Italian shops (ENAPI) - Expo Brussels 1935
In a hall covering 600 square metres, Italian craftsmanship had arranged the works of 118 master craftsmen, belonging to the most characteristic production centres of the peninsula. These works, all entirely handmade in terms of technique and style, according to artistic concepts that reflect the rapid evolution of all Italian production in terms of form and decoration, offered a summary but complete framework of modern Italian decorative art: ceramics, furniture, objects in carved wood and marquetry, embroidery, lace, works in straw and raffia, artistic stained glass, worked leathers, objects in alabaster, onyx, mother-of-pearl and coral, mosaics, chiselled and embossed metals, goldsmiths, fabrics and carpets made from the most diverse materials.
There were also a few productions of an industrial artistic nature, i.e. models produced in series but in a limited and controlled manner.
On the walls of the exhibition, tempera paintings represented four of the main decorative arts: weaving, marquetry, ceramics and glass.
The 5,000 objects on display were the result of a selection made by the Federation that oversees the great family of Italian craftsmen, which includes more than 800,000 registered members. With the exception of a few traditional, classic or rustic types, the objects on display represented models of absolute novelty, objects due in part to the collaboration between creative artists and craftsmen and in part to the direct, original creation of these same master craftsmen.
Picturesque shops were also located in the gardens, not far from the other pavilions of the Italian Section.
© Le Livre d'Or de l'Exposition Universelle de Bruxelles 1935