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Historic workshops
often bordered on friendships: work was never tiring and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even today, I like to spend my time in my workshop: I am lucky precisely because my work is my life. For a craftsman, the unique piece is the Holy Grail, the purpose of work. When an object is replicated, even in a very limited series, it stops to be stimulating. U.l.p. On the other hand, what is your opinion regarding the fact that artisan skills and artistic craftsmanship have returned to the centre of the design world? P.g. Your question reminds me of the title of an exhibition that was dedicated to my works at the Milan Triennale a few years ago: “Fare è pensare (Doing is thinking)”. I consider this to be the essence of the workshop: those who create and design are the same people who carry out the work. Generally speaking, I believe that we are finally realising that know-how, or rather, knowing how to do things well, is Italy’s capital. The hands of our artists and artisans have always been our greatest resource. But it is a very fragile resource, which must be protected: if we cut our ties with our past, with our traditions, it is difficult to get them back. Once a special knowledge is extinguished, it is lost forever. U.l.p. Your work has become part of history: is it an inspiration for the new generations to continue in your footsteps? Do you have any apprentices? P.g. Ours is a workshop in the most classical sense of the word: when an artisan is fully accomplished, usually around the age of 40, he starts training an apprentice. This is how we work… I don’t know for how long we will manage to keep it up, but, to quote Gone with the Wind, “Tomorrow is another day!” U.l.p. When I look at your objects and touch them, I know that they came from your hands. What is your secret, if there is one? P.g. My only secret is that there is no secret! Joking aside, the secret is that they are perfectly made. I remember an episode from my childhood: I was in the workshop, polishing a piece of wood, and eager to go out and play ball with my friends. I asked one of our artisans, “Lüisin, will this do?” His answer was: “Close your eyes and caress it: if it arouses an emotion (these were not his exact words, he was more explicit…) it is ok, otherwise no!” I do not like the mentality, which is very common today, whereby you can ship off a piece that is only 80% perfect. You must always strive for 100%. Maybe you will make fewer pieces, but what comes out of the workshop must always be well made!
NO NAILS Left, the famous Kyoto table: not one single nail holds it together, but 1,705 meticulously executed joints. Opposite page, Pierluigi Ghianda.
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