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We came across Palermo's Ducrot through the furnishings of modernist architect Ernesto Basile (1857-1932), who was the company's artistic director from 1902 to 1906, and who made his surname almost inseparable from that of the brand, which is a milestone of the Italian history of cabinet making. Why are Ducrot furnishings so special within the Liberty style? And how can we recognize them on the market?
In addition to the elegant brass plaque marking it, the brand's furniture stands out for being an elegant fusion of the typical Art Nouveau features, remarkably the sinuous handles showing vegetable decorations or the stained glass windows that wink at Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow Movement, mixed with ancient, neoclassical or modern elements: a sophisticated eclecticism that became very trendy in the cosmopolitan milieu of the European upper classes between the 19th and 20th centuries.
Retracing its history, Ducrot was distinguished by the fact that it was able to ride and reconcile different and particular circumstances, first of all the transformation in a short time from a small artisan company to an industrial enterprise of colossal proportions, which produced furniture renowned all over Europe. Then there was the fact that Ducrot's pieces, although produced in large numbers, combined the modern style of the time with the charm of the know-how that had characterized its first examples, a result of the work of the best Palermo craftsmen, who continued to be involved in the new brand's venture.
The key to this success? We can read in the enterprising and cosmopolitan personality of the founder of the brand, Vittorio Ducrot (1867-1942): of French origin, upon returning from his studies in Switzerland, in 1895 he had inherited a small production of mirrors and furniture from his stepfather Carlo Golia, together with the Sicilian headquarters of Solei Hebert & C, a furnishing fabric company based in Turin. Ducrot, who stood out for his multifaceted skills (as well as being an entrepreneur he was also a designer), combined practicality and aesthetic sensitivity in his work, a factor not to be taken for granted in a young entrepreneur at the dawn of a furniture manufacturing business.
Having freed himself almost immediately from Solei Hebert & C, Ducrot had promptly renovated the company by purchasing new machinery that increasingly focused on industrial methods. Thanks to the fruitful collaboration with Basile, a key figure who put Ducrot in contact with the most lively artistic environment in Sicily and internationally, and especially with one of the most prestigious and influential industrial families of the Belle Epoque Palermo, the Florios, the final brand's product contained all the ingredients which characterized the luxury furniture of that particular historical moment.
The dialogue between Sicilian know-how and European Modernism gave birth to the projects for the elegant interiors of the Florio houses designed by the Ducrot-Basile duo, up to the Florio's grand hotels, including the very famous Villa Igiea in Palermo. Then there were banks and embassies in Europe and the Middle East, such as the one in Istanbul built in 1907; but the brand reached its highest point from 1919, with the interior design of the great transatlantic ships, which in the first half of the 20th century were living their golden age. It was the boom of the so-called "Italian-style ships", caskets of a mix of the highest quality materials, art and elegance, sailing the seas making Italian style known throughout the world.
The project of the furniture and decoration for the Royal Savoia Yacht was followed in the '20s by the turboship Esperia, the liners Giulio Cesare, Duilio, Roma and Augustus, up to the transatlantic Rex completed in 1932. The assembly process, which took place in the construction sites of Genoa, was managed by a company belonging to engineer Tiziano De Bonis. It was to him that, in 1939, Ducrot sold the company, which now had more than 200 employees as well as offices and shops in Palermo, in Milan, Naples and Rome. The brand retained the Ducrot name and kept its production until 1973.
Ducrot furniture was synonymous with modernity, luxury and trend. If we were to translate it into a pictorial work, it could only be the portrait of Franca Florio painted in 1903 by Giovanni Boldini, the most requested portraitist of that period. Thinking of other great artists and avant-garde brands of the time, it is not surprising to discover that many of these were part of Vittorio's personal collection, who loved to gather objects by Tiffany and Lalique, as well as works by Mucha and furnishings and fabrics with innovative motives produced by the Nancy and the Glasgow schools, with Charles Rennie Mackintosh in the lead.
