Our Story
“Italian culture is all about the hand making of sculptures, of architecture and paintings, about the hand tanning of leather, spinning of yarns and stitching of clothes, about the hand harvesting grapes, making of pasta and cutting cookies. It is arguably the most hands-on nation on the planet.” LI EDELKOORT
There is an authentic and extraordinary story behind Bottega Intreccio, the design brand born in Mogliano, in the Marche region, in 2019 intending to restore the splendour of the weaving local tradition. In this manufacturing district known since the 1800s throughout Europe for its sophisticated production of baskets and wicker or rattan objects, the first Italian contemporary school, training new generations of weavers, was born: Carteca.
“We believe in a handcraft capable of speaking about our territory and its people.
Our artisans are the keepers of an ancient knowledge that, through the manufacturing of a common good, expresses and conveys beauty.
With this project we wanted to bring into the spotlight a district which in the past was defined by a modern artisan organization involving about 300 families scattered over an area of five thousand inhabitants: a system of widespread skills, all linked to each other in a production chain logic”, says Gianluca Maurizi, Bottega Intreccio proud co-founder and heir to one of the main families of weavers in Mogliano.
Making the project possible is the participation of a group of entrepreneurs-friends who believed in Maurizi’s idea: Valerio Placidi, Emanuele Frontoni, Maria Adele Vallasciani, Giorgio Scipioni, Massimiliano Di Paolo and Piero Sabatini.
The values, including environmental and social sustainability, represent the ground on which the school’s project was founded, afterwards, the same values were transmitted to the Bottega Intreccio brand, whose creative direction was entrusted to the AngelettiRuzza Design studio. “Bottega Intreccio was born from a profound sense of belonging to the land, to the family and to a handcraft tradition: it was born to breathe new life into an ancient job that was about to be forgotten, to give young people the chance to discover how satisfying can be to work using their hands to create wonder”, add Silvana Angeletti and Daniele Ruzza.
“The first year of the school we had 13 applications: by the end of the course a young man launched his own laboratory and others were hired by the workshops in Mogliano. Among the members, there are young people who have found in craftsmanship an appealing lifestyle, men and women looking for a chance to be reintegrated into the working world. Land sustainability and the enhancement of human resources are fundamental themes for our project”, continues Gianluca Maurizi. As it was customary in the art workshops of the Renaissance era, those enrolled in the school not only learn manual skills but also develop an important relationship with expert weavers. It is exactly in this student-teacher dialectic that individual passion can be cultivated and the transfer of values and know-how takes place. The work of the craftsman is not diminished to the perfect execution of the artefact but is fueled by personal interpretation enriching a centuries-old heritage.
The Carteca weaving school is an association supported, motivated and assisted by Bottega Intreccio in which many of the artisan companies of the territory participate, making available their savoir-faire. In this context, particularly valuable is the program launched for young people who arrived in Italy as refugees. As a matter of fact, the school, operating at the end of the support path established by law, offers refugees a concrete opportunity for social and work integration.
The rebirth of the artisan production chain in Mogliano has attracted many luxury companies, including Fendi and a few premium design brands, interested in the weaving value system, but this awakening also benefits the Bottega Intreccio brand which combines its furniture collection with important custom projects developed in collaboration with architects and interior designers. The external commissions and collection pieces are made by local workshops, safeguarding the survival of the district: the brand operates in a sustainable way and, today, represents the window on the world of a business system with a turnover of about five million euros.
Bottega Intreccio’s first experiment in the field of design was the series of lamps designed in 2017 by Maurizio Bernabei: apparently simple objects that have attracted great interest on the occasion of Milan Design Week because they bring together top-level design and craftsmanship. Since then Bottega Intreccio has become one of the main players in the increasingly significant contemporary trend of craft design.
Afterwards, Bottega Intreccio involved the AngelettiRuzza Design studio for furnishing projects, such as the Milli sofa and the Silene armchair, and settled new virtuous collaborations bringing value to the brand. In this context, the Lisetta armchair by Elena Salmistraro was born, but also the extraordinary Antonym lamp by Silvia Stella Osella and new projects involving interesting names from the global contemporary scene.
“There is an ethical commitment permeating all our actions: this is why we choose people for their humanity, rather than their talent. Bottega Intreccio products are not only born from the hands but from the heart of those who design them and those who create them; each piece carries with it the name of the craftsman who made it and a specific moment in his life that is shared with the world. Furthermore, Bottega Intreccio projects are designed to bring back into the present the values of simplicity, authenticity, the theme of sharing and the redemption of imperfection making individuals and objects unique”, conclude Silvana Angeletti and Daniele Ruzza.