Artisans uncovered

Published in 2019, Bottega is the result of a collaboration between students of Isia Urbino (the university design faculty in Urbino), and Cita (the Italian Association of Upholsterers). The book was designed by students Marta Adamkowska, Simone Allevi, Sara Ceradini and Nicola Narbone as part of a research project at Isia Urbino on ‘Critical Regionalism’ – supervised by designer Mauro Bubbico (see Pulp 19) – in which students are asked to revisit cultural archetypes and historical traditions through new visual codes. The aim of Bottega, they say, was to shine a light on the craft of upholstery and bring out the artisans of Cita ‘from the shadows of their workshops.’

The book’s content is primarily large-format photographs, divided into five main sections, each of which corresponds to a typical component of an upholstery workshop: the tools, the craftspeople, the structural materials / wadding, fabrics and trimmings. In addition to the first five, there is a sixth chapter, which features a mélange of excerpts from interviews with Italian upholsterers that reveal the variety of opinions, life stories and approaches that exist within the profession, often different from region to region.

When designing Bottega, the students wanted the book to feel ‘like an armchair that came from the hands of an upholsterer: rich and made with quality materials.’ Printed in an edition of only six, the book is wrapped in a clothbound hardcover, available in four colour variants, and features an embossed title on the front – set in a custom typeface inspired by an inscription found on a craftsman’s hammer – and a foiled title on the spine. Bottega is printed on three kinds of paper – including Fedrigoni’s Old Mill and Sirio Colour – carefully selected with printer Tommaso Tettamanti. Bottega was printed at Tettamanti’s digital printing house, Tettamanti TIPO&grafia in Cantù in northern Italy, whose HP Indigo printing allowed the students to ‘produce a low number of copies of a quality surprisingly close to that of offset.’