We journey across Italy in search of exquisitely designed and hand-crafted vintage Italian homewares and glassware. We have trawled flea markets in Ischia and Gubbio and ‘cantinas’ in Perugia and Todi, bid at auctions in Florence,  negotiated over coffee with Signori in private homes in Milan and Naples and attended antiques fairs in Abruzzo, all on our quest for beauty.

Guided by the Italian principle of ‘piano, piano’, we often come home with only one piece. This approach of doing things slowly, allows us to seek out only the most beautiful pieces; speak at length with the seller about how and when it was made, who has owned it and what it was used for. It allows us to research an object’s Italian design heritage by consulting with a variety of experts. Which Italian designer or craftsman made the piece, where was the workshop, why and when did they stop making these pieces, what specialist techniques have been used in its creation.

Every piece in our collection is found in Italy and marked with a note of where we found it. Where we can, we have tried to give you a window into the provenance of the pieces in our collection. Some pieces are signed by a well known designer in the glass, some still have the original label on them. Some were found by a trusted source in an old cinema, restaurant, palazzo or country home. 

We journey across Italy in search of exquisitely designed and hand-crafted vintage Italian homewares and glassware. We have trawled flea markets in Ischia and Gubbio and ‘cantinas’ in Perugia and Todi, bid at auctions in Florence, negotiated over coffee with Signori in private homes in Milan and Naples and attended antiques fairs in Abruzzo, all on our quest for beauty.

For us at The Italian Collector, where a piece was found or how it was used adds precious layers and dimensions to its original beauty. This knowledge about the object helps call to mind the beautiful past that created it.

Among my favourite finds, are a set of ‘Six Venetian Apothecary Jars’ which were found in an old and now unused pharmacy in Venice. Their beauty and stamp tell the story of the elegance and sophistication of Venice in the 1900s. Their handpainted labels with herbal remedies of menta, camelia and arnica remind us of the not too distant age where natural cures were administered by Venetian doctors. 

Equally beautiful are the hand-blown glass plates by Cenedese. Made in the furnace in Murano, Venice in the 1960s, they were intended to be used for eating fruit and their thoughtful design includes a gentle incline that allows the juices to collect around the edge. These plates were bought by a wealthy family in Narni over 50 years ago but never used. Luckily for us, they were found intact in a chest in an old dining room in a Palazzo in Narni in excellent condition for use by someone today.