Like the previous editions of ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO craft workshops and their commissions, the 21st edition of the Exhibition brought together 90 of the most extraordinary and capable Florentine, Italian and European craftsmen in the splendid Corsini Garden in Florence, open only for the occasion.
The last edition, that of the 20th anniversary in 2014, ended with over 11,500 attentive and curious visitors and an excellent press coverage that also included several regional and national TV and radio broadcasts.
In addition to the important cultural and popular contribution in itself, the 2015 edition of the exhibition also stimulated a moment of in-depth study on the ‘applied arts’, with the intention of bringing them ever closer to our daily lives, thus breaking away from the traditional canons of other Exhibitions-Markets.
The ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO exhibition was mainly born from the idea of re-evaluating and reframing the figure of the craftsman and his work in our times, considering it a high expression of quality and technique, linked to the client, but insisting on the idea of a craftsmanship that is ‘modern’ by nature, without forgetting the fundamental element of tradition.
We also wished to emphasise the strong social relevance of the craftsman of yesteryear whose workshop often thrived around the palace, understood as a ‘showcase’ and a place for experimentation, in continuous exchange with patrons of all persuasions, benefiting from a direct relationship with the population and tradition as the holder of social aesthetics.
Also for this 21st edition, we started from the idea that in the handmade, creation never ends and each work is not equal to another.
And speaking of ‘handicraft’ (from the Latin ‘manu facere’: to make with the hands), the exhibitors at ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO are once again called upon to demonstrate live the various working techniques in which they excel.
With the ARTIGIANATO E PALAZZO project, we hope, by bringing together an increasingly large group of master craftsmen from all over Italy, to catalyse the attention of a vast and attentive public on these debated topics, hoping for a lively interest on the part of the parties involved: the craftsmen and their clients.