Classic Florentine style furniture

Among the streets of Florence, from Santa Croce to the Ponte Vecchio, art abounds. It also abounds in the sculptures, paintings and furnishings of the Medici villas. Florence is such a unique city that over many centuries it has provided its artists and craftsmen with their creative sap.

‘Florence Art’ was established in 1950 as a result of the traditions of its manual skills, its Tuscan mastery, its love of beauty in art, its passion for classicism and for everything that has made its own land (Florence and its surroundings) great.
It began as a carving business. Its production was rife. Nevertheless it continued to pursue new products, designs and create samples which were entirely hand-carved. It would carry out pantographing and prepare its products for decoration.
Today its entire production is created in the ‘Florentine style’. Every piece produced is conceived by its own designers . Our creations are unique.

Florence Art, along with its interior designers, carvers and carpenters, offers the creation of any kind of furniture piece or article you wish for , even if not in the Florentine style. We can custom build furniture and furnishings of your choice for you; as can be attested by photos of some of our work commissioned by various luxury hotels.

According to your wishes we are willing to make any changes or personalized choices you wish for so that you are completely satisfied with your purchase.
We also offer furnishing of any room/space you choose: bedrooms, sitting room/dining room, bathroom, kitchen ,hallway. The styles are in boiserie , in our style or in the style of your choice.

The ‘Florentine Style’ is characterized by the way carvings, trimmings and the design of the pieces are made. These characteristics are typical of; and limited to, a very restricted area of Florence and its surroundings. Each piece created in the Florentine tradition has parts which are elegantly carved, lightly rendered, despite being incised and well defined.

The result is remnant of a classical but very youthful style. Our designs are both elegant and romantic. Our trimmings in silver and gold render our furniture even more elegant and youthful.

Florentine carving goes back to inherited traditions handed down over the centuries. Today such practices are becoming harder and harder to preserve. In particular Florentine carving is distinguished by its grace and harmony, and by its defining mark of being characteristically Florentine, which cannot be mistaken for the styles of any other geographical region.

Our work involves skillful professionals gifted with artistic and stylistic dexterity. These are provided by our carvers, designers and pantographers. Our carvers create the first ‘models’ for each piece; then they later carve them. The model is used for replicating the incision with the pantograph. In order to achieve this a design is created to the scale of the piece itself. It is then carved entirely by hand upon wood and then divided out into pieces. Generally there are 4 pieces; both for dressers and for beds.

Division into pieces is necessary because the pantograph works with pieces no wider than about 20 cm and no longer than 190 cm. Our ‘pantograper’ replicates the model into 16 or 24 pieces. Then our specialized highly skilled carpenters put the carved pieces together. Thus the highly skilled contribution by our carvers, designers and pantographer are essential to the creation of our finest quality-finished products.

Decoration, yet again created entirely by hand, is another qualifying feature. Decoration in the Florentine style is incomparable to the styles of any other geographical area.
Decoration ‘a Guazzo’, which was applied throughout the ages, including the Renaissance period (originating in Florence) and other ‘Stylistic’ periods, involves the use of gold leaf (the ‘Zecchino’ and ancient ‘Patina’ types) and the ‘Argento Vero’ silver leaf (in the trimmings of Ghiaccio, Bianco, Consumato and Strappato). The latter can be ‘veiled’ with a special ancient tincture known as ‘Mecca’ or ‘Mecca Antica’ to give the semblance of the leaf being made of gold, when, in the past, they didn’t have enough money to buy genuine gold itself.

Our ‘day room’ furniture and furnishings are extremely elegant, comfortable and ideal for your home. Have a look at our showcases, dressers, tables, armchairs, sofas, mirrors (with their stands and frames), floor lamps, coffee tables, ‘applicques’ and bookshelves. These products never go out of fashion; for when things are well crafted they remain forever.

We also have more contemporary pieces whose style is shaped by their final trimming techniques. We offer brushstroke decorations, and less ‘antiqued’ decorations. We also decorate products with the White Silver leaf and other such techniques like ‘Ice Silver’ and ‘Meccantica Silver’. We also decorate with soft or smooth lines whose ‘movements’ are created by a pantograph or by skilled carving.