Stefano Conticelli

Leatherworker

©Bottega Conticelli

When making is an act of love

Stefano likes to experiment, such as by tanning leather with wine
A toy wooden van made for his nephew sparked off his business
In summer, Conticelli works from the beaches of the Emerald Coast

Stefano Conticelli’s story is like a fairytale or a Hollywood movie. It all started after he was swindled out of everything he had, which left him totally desperate. “When I say everything, I mean everything: I lost my job, my car, my house. I had nothing left,” he explains with a smile. Instead of being discouraged, Conticelli accepted the humblest of jobs. “I used to vent my creativity in my free time. I have always had good manual skills. With the wood discarded from vines, which is normally used to light fires, I started to craft small objects that I would sell in street markets: frames, mirrors, toys.”

Interview

Ginevra Formentini ©Michelangelo Foundation

What was the turning point for you?: One day I made a toy van out of wood for one of my nephews’ birthdays. I was surprised to see that he and his friends preferred to play with that rather than with a modern videogame. I wrote a letter to a newspaper to tell them about what I considered to be a beautiful story that I had to share.
What happened after the letter was published?: They came to visit me and dedicated a feature to my work. After a couple of weeks, Sergio Loro Piana, the late king of cashmere, called me: he wanted to order some toy lorries for his grandchildren. After that he wanted to meet me and he ordered more for his shops.
What's the secret to your success in leatherwork?: Experimentation. I’m 100 percent self-taught, and I challenge leather, exposing it to unusual treatments, because I want to understand how far I can push myself. In many of my creations I use ‘drunk’ leather, which has a lot of purple veins: I soak it in wine, to see what would happen.
How do you define something that is well made?: An object is well made when it is crafted without shortcuts, respecting the time necessary. Each one of my creations is an act of love – that’s why I prefer to focus on one-off pieces – and to me, love means respect, also towards the person who will buy that object.

Stefano Conticelli is an expert artisan: he began his career in 2000