Alessandro Masetti, “Michelucci artigiano”, in Giovanni Michelucci, edited by Andrea Aleardi, Angelo Pontecorboli Editore, 2022, pp. 69–75.
Giovanni Michelucci, edited by Andrea Aleardi, was published by the Fondazione Giovanni Michelucci in 2022 to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Foundation’s establishment. The volume retraces the architect’s work and thought through thematic contributions, documentary material and sources from the Foundation’s archives.
The Essay
In Michelucci artigiano, I examine the relationship between the Italian architect Giovanni Michelucci (1891–1990) and the culture of craftsmanship, reconstructing the role that direct engagement with materials played in his work as a furniture designer. The essay begins with his formative experiences in a woodcarver’s workshop and in his family’s foundry in Pistoia, where Michelucci developed a sensitivity that would remain central to his work.
The essay follows the evolution of this research through his collaborations with craftsmen and manufacturers, showing how Michelucci consistently maintained a strong interest in the uniqueness of each object and in the expressive qualities of materials. A key moment was his experience at Galleria Vigna Nuova in Florence, where, between 1945 and 1950, he served as artistic director and developed significant pieces of furniture, including the Scapolare chair.
The discussion then continues through his collaborations of the 1960s and 1970s and his later production in the 1980s, in which forms derived from tradition were reinterpreted in an essential, contemporary language. The essay concludes in the spaces of his house-studio in Fiesole, where prototypes and furniture continue to testify to the continuity between Michelucci’s design ideas, their artisanal translation into material form and the actual everyday use of these objects.