History of the Handicrafts in Venice

The history of handicrafts in Venice goes back to 500 years ago, and reached such a high level that Venetian hand-crafted goods were known and appreciated everywhere in Europe already in the 16^th century.

At the end of the Middle Ages, Europe was slowly coming out of the dark period of the continuous wars, and society was changing from a feudal one based on self consumption, to a society divided into Communes, which were based on a production for the market.  

This was the time in which the first steps in the interior design field were taken, and the figure of the artisan was born.

Venice, like Florence, at that time was already an independent city-state, extremely organized at economic, social, cultural and commercial level.

The handicrafts shops and laboratories were very numerous, and the artisans were gathered in specific corporations: the “Arts”, which grouped, sector by sector, most of the workers.

In the 1500 there were around one hundred of these corporations.

The basic structure of each corporation was the Assembly of Members and the value of each member varied according to the professional qualification, which could be boy, worker, or master.

The Direction of the “Art” was elected annually and was  formed by a head and a certain number of collaborators. The funds of the corporation came from the ordinary and extra-ordinary subscription fees, and also from the fines that it was able to inflict.

Most of the time the meetings were held in churches or convents, in which members met and shared their common devotional practices.

The corporations established rules on the organization of work, on the mechanisms of access to the different professional levels, on the fees, on the salaries, on the dealing with the commissioning, on the quantity and quality of production, on the allotments of selling points, on the safeguarding of the masters’ authority , on the managing of the financial means intended for the medical assistance of members who suffered illnesses,  financial setbacks, or old age.

Much attention was set on the insertion of the image of the corporation in the general image that the Republic gave of itself.  For example, on public ceremonies the corporations participated with their own well-established position, their own insignia, their own rituals inserted in the official public rituals.

The corporations were regulated and controlled by the state, which contained within certain limits their autonomy and actions.

In Venice the corporations never had explicit political roles, like as in Florence for example, but nevertheless they played an important role in the integration of the Venetian society and in keeping the consent, a role of which the governing bodies were very well aware, and which was cherished.

Of great importance was the textile sector. The wool, the silk, the cotton and the linen that crossed the hands of Venetian merchants , were transformed in Venice in luxury textiles.

Of great value were also the goldsmith’s art, the jewellery, the arts using coral and amber, and editorial and typography.

The artisans professions in Venice have been passed on from generation to generation, and nowadays there are still some of them, although in a significantly reduced quantity, given the existence of more modern and efficient production processes.

As he cannot compete with the quantity and prices of the great industry, the artisan specializes in the refinement of the product, and distinguishes himself for the exceptional technical skill.

Only an artistic finishing of the production is able to isolate a part of the market for a more expensive but surely more refined use, demanded by markets of luxury.

But more than in competition with modern production processes, handicraft is a high-quality, distinguished part of the complex production and selling system of goods.