San Lorenzo is the silver world’s quiet creative innovator. Founded in 1970 by Ciro Cacchione, whose family had been producing traditional silver objects since the late 19th century, it established a design language that diverged from the classic decorative norm. Cacchione enlisted leading creatives to conjure up objects that were modern in aesthetic but created with the rigorous techniques his family had been championing for decades.
The San Lorenzo portfolio includes some pioneering names, including Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Franco Albini and Franca Helg, Antonio Piva, Maria Luisa Belgiojoso, and Lella and Massimo Vignelli. ‘My dad says he wanted to “imagine silver objects”, and he worked very closely with the designers he commissioned,’ says Giovanna Cacchione, Ciro’s daughter. ‘And there aren’t many drawings or sketches from these collaborations because they happened through conversations that went on between my dad, the designers and the artisans.’
Discover San Lorenzo's modern design excellence
‘In an era dominated by mass production, San Lorenzo represents a bastion of thoughtful materiality’
Tom Chapman
A rare collection from the San Lorenzo archives will now be available exclusively from luxury e-tailer Abask. ‘Ciro’s business exemplified a paradigm shift in silversmithing, aligning with the principles of the Italian Radical Design movement by treating silver as a malleable canvas for architectural inquiry,’ observes Abask co-founder Tom Chapman, who first discovered San Lorenzo in the 1990s, drawn to the company’s blend of modernism and craftsmanship. ‘In an era dominated by mass production, San Lorenzo represents a bastion of thoughtful materiality, where each piece invites contemplation on the evolution of domestic objects from mere function to cultural artefacts.’
Sterling silver bowls, £1,600 each; ‘Pannocchia’ bowls, from £680, all by Franco Albini and Franca Helg. Sterling silver rectangular box, £4,850; square box, £4,650; tea set, £8,600; vases, from £3,800, all by Afra and Tobia Scarpa. Candlesticks, from £3,400, by Tobia Scarpa, all from the San Lorenzo collection at Abask. ‘Ran’ bookcase, by Carlo Forcolini, for Alias, from Incanto Auction
The 37-piece collection comprises key archival pieces produced between 1971 and 1992 but no longer in production: among them are the textured ‘Pannocchia’ bowls by Franco Albini and Franca Helg, a candelabra by Lella and Massimo Vignelli, and several pieces by Afra and Tobia Scarpa, including a tea set and a whisky flask. These are objects that reflect the company’s desire and ability to push the boundaries of the material.
A fitting example is a candelabra designed by the Scarpas in 1992 and made of pure 999 silver, a material that had never been used to produce an object (silver is generally used as an alloy). San Lorenzo worked closely with Milan’s Politecnico to establish a manufacturing protocol that allowed this material to be shaped into a precise, reflective plate onto which 15 bronze arms are placed in a way that they can be adjusted to direct the candlelight, creating a mesmerising interplay of light and reflection.
‘What San Lorenzo has achieved is convincing proof that a modernist aesthetic can be given valid artistic expression and yet at the same time meet the most exacting utilitarian requirements,’ notes Eric Turner, a former V&A curator who led the 1995 exhibition “The Work of the Silversmith’s Studio: San Lorenzo, Milano”. ‘The design world can learn from the San Lorenzo example that the highest aesthetic standards combined with a ruthless functionalist approach can produce objects of outstanding excellence,’ Turner continues. ‘All San Lorenzo products offer a seamless combination of form, technique and function.’
By offering this collection, Chapman hopes to speak to an audience of future collectors. ‘In a contemporary market saturated with replicable goods, these pieces offer the promise of singularity as objects that accrue narrative value over generations, much like the Scarpas’ own intergenerational influence, from Carlo to Afra and Tobia,’ he says. ‘These design objects are not mere acquisitions but future heirlooms, embodying the timeless dialogue between innovation and tradition that defines exceptional design.’