Brand Mission
Our Values
Artful Italia is dedicated to offering only artisanal products made in Italy. We seek out artisans from all over Italy and work with them to bring their unique and exquisite products to you. We speak the language, we know the culture and work hard to find artisans that are not commercialized.
Each artisan we choose is because of their excellence, their uniqueness and their desire to protect and promote their tradition. Some are the last of their kind, fighting to hold on to their businesses and their history.
They have a story and we want to tell that story through our site and through their products. Unfortunately now they are at risk, due to the trends of buying inexpensive, mass-produced products. As each one retires, or quits to find more profitable work Italy and the world loses a bit of our souls. We lose part of our connection to each other and to our past. Each piece you purchase comes from the heart and soul of the artist and from us at Artful Italia.
Our promise is that nothing on our site is manufactured outside of Italy, nothing is mass produced.
We are not anti-technology we are pro slower paced, handcrafted, items that honor traditional methods but are never defined by them.
About Our Founder
When I was 20 years old I visited Italy for the first time with an architecture professor and my fellow classmates. I was in Rome and Pompeii for almost three weeks studying architecture, history and culture. When I signed up for the class I had no idea I was altering the course of my life. But that is exactly what happened.
Italy immediately felt like home to me and I decided then that someday it would be my home. As I grew up it is the one thing that never changed in my life.
After I got married I travelled to Italy with my husband. I wanted to share my passion with him. Luckily he understood why I loved it so much. On our first trip he stood at the Le Sirenuse hotel in Positano and declared there could be no place more beautiful in the world.
We visited Italy several times over the next 10 years, each of us finding more to love and more reasons to relocate. On one visit we met a blacksmith who ignited a passion in me that has never gone away. This blacksmith had an incredible story. His passion for the craft his family had been working for 500 years in a small home in the middle of the countryside in Tuscany was contagious. After spending a few hours with him I became enamoured with the artisan culture in Italy.
Years later when we moved to Tuscany the first thing I did was go back to visit this blacksmith. It was a gorgeous sunny day, and nothing had changed, except the trees were taller and both the blacksmith and I had added a few wrinkles over the years. I was sad to discover at the end of our visit that the tradition would stop with him. I began to realize at that moment what a significant loss that would be for the culture of blacksmithing, the history of Italy, and the local community.
The realization that this was not only one man, that there were thousands just like him throughout Italy telling the same story, started a fire inside of me. I know the artisans are fighting a battle to protect their heritage, to continue traditions and be able to work in their craft for a living.
I feel if I can connect the artisans to people who appreciate artisanally made products, who love the high quality of Italian design and style then maybe in my own way I can help protect their heritage and their talents.
So, I started Artful Italia with the goal of connecting the world with these amazing people who inspire us everyday, and who create spectacular products in the same ways their ancestors did. Each piece they create is filled with passion, pride, history and a love for their country. Their stories enrich the beauty of each product we sell. Each product you purchase is a connection between you and the artisan, the history of Italy and the culture of their craft.
We are happy to have you on this journey with us.
Sheri