Franco Ammannati,  Cucina Fresca

Franco Ammannati is the elected president of a “factory” that is a cooperative organization in Tuscany of ceramic artisans who make VIETRI’s Cucina Fresca family of dinnerware (in 16 microwaveable colors!). Franco grew up in an agricultural family. As a little boy, he helped his great grandmother, then his grandmother and then his mother learn the great skills of cooking.  Many of his family stories concern gatherings around the table for eating, drinking and celebrating events.

Franco designed one of VIETRI’s most famous dinnerware collections, Cucina Fresca, which means in Italian “Fresh Kitchen.”  Franco was visiting his area’s museum in Montelupo when he admired a plate that had been made by Tuscan peasants around 1400.  It was cracked and glued back together but the soft curve of the plate’s lip and simple balance of the shape and size touched his heart.  Also, Franco admired the way that the terra cotta of the plate’s form showed through the glaze at the plate’s edges, a result of peasants’ using inexpensive glazes and firing the pottery in their own bread ovens.

Franco created an entire dinnerware line around that original museum plate and invented a special technique so that the terra cotta of each form could be seen under a clear glaze at the edge of each piece.  Franco chose the beautiful colors of the Tuscan countryside for his new collection.  He named the colors for the spices of the kitchen – sage, saffron and cream – where he learned from his three great mothers the joy of cooking
 

Franco Ammannati,  Tuscan Garden

Born into an agricultural family in Tuscany, Franco Ammannati would gather with friends when the grapes are harvested, to eat together.  Franco explains that the grape vines are “in my heart” just as the grape fields and grape vines are part of the heart of Tuscany, and Italy.

Franco, who is the head of one of VIETRI’s most important ceramic factories, is the top “idea man” for the design of products.  It is not a surprise, then, that one of VIETRI’s most popular ceramics collections, Tuscan Garden, features handformed pitchers, vases and planters, in warm Tuscan colors.  Each piece features very unique handles that look like grapevines, curving beautifully over the lovely shapes. 

Clemente Bugatti, Flatware

Clemente Bugatti, a modern and very warm Italian man, is part of the sixth generation of his family’s business – and, justifiably, very proud of it. Yes, Bugatti is also the family business name for a rather famous Italian automobile. Clemente’s side of the Bugatti family is very famous for metalworking.

In his province of Brescia, in northern Italy, metalworking dates to the Roman age 27 A.D. due to the natural resources. Local iron was used to make useful articles and utensils – and still is, today!

In the fifteenth century the Doge of Venice acknowledged the superiority of ironworking products made in this province. Original production at the Bugatti factory was all hand-made but innovations quickly followed.

Today, complex machinery is involved in the Bugatti processes. Solid acrylic handles on highest quality stainless steel are finished to look like semi-precious materials – pearl, marble, tortoiseshell, amber, horn- and other stylish colors, all dishwasher safe. The elegant styles of metal fittings recall ancient renaissance decoration and also the modern line of design.  Bugatti’s stainless combines highest quality stainless steel with modern and sleek lines. The pewter patterns, with their weight, patina and strong design, have refined elegance.
 
VIETRI searched for years to find a superior Italian flatware manufacturer to join our large “family” of handcrafted tableware collections.  It was the beautiful metalwork of Bugatti that won our hearts. The lion remains the symbol of the Bugatti metalworking business – the symbol for value and quality - where skills have passed from father and son for over 75 years.

Paolo Crisante,  Safari Collection, Sea Collection & Spring Garden Collection

Paolo Crisante is the epitome of a joyous and creative artist.  From an early age, Paolo sketched and painted the landscapes of his native town of Pescara, on the Adriatic Sea. After schooling, he worked in tiles, marble and ceramics and traveled in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America to visit workshops of other craftsmen. 

After studying many forms of media, Paolo Crisante selected decoupage – a much appreciated art form in Italy - as his way to express his love of Italian culture. Carefully selecting images from classical Italian art and from nature, he greatly values “remembrance” and arranges the hand-cut images to “give a feeling of the past” on the bottom of highest-quality glass.  Paolo hand-cuts every figure and shape.  He composes layers of cut art, often using rice papers for a textured, colored background to his compositions that seem to glow as light filters through the glass.  Paolo frequently uses gold and silver leaf, adding old-world opulence to his art. Each one-of-a-kind piece is signed on the back by the passionate artist.