Discover the Bianco Bianchi World

Origins

Sublimating Matter into Authentic Poetry

Laboratory on Via di Rusciano in Florence, Bianco Bianchi with his students 1964
Laboratory on Via di Rusciano in Florence, Bianco Bianchi with his students 1964

The history of Bianco Bianchi is rooted in a centuries-old tradition, an art that sublimates matter into authentic poetry. From the founding of the first workshop in the 1950s to today's international prestige, this narrative intertwines dedication, mastery, and an unfathomable passion for beauty.

Bistro table set made in the 1960s
Bistro table set made in the 1960s
Acanto table from the 1980s
"Acanto" table from the 1980s
1995 Baroque Table from the Gianni Versace Collection in Miami
"Barocco" table, gold graffito on a slate-black background. One of many works created for Gianni Versace, beginning with their collaboration in 1987 with the creation of the Medusa-head table, which inspired the designer, who was then searching for a logo for his collections.
1995 Baroque Table from the Gianni Versace Collection in Miami
"Barocco" table, gold graffito on a slate-black background. One of many works created for Gianni Versace, beginning with their collaboration in 1987 with the creation of the Medusa-head table, which inspired the designer, who was then searching for a logo for his collections.

Heritage

Telling the Future

Palazzo Vecchio, detail of a table top by the Fratelli della Valle, 19th century, Bianco Bianchi collection
Palazzo Vecchio, detail of a table top by the Della Valle brothers, 19th century, Bianco Bianchi collection

Where Beauty
Takes Shape

Florence, the cradle of art and culture, was home to Bianco Bianchi's first historic headquarters. This place steeped in history gave birth to masterpieces that combine tradition and modernity, a legacy that lives on in today's atelier, where every gesture speaks of the past while looking to the future.

A Rebirth
From the Water

1966 was a year that profoundly affected our history. The flood in Florence destroyed the workshop, but it did not break our spirit. From that tragedy came a rebirth that strengthened our commitment to preserving and innovating an art that is the heritage of humanity.

Who We Are

Guardians of Timeless Excellence

The Creative Heart
of Tradition

Our story begins when Bianco Bianchi (1920-2006), a state employee and artist with a love of painting, driven by a strong spirit of research, began to dedicate a good part of his free time for about ten years (at the end of the 1940s) to studying the secrets of an artistic technique that had long been lost: scagliola.
Later, the writer Giuseppe Prezzolini's son, having noticed him, decided to bring him to the United States to give him the opportunity to perform in a series of live workshops in some of the largest department stores in Pittsburgh, Portland, Washington, New York, and St. Louis. He achieved considerable success there.
After leaving his job at the Ministry of Defense, Bianco devoted himself entirely to scagliola, producing new artefacts while simultaneously restoring and collecting ancient ones.

Alessandro Bianchi

Elisabetta Bianchi

Leonardo Bianchi

Today his children, Alessandro and Elisabetta, and his grandson Leonardo, who have inherited the same passion, supported by skilled collaborators, continue to produce masterpieces with the same ancient technique, working alongside decorators and architects to create unique pieces for interior decoration.

Domenico Dolce evento a Firenze Il Rinascimento e la Rinascita Palazzo Vecchio settembre 2020
With Domenico Dolce at the Dolce & Gabbana event in Florence at Palazzo Vecchio, “The Renaissance and the Rebirth,” September 2020
Delivery of a scagliola panel to Vydas Dolinskas, director of the Palace of the Grand Dukes Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania. 2015-2016

Art that travels, inspires, and creates connections

Over the years, the Bianco Bianchi laboratory has participated in numerous exhibitions in prestigious contexts and extremely important shows in Italy and abroad, building relationships with representatives of the culture, fashion and design worlds.

Made in Italy Festival Milan 2024
Made in Italy Festival Milan 2024
Mediaset TV Filming for Studio Aperto May 2024
Mediaset TV Filming for Studio Aperto May 2024
Homo Faber Venezia 2018
Homo Faber, Venezia 2018
Event at the laboratory for 70 years of activity in October 2023
Event at the laboratory for 70 years of activity in October 2023

Re-enactment of the Classic
Project

Project with illustrators for the revival of the Classic, October 2024

Innovate with
Responsibility and Beauty

Innovation and responsibility are the cornerstones of our approach. We are pioneers in the use of eco-sustainable materials and low-impact techniques, demonstrating that craftsmanship can serve the planet without sacrificing its intrinsic beauty.

Protagonists of Design

Throughout our history, we have accepted not only commissions but also challenges that have led us to explore the fields of non-figurative art, design and art. All of this has been made possible by encounters with creatives with whom we have collaborated, who have inspired us to create prestigious pieces that have ended up in some of the most beautiful homes in the world.

Sara Ricciardi Event Design for LVR ® Marina Denisova

"Profumoir" project with Daniele Cavalli
"Profumoir" project with Daniele Cavalli

"Moon Side Table" Project with Kunaal Kyhaan

Who We Are

Guardians of Timeless Excellence

Bianco-Bianchi_foto-gruppo-Alessandro-Elisabetta-Leonardo

The Creative Heart
of Tradition

Our story begins when Bianco Bianchi (1920-2006), a state employee and artist with a love of painting, driven by a strong spirit of research, began to dedicate a good part of his free time for about ten years (at the end of the 1940s) to studying the secrets of an artistic technique that had long been lost: scagliola.
 
Later, the writer Giuseppe Prezzolini's son, having noticed him, decided to bring him to the United States to give him the opportunity to perform in a series of live workshops in some of the largest department stores in Pittsburgh, Portland, Washington, New York, and St. Louis. He achieved considerable success there.
 
After leaving his job at the Ministry of Defense, Bianco devoted himself entirely to scagliola, producing new artefacts while simultaneously restoring and collecting ancient ones.
 
Today, his children, Alessandro and Elisabetta, and his grandson Leonardo, who have inherited the same passion, supported by skilled collaborators, continue to produce masterpieces with the same ancient technique, working alongside decorators and architects to create unique pieces for interior decoration.

Alessandro Bianchi

Elisabetta Bianchi

Leonardo Bianchi

Today his children, Alessandro and Elisabetta, and his grandson Leonardo, who have inherited the same passion, supported by skilled collaborators, continue to produce masterpieces with the same ancient technique, working alongside decorators and architects to create unique pieces for interior decoration.

Domenico Dolce evento a Firenze Il Rinascimento e la Rinascita Palazzo Vecchio settembre 2020
With Domenico Dolce at the Dolce & Gabbana event in Florence at Palazzo Vecchio, “The Renaissance and the Rebirth,” September 2020
Delivery of a scagliola panel to Vydas Dolinskas, director of the Palace of the Grand Dukes Museum in Vilnius, Lithuania. 2015-2016

Art that travels, inspires, and creates connections

Over the years, the Bianco Bianchi laboratory has participated in numerous exhibitions in prestigious contexts and extremely important shows in Italy and abroad, building relationships with representatives of the culture, fashion and design worlds.

Made in Italy Festival Milan 2024
Made in Italy Festival Milan 2024
Mediaset TV Filming for Studio Aperto May 2024
Mediaset TV Filming for Studio Aperto May 2024
Homo Faber Venezia 2018
Homo Faber, Venezia 2018
Event at the laboratory for 70 years of activity in October 2023
Event at the laboratory for 70 years of activity in October 2023

Re-enactment of the Classic
Project

Project with illustrators for the revival of the Classic, October 2024

Innovate with
Responsibility and Beauty

Innovation and responsibility are the cornerstones of our approach. We are pioneers in the use of eco-sustainable materials and low-impact techniques, demonstrating that craftsmanship can serve the planet without sacrificing its intrinsic beauty.

Protagonists of Design

Throughout our history, we have accepted not only commissions but also challenges that have led us to explore the fields of non-figurative art, design and art. All of this has been made possible by encounters with creatives with whom we have collaborated, who have inspired us to create prestigious pieces that have ended up in some of the most beautiful homes in the world.

Sara Ricciardi Event Design for LVR ® Marina Denisova

"Profumoir" project with Daniele Cavalli
"Profumoir" project with Daniele Cavalli

"Moon Side Table" Project with Kunaal Kyhaan

Scagliola

Timeless Language

Drawing preparation
Marble or stone engraving
Preparing the paste with Selenite powder
Colored pigments, earths and oxides
Mixing powder and colors
Preparing the marbled shades
Creating an artificial boulder
Pouring of colored paste
Detail of the graffiti

Scagliola, with its roots stretching back centuries, is a technique capable of telling stories through material. From Carpi in Emilia in the 17th century to Tuscany in the 18th century and then throughout Europe, each era has enriched this artistic language, making it a symbol of refinement and mastery.

Behind every scagliola work lies a complex and fascinating process. From the preparation of the sketch to the design engraved with surgical precision, from the filling with expertly crafted colored impastos to the burin graffito for further details, each stage is a ritual that transforms the material into a masterpiece. The result is an enchanting surface, a dialogue between art and nature.

Museum

A Journey Through Art and History

Our private collection is a tribute to the creative genius and history of scagliola art. Tables, altar frontals, paintings, fireplaces, columns and fragments make up the most diverse and diverse collection of ancient scagliola works in the world.

Each piece is a window into a bygone era, a bridge between tradition and the innovation that inspires our daily work.

Bianco Bianchi and the Revitalization of Classicism

Strategies for Renewing the Iconography of Florentine Scagliola

Project by Architect Luigi Ferrando in collaboration with Niccolò Fontana

In our profession, the repetition of form has always been a necessity: classicism has always been the beating heart of our work.
However, without denying our mindset, we have chosen to explore the language of contemporaneity and what we can now define as “new classicism.”

It is in this context that our desire to develop a new synergy between artisan and creative professional was born, in a dialogue where tradition and innovation meet in the reinterpretation of classical iconography.

Research and Questions
We conducted a workshop with visual communication experts—designers, tattoo artists, and graphic designers—each of whom presented their own work as a personal, modern reinterpretation of a classical motif.

Our aim:
to explore new contemporary symbols through direct comparison. Participants were invited to engrave a detail of their design on a small scagliola surface, which was then filled with color.
We engaged them in a reflection on the boundaries of technique, opening a window onto a world yet to be discovered. The debate heated up around themes such as floral symbolism, alchemy, mythology, and history, interpreted through a modern sensibility.

Renewing the Classic
The sources of inspiration—ancient myths, iconographic traditions—remain the same as those of historic scagliola. But we wanted to build on these to create new visual narratives, capable of speaking to the present.
Our journey now also includes digital tools and contemporary skills, which enrich and expand the creative process, without ever distorting its essence.

Innovate with Responsibility and Beauty

Innovation:

Staying faithful to tradition by crafting each unique piece entirely by hand doesn’t necessarily mean turning our backs on it. When requests for multiples are made, we can then take advantage of the assistance that modern technology offers. Thus, the meaning of “innovation” becomes the ability to conscientiously bring a centuries-old technique into today’s world, for example, with new methods for laser engraving in the case of mass-produced pieces.

We are also pursuing research to complement marble, one of our most popular materials. Specifically, we are designing tabletops made entirely of scagliola, lightened by the insertion of aluminum honeycomb panels (aluminum that can subsequently be melted down and reused multiple times), thus benefiting the home environment in which they will be used, as they will be easier to transport.

Sustainability:

The durability of the personal items we produce places the issue of their potential disposal at a critical juncture. Every piece we create is designed to stand the test of time and be passed down from generation to generation.

Furthermore, we have fully embraced a production-level approach that demonstrates how this attention to quality is not only embedded in our corporate vision but also integrated into the daily operations of our atelier.

From this, we have refined a technique that, long before its time, we could have already defined as eco-sustainable thanks to the conscious use of low-impact materials such as selenite, chalk, natural colored pigments (earths, oxides), and natural and plant-based glues.

Scagliola - Processing Techniques

The main work steps begin with material preparation and the structuring of the supports, up to the development of the ornamental parts and the final polishing. We begin by transferring the design onto the slab of interest, whether marble, stone, or scagliola itself. The outline of the design must be engraved along its perimeter using small cutters that leave a groove of variable depth, ranging from 1 to 5/6 mm, depending on the extent of the mark and the type of subsequent intervention. Then we proceed with hollowing out the inner part of the design’s outline, creating the “negative” using small chisels and mallets. This creates the cavity into which the scagliola mixture (a mix of colors, natural glues, natural pigments, and selenite) is poured. This mixture can be in a fluid state or a denser, manually moldable state. After each addition of color, the surface must always be sanded with pumice stone and filled to ensure the smoothest possible surface. To finish the final details within the subjects depicted, a burin is used to engrave much more superficially, almost scratching, with small, bold marks. The graffito, in turn, is filled with scagliola and smoothed with very fine abrasives. If finer details are required, the technique used in the 19th century is followed, with final fresco-like pictorial retouching. Finally, scagliola surfaces are polished with oil and wax, and marble and scagliola surfaces are treated with satin-finish protective coatings.

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