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Until 2001 in Florence a large factory employed 1400 workes for the production of tobacco and cigarettes: this was the original Manifattura Tabacchi. Today, this elegant industrial architecture has changed its appearance becoming a cultural centre dedicated to Italian creativity and know-how. The aim of this recovery was to turn the unique charm and character of the building into a space suitable to accommodate a stable community of contemporary creatives and makers, while preserving of the existing rationalist style surfaces and reuse the building's original features. Today, some of the spaces open to the public - furnished in a rigorously vintage style - include 4 ateliers and 4 workshops, a multifunctional event space, a co-working area, a bistrot, a craft beer tasting area and an outdoor courtyard equipped with a stage for shows and a green area with a biodynamic garden and children's garden. To understand what lays behind this urban redevelopment project, we asked the authors a little more about the Manifattura Tabacchi project.
Florence has always been known as the city of the Renaissance, can we azard to say that the Manifattura Tabacchi project is, in a contemporary sense, part of this tradition?
There is a profound relationship between the project and the city in which it takes place: Florence was the cradle of the Renaissance, a meeting place for artists, mathematicians, writers and craftsmen. Manifattura Tabacchi is part of this tradition, but at the same time it is a unique regeneration project because it offers Florence the opportunity to find spaces that can accommodate contemporary content.
Why was the recovery of this structure devoted to creativity? Is there a dialogue between the architecture and what happens inside?
Manifattura Tabacchi, as a factory, was a closed place. Today, with the redevelopment project, it opens its doors, including all the city's functions, is a center for education, living and a workplace. What resists, however, is the craftmanship, the tradition of "fatto a mano", a historical vocation gathered by makers and artists who work in the temporary spaces provided by Manifattura Tabacchi. Florence is, in fact, a territory rich in know-how and Manifattura Tabacchi acts as a collector to give space to those who have ambitions and ideas. The architectural structure of Manifattura Tabacchi lends itself perfectly to the activities that take place within it: there is everything that serves creativity and contemporaneity.
It seems clear the will to bring out the "genius loci" of this architecture: how you chose the makers, the galleries represented and the furniture for the present Manifattura Tabacchi.
The selection has certainly privileged the territory and rewarded those activities that desire to stay in Florence while carrying out their operation in an international context. Our makers are united by the spirit that feeds on tradition, contemporaneity and internationality at the same time and are ready to share and open their spaces for business as well as educational porpuses. At an architectural level, Manifattura Tabacchi has simply adapted to the needs of its new context, for example with the introduction of the Fabbrica dell'Aria in the B9 area, its selected original furniture and other changes necessary to make that "genius loci" efficient.
Arts and crafts have always played a fundamental role in the visibility of Florence in the world. How do you see the artisans of the future and who is their ideal client?
The future's craftsman is exactly who we expect to find in Manifattura Tabacchi: somone able to enhance the contents of the tradition and, at the same time, connect with the world and with other realities capable to amalgamate these experiences. It is not necessarily a tech person, but it is someone capable of projecting tradition into a contemporary context, innovating, experimenting and exchanging experiences with others. The ideal customer is a person with an open sensitivity which allows him to look into the future and see Florence from a different point of view. This is the only way to truly enhance our resources - art, crafts and culture - and survive the test of time.
