Fattobene (Italian for “well-made”) is an online shop dedicated to championing classic Italian household goods—little treasures from traditional handkerchiefs used to wrap bread to shaving brushes made of boar bristles. The platform’s founders, journalist Anna Lagorio and photographer Alex Carnevali, have curated a collection of nearly 150 products, each emblematic of Italian craftsmanship and all available on their website.
“These are objects that have filled Italian people’s homes forever,” they told the MoMA Design Store, which is hosting Fattobene’s first ever pop-up shop outside Italy, at MoMA’s Soho location through September 29. “They are minute, silent objects with an irresistible charm. Over the years, their role has changed and these simple industrial products have transformed into true icons of everyday life.”
Here are a few everyday objects from their collection that captivated us.
Above: A sampling of Fattobene finds now available at the MoMA Design Store’s website and Soho location. Above: The Barca Straw Whisk Broom is made from dried sorghum; $12. Above: Ideal for use on paper, clothing, photographs, and labels, the non-toxic Coccoina Almond Glue ($7) comes in an aluminum tin, unchanged since the 1920s. In the middle is a cylinder for holding a brush. Above: The linen and cotton Traditional Striped Towel is available in three colorways; $12. Above: These nickel-plated steel Egg Scissors made in the Italian village of Premana—where there are nearly 130 cutting-tool companies in a town of 2,000 residents—are meant for slicing the top (shell and all) off of a soft-boiled egg; $25. Above: These beech Rainbow Hangers are made by Toscanini, an Italian company that has been in business since the 1920s; $30 for a set of 3. Above: The Pasta Cutter Rolling Pin slices dough into ribbons of tagliatelle; $9. Above: Sicilian Ceramics with a “splatter” pattern were thought to repel insects. Available in blue and green; from $15.
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