ALBUM workshops ADRIAN ZÜRCHER Zurich, Schipfe 29 In the heart of Zurich, Adrian Zürcher’s charming little workshop with vault ceilings is located in an old sixteenth-century house overlooking the river Letten. Here he handcrafts bags, sacks, backpacks, pouches, belts, change trays, key fobs and many other made-to-measure leather accessories. Having always loved this profession, twelve years ago he took over the workshop of a time-honoured artisan who worked in the field, carrying on this tradition. Leather in a wide variety of shades, from which customers can pick the colour for their own models, is displayed on the shelves. The leather comes from a tannery in Tuscany, an area renowned for this type of product. On the table are scissors, cutters, pliers, needles and the many working instruments necessary to make these creations. The bags, with their clean and linear lines, can be produced in any size and shape, according to the customer’s taste. “Each piece is strictly hand-made, I don’t even use a sewing machine,” states Adrian Zürcher. “In this way we can customise them to the highest degree.” www.lederladen.ch
SILVER TRE Milan, Via Novi 5/7 Riccardo Traviganti is an eclectic artisan who inherited his metal spinning business from his father Carlo. He produces outstanding works in silver, brass, copper and steel. The most impressive creations of the Silver Tre workshop in Milan include the two-meter Fabergé eggs, fitted with a bar, and the life-size carriage drawn by a horse with a mechanical movement. Today, his son Carlo
and his daughters Mara and Lorena have taken over the laboratory. Together with a team of collaborators they breathe life into a wide range of creations, producing interior decoration objects in silver, alpaca and brass. The loft is scattered with casts and moulds in every size, and a large number of metal sheets and planks are lined against the walls. Their clientele ranges from the Emirates to Russia. Even Paris, where a shop renowned for its wide tea selection has commissioned camel-shaped teapots, the replica of an eighteenth-century model which Riccardo Traviganti came across in his art books. www.traviganti.it
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TESSITURA GIAQUINTO Gagliano del Capo (Le) Via Redipuglia 8 Francesca Giaquinto was an enterprising woman from Italy’s Salento region. In the 1930s she transformed the tradition of handcrafted loom-weaving into a business. Today, this high-standard artisan production continues to be carried out in Puglia thanks to the secrets of the trade which she passed on to her descendants: her son Cosimo, his wife Annabella and grandchildren Francesco and Katiuscia. In the atelier situated in Gagliano del Capo, twenty clicking flying shuttle looms in wood, fully restored and still used for jacquard weaving, produce table cloths, sheets, bedcovers, household linen, towels and reels of textiles that are sold by the meter. All made exclusively with natural yarns including Egyptian pearl cotton and yarndyed linen, with patented cards and designs. Even the tailoring is carried out in the workshop by dressmakers who specialise in cutting, sewing and embroidery. This fine craftsmanship is now also successfully exported. www.tessituragiaquinto.com
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