MUSEO BOTTEGA DELLA TARSIA LIGNEA
dalla Redazione

A NEW MODEL OF MUSEUM FOR THE DECORATIVE ARTS
The building that houses the Museobottega stands on via S. Nicola and is part of an ancient urban nucleus. Its eighteenth century structure is typical of a provincial townhouse with more consequential pretensions. The Museobottega is a polyfunctional structure designed to requalify those sectors of the decorative arts which have not only a past worthy of being recorded but also a productivity which needs to be sustained and helped to renew its contents. In the structure the cataloguing and display of the historical production serves as the introduction to a more ample programme going beyond the conservation of our heritage. There is a need for training programmes in the specific sectors of craft activity, and an autonomous production based on the techniques and materials which represent the best in the tradition of each craft.

THE HISTORICAL COLLECTION
is introduced by the exhibition of objects and furniture produced in the nineteenth century wich focuses on the technical and decorative characteristics of the various intarsia workshops then active in Italy. This is designed to give to the visitor a better understanding of the specific features of the craft as it was practised in Sorrento. The exhibition of local ware is preceded by an extensive selection of paintings, prints and photographs of the setting for this local craft. Different sections in the Museobottega illustrate the evolution of production techniques, the materials used, the decorative motifs and the details of design which characterise the local production in inlaid wood. After recognising the part played by the local School of Art in training successive generations of craftsmen, the exhibition terminates with the work of local master craftsmen produced during the nineteenth century.

RESEARCH AND PRODUCTION
The principal objective of the Museobottega is to ensure continuity for the tradition of intarsia work in Sorrento by commissioning and marketing products reflecting a cultural renaissance in the craft. It is many years since the artisan represented a composite figure uniting manual skills with design acumen, once the secret of his success. The only way to contrast the impoverishment of the various sectors of the arts and crafts seems to be to accompany the artisan with a person well versed in the culture of the craft, able to offer assistance in the conceptual phase of production. The production of the “Alessandro Fiorentino Collection” is the tangible result of such collaboration. Intarsia work has always been considered a decorative addition to the item to which it was applied, whereas here production has been based on a new equilibrium in which the finished product is a univocal expression of formal structure.

THE MERCHANDISING
In an age in which computerisation has invaded all sectors of production, traditional skills have had to meet a severe challenge: some have disappeared, many have modified their systems of production, and precious few have remained faithful to traditional techniques. The modern production of intarsia work undertaken by the “Alessandro Fiorentino Collection” has swum against the tide by reaffirming the manual skills and traditional techniques of intarsia work. The collection has concentrated on two distinct sectors: the more traditional one of commonplace objects, directed to the merchandising in museum, and that of interior architecture. It made its dêbut at the International Design Center in New York in 1988, during the AIA Convention. The projects of Alessandro Fiorentino have been realised with the collaboration of local craftsmen and the conceptual contribution of his three sons, all qualified architects: Luigi, Paolo and Fabio.