Maniera is a beautiful shop. Or rather, it is a large workshop with many masters who do not work but who meet here to show off their best products. It is as if they want to challenge each other, face-to-face or side-by-side, in a civilized but fierce match which does not necessarily require a winner and reminds us of the origins of a handicraft tradition of high standards. Naturally, this Tuscan tradition, which is still inspired by forms transmitted by ancient handicraft workshops, brings to the forefront that periods and styles and changes in taste do not exist when the result obtained goes well beyond a brief span of time. What this implies is that even today a plate of travertino, an elegant piece of pottery with archaic stylistic elements or a
wrought iron bed entirely made by hand, can be extremely modern if made with the same manual skill of a thousand years ago. Daniela Tozzi Ryan, a pure Sienese, or as she defines herself, a ‘Tuscan from Siena’ which is an even more explicit way to point out her pride of belonging to her own roots, had a brilliant idea. It started from an authentic passion for everything that comes from manual work, followed by the necessity to find a new way, out of the ordinary, reminiscent of the past and different from anything one has ever seen. Not because of a maniacal search for originality but to pay homage to what she really loves. A shop, however refined and exclusive, would not be enough. We have to imagine a large showroom, a sort of permanent
exhibition with objects for sale which are then replaced by others of the same kind but all different because they are sculpted and planed, wrought, stitched, turned by the hands of some of the most skillful craftsmen of Tuscany. They are the strange people who insist, against a trend going in other directions, on doing their job using the same techniques and with the same patience as their former masters. These master craftsmen are odd people who refuse to subject themselves to the power of technology patient amanuenses who carry on the tradition of wood, iron, stone or pottery! Fortunately their “crazy” choice is foolproof against all temptations, as it is only thanks to their craft, often so similar to art, that they continue to keep
alive the tangible signs of a civilization. So many precious materials require a space, but not any kind of space. This leads to another initiative pursued lice a dream. In the same place where there used to be the kiln of the nearby Castello di Meleto, they are reconstructing a large building, starting from the ancient structure of the kiln, according to medieval forms and canons of construction. The difficult job is entrusted to the expert skillful hands of Architect Spartaco Mori, well-known in the Chianti for many restoration works. The result is something unique in the area, a stone building which is the biggest and most complex artifact on show at Maniera. But it is not for sale.
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See also:

Craftsmanship in The Chianti, The Last Chianti Barrel Maker, Baking Earth is An Art, The Search for The Beautiful in Chianti: Julia

Or go back to Trades and Crafts of Chianti