Giulio Meregalli: frames, restoration, gilding work

Craftsmanship means protecting and conserving. Craftsmanship means creative artistry. Giulio Meregalli brings together both these facets of the arts and crafts in his workshop, where he restores frames and antique furniture and makes mirrors and gilded frames for interiors.

Manual skill is important, and Giulio Meregalli has been working with wood all his life. But there is much more to his mastery than meets the eye. It entails background reading, research and investigation, as he tests and renews the age-old techniques used by artisan workshops, jealously guarded and handed down from age to age.

Art historians have had the task of discovering many of these secrets, often codified in old writings, but it is thanks to the passion of craftsmen that these techniques survive today. Today's craftsmen learn the same skills and still use them in the same ways in the name of creativity, art and beauty.