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Celebrated for what is considered to be one of the first creations of Italian design, the town of Chiavari occupies a prominent position in the industry manuals, but is not as well known to the general public. And perhaps even the most experienced are unaware that in the last century this was the site of an unrivalled artistic and craft centre.
Browsing through intOndo's catalogue, amateurs can find a wide selection of Chiavari chairs, emblems of Italian elegance that from the early nineteenth century to the present day have never tired. From the Campanino, sublime creation of the cabinet-maker Giuseppe Gaetano Descalzi (1767-1855) known as the Campanino, to the Spadina, passing through the versions in brass or with padded seats, there is an embarrassment of choice for those who love elegance, lightness and durability.
The history of this chair is well known: when Marquis Stefano Rivarola returned from Paris in 1807, he showed a chair he had seen during his trip to the best craftsmen in Chiavari. Not satysfied with copying a ready made object, Descalzi created a chair with a very light woven seat, very fine turned legs and rounded slatted back. Nowadays people joke that the Chiavari chair, which weighs between one and a half and two kilos, could only have been created by a Ligurian because the materials are stretched to the bone, but in reality there is a much longer story behind this success.
In fact, Marquis Rivarola's trip to Paris was not accidental, but organised by the Società Economica di Chiavari, in order to carry out a sort of marketing survey, using the means of the past, and to update Chiavari's craftsmen on the latest trends. A mission to increase the culture, craft, agricultural and professional skills of the Chiavari area that the Society has been carrying out for over 230 years now. With the help of awards and incentives, this local authority has succeeded in triggering a production of excellence that involves not only woodworking and chair-making, but also other sectors.
Just think of the historic wrought iron production of the workshop of Rino Baglini (1921-2014), a craftsman who had breathed in the flavour of Art Nouveau in Paris and successfully reinterpreted it in his Chiavari atelier, drawing on the Genoese artistic tradition. In the 1950s, Baglini worked closely with decorators and interior designers, creating custom-made wrought iron furniture for the beautiful 19th-century villas in the area, as well as for foreign clients. And, like him, framers, decorators, slate workers, polishers and other specialised craftsmen made Chiavari a true workshop of Italian-made excellence.
Today the Società Economica di Chiavari continues its mission with educational projects and exhibitions of various kinds, and is preparing to open the Chair Museum in what had been the workshop of master Guido Rocca. The century has changed and the streets of Chiavari are no longer the same as they once were, but the spirit of initiative is certainly not lacking in Chiavari and a trip to this area will certainly give rise to pleasant surprises, especially for lovers of things well done.
