASSANO FURNITURE
Introduction by Paolo Cambieri
Organised by Monica Pioggia and Valeria Randazzo, our exhibition "Bassano Furniture" has been prepared with the contribution of: Bussandri Arte, Bassano Arredamenti, Faber Mobili, Marchetti.
"Until such time as our towns and homes, our rooms, cupboards, tools, jewels, until our way of talking and our feelings are able to express the spirit of our time in an elegant, attractive and simple manner, we will continue to be far behind our ancestors, and it is a waste of time to try and hide our weakness behind lies". With these words, the famous architect J. Hoffmann expressed a need similar to that of today. A transitional figure between Art Nouveau and Art Deco, ideal for introducing the spirit of our choices.
Therefore now, like then, a reaction is needed to the taste for mass production, reproposing expert artisan work as a "style" not just as a production.
Deco offers an example of a period when the co-operation between artisan and designer was solid, especially in furniture.
Traditional and modern have proved to be a winning innovative team. Therefore, we are part of a real discovery of what was the last great decorative "style" of western culture.
Innovation is created by the combination with modern technology, a synthesis of change and continuous adaptation. This style has managed more than any other to condition society, clothing it, living in it, adapting old materials on the basis of modern needs, including technological ones.
In short, a vision that was total never ideological.
Thus the choice to work with the Bassano experts, producers of "period furniture", where the aim is not to reproduce, but to understand and know the past so as to renew it, study it and project it into the future.
This classic attitude is an instrument for refined stylisation, held up by virtuoso techniques.
The designer, concentrating his attention on the structural elements of the form, gives the artisan simple lines to use that exalt the work on the material.
The professional processing techniques and finishing of the product are specific features of Bassano furniture production.
"In Bassano, artisan work is commonplace."
In fact, in few other Italian towns is artisan work so closely tied to the social fabric that supports everyday life. More than 60% of the local working population is employed in industry and artisan crafts.
Since 1500, in the cultural traditions of this town, there has been a balance between the Mediterranean influence of Venice and the middle-European influence that joins the town to the Valsugana.
Bassano del Grappa is the European town where, over the centuries, there has been a singular and successful association between art and economy, especially visual arts and production activities.
The "workshop" was founded in Bassano by one of the greatest 16th century painters, Jacopo da Ponte, together with his father and brothers, and it is one of the most important examples of economic activities tied to visual arts. In the 18th century, in Bassano, the graphic art "workshop" of Remondini was created, which was to become one of the largest industries in Europe with around two thousand employees.
Still today, the town of Bassano and the surrounding areas continue to prosper on the combination of art-production, giving value to local economy.
Professor Vittorio Brunello, Councillor for Culture and Tourism and Vice Mayor of Bassano, when talking about the area, points out how there is a structure in the area characterised by small local firms, the majority of them artisans. The district is distinguished by holding first place in the Veneto and third place in Italy (after Milan and Turin) for exports, and holds second place in the Veneto for imports.
The artisan phenomenon, the Vice Mayor recalls, is strongly rooted and lived as a source to challenge an old ailment, emigration.
There is a strong spirit of initiative, invention, the willingness to face risks by the firms, often being family run, even when faced with large problems. However, despite all this, in an area where everyone must be prepared to "roll their sleeves up", the sector is successful and able to offer employment, although the firms complain about the increasing difficulty in finding labour.
It is a territory that has knowm how to consolidate its efficient productive fabric, and this fact is even more exceptional because the resources for development were all found within the territory itself.
In Bassano, artisan work is the catalysing factor for the other activities in the area, and at the same time is able to work as a self-propelling force, extending to cover a very wide range of different business situations, from the classic antique workshop, to technologically sophisticated large industry.
It is a territory with testimonies of culture and taste that have very solid roots: the art of the Venetian area. The whole artistic artisan sector, from pottery to jewellery, period furniture, artistic prints, furnishing accessories, is characterised by its high quality and is tied to local centuries old traditions. Furniture production dates back to the 16th century, while pottery production, which was radically developed from the 18th century, has origins that disappear back in history.
In Bassano, there is one of the six cabinet making schools in Italy, which aims at keeping alive a tradition which is not just artistic, but also economically important for the area.
On meeting "Commendatore" Bussandri, owner of the firm Bussandri Art, the most ancient and recognised in the world for reproducing period furniture, we asked him what were the origins of Bassano furniture, what was the key to success of the production and what is meant today by "period furniture".
"The origins of Bassano furniture date back to 1920, when Colonel Giacomo Bussandri and Noemi Chilesotti Bussandri moved during the summer from Venice to Bassano, beginning their furniture activities here, that had already been running for years in Venice.
The key to success is the basic culture and the artisan air.
However, "period furniture" above all others does not exist, because each new project is not "pure", but just influenced by our personal situation, by a period and, therefore, by something that has already existed."
Despite the extraordinary business capacity of these artisans, the force to continue investing in new technology, certain that only by "giving" can valid innovative products be created, receiving in exchange a well-earned production guarantee, despite the positive results that have been obtained over the years and the economic stability, even in a critical period like the present, despite all this, the quality of Bassano life has still got a very intimate and reserved nature, never ostentatious.
A nature, however, that underlines the great cultural liveliness and the capacity of assimilating from others, all that which helps to grow as an individual. It is therefore interesting to point out how, in Bassano, a business school was founded in 1995 which is unique in its field, the "Universitatis Bassanensis Schola de Negotiis Gerendis" - Ethics and Economy - which has the aim of training people capable of making choices and taking commitments motivated by social and economic actions.
Purely economic reasoning, alone, is unable to give an adequate response to man's needs in their complexity and integrity.
To build a society that is really worthy of man, where everybody can fully achieve his own authentic identity, individual logic must be abandoned and a culture of solidarity must be preferred.
