Author(s): Valerio Terraroli (Text by); Caludia Casali (Text by); Stefania Cretella (Text by); Maria Grazia Gargiulo (Text by)

Craft Collecting Hobbies

The glorious Manifattura Lenci of Turin is the star of this volume, which presents 150 works from the important Giuseppe and Gabriella Ferrero Collection. The historic Lenci factory was founded by Enrico Scavini and his wife Elena ("Lenchen," or "Lenci") K nig in 1919, to produce toys and objects for children--including the now-collectible "Lenci dolls."

After 1927 the business began to focus on making little figurines and decorative objects like vases, boxes and ornaments in glazed ceramics. The firm made designs inspired by the fashions of the moment, and their objects quickly became status symbols for the interwar Italian bourgeoisie. Bringing in Turinese artists like Sandro Vacchetti, Marcello Dudovich, Gigi Chessa, Mario Sturani and Abele Jacopi to contribute designs, the Lenci factory produced a range of unique, inimitable ceramics that showcased the taste of an era and a society.