IN ITALY.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20086, 15 November 1930, Page 2

IN ITALY.

ART OF FURNITURE MAKING STANDARDS OF ELEGANCE. The arts and crafts connected with furnishing and interior decoration have always been highly developed in Italy. Traditions and standards of elegance" and luxury handed down from the civilisation of imperial Rome early placed her at the head of the European peoples in this branch of activity. Italian furniture, hangings, metal work, artistic glass, ceramics, alabaster lamps and vases, silverware, and the many other objects which furnish and beautify the home, still assure modern Italy a leading place for such products on the markets of the world, says a writer in an American exchange. The skill of their cabinetmakers, carvers, and inlayers has made many cities, and more especially Florence, Perugia, Bologna, Milan, Bergamo, Venice, Siena, and Rome, famed for the furniture coming from their workshops. Thanks to them Italian "period" furniture acquired a reputation throughout the whole world which it still retains. The workshops, scattered in the peninsula not only continue to supply the home demand but feed a considerable export trade in high-class artistic furniture. Until comparatively rcceut times the craft was exercised almost exclusively by artisans, often real artists in the best sense of the word. Large-scale factory production only dates back to the second half of the nineteenth century. The cradle of the modern industry is the Brianza district of Lombardy. There some 30,000 workers are now employed, cither as artisans working in their own homes or in small workshops, or as employees of large standardised factories occupying hundreds of men. Sources of Various Types. ' The chief centres are at Cantu, where ' a large number of the smaller firms are grouped round a permanent furniture exhibition, bedroom and dining-room suites of. the inexpensive as well as the more costly types being the chief line of production: Li3sone, which specialises in furniture for hotels, schools, and offices; Meda and tho neighbouring villages known for their artistic carved and "period" furniture in the French and English as well as the typical Italian styles, suited to all environments and more especially to the export trade. Bergamo and Venice maintain their reputation for characteristic artistic furniture, while Vicenza, Verona, and Udine all turn out very fine work. Another important centre of the industry is at Cascina, in the province of Pisa, where factories turn out the typical Florentine and Tuscan styles as well as modern suites on a large scale. From Bologna and Siena come splendid carved and inlaid work. Florence specialises in Benaissance furniture made by her highly skilled craftsmen in their small workshops; it is also noted for lacquered and painted woodwork. Recent Eevival of Activity. In the last two or threo years a vigorous effort has been made to breathe new life into the industry, adapting and modifying the traditional styles to meet the requirements of tho modern home with its less spacious rooms and its demand for refined simplicity in keeping with the exigencies of modern hygiene. Side by side with the reproductions and adaptations of period furniture new styles are being evolved, using modern materials on lines inspired by the present dynamic civilisation which calls for elegance combined with comfort, convenience, and moderate cost. Thuß, while the richly carved and inlaid furniture associated with the names of Florence, Perugia, and Borne, and the painted -furniture of the Venetian eighteenth century are still favourite styles for there is a steady demand, there is also a large output on simpler lines, in stained and coloured woods, characterised by fine workmanship and originality in design. Walnut and oak are the woods most used for the finer qualities of. Italian "period" furniture, rosewood, mahogany and other imported hard woods being used for other styles. Italy is a large importer of timber, 1,500,000 metric tons of the common qualities and 13,000 tons of hard woods having been imported in 1928. Almost all the walnut and oak wood used by the trade is grown in Italy. ■ An important branch of the Italian furniture trade is that specialising in wicker, cane, and basket chairs; light tables, etc., for garden use and for country houses, verandahs, etc. It is difficult to form an accurate estimate of the quantity and value of the output of the Italian furniture trades, carried on as they are in so large a number of small workshqtps as well as in large factories. A rough calculation places the number of workers at over 50,000, with a wage bill of some i 300,000,000 lire a year.