Daniele Nencioni

The wood master

• Daniele became an apprentice aged 14
• He restores and reproduces antique pieces
• He teaches wood carving to aspiring artisans

Daniele Nencioni has been a wood carver since he was 14 years old. He first learned as an apprentice in a workshop in Florence, where his father accompanied him, understanding that the young man was much more drawn to the manual world than to studying. Over the years, Nencioni has become a master of woodcarving, executing reproductions of furnishing accessories, models of bronzes, and restoration work for antiques. He collaborates with architectural firms, international interior designers and renowned museums. His work takes him from restoring parts of famous buildings to creating bespoke pieces of furniture. He believes that behind a piece there must be an artisan who makes it and not a machine. A concept which in the creation of wooden furniture has been lost due to the fashion and demand for mass produced pieces. He maintains that the touch of the human hand can never be truly rivalled.

Interview

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How would define what you do?

My life and activity rotate around the love and knowledge of wood, a noble and living matter that offers many possibilities of processing it. I “met” wood when I was 14 and have never left it, striving to master and appreciate it through refined craftsmanship skills.

Do you master any specific techniques?

Woodcarving is used to make ornaments in recess or in relief on wooden surfaces. Tools are chisels, mallets, burins, gouges and scrapers, files and sandpaper for the finishing of figures and ornaments. Carvings can be decorated, painted or gilded, or simply polished, to emphasize the natural beauty of the wood.

Do you think your craft is in danger?

I began this job when the memories of the war were still alive. At the time, there was a spontaneity, a will to act. Nowadays there is much less of this, it has been superseded by opportunism. I realize that young people are searching for something, but the context has to change.

Why are artisans appreciated less today?

People are more concerned by the cost than by the quality of an object. Few people trust, and the concept of "you don’t need it” wins most of the time. Instead beauty has a price; behind it there is a person's knowledge, his skill, his hand.

Daniele Nencioni is a master artisan: he began his career in 1968 and he started teaching in 2001

Works

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©All rights reserved

Where