Agresti

Style – 29 August 2013

Florentine company Agresti produces some of the world’s finest crafted wooden products and has become the benchmark in the world of luxury wood.

The company’s unique creations range from home-safes hidden in jewellery armoires to ‘watch-winder’ chests using sophisticated mechanisms to charge automatic watches.

The Agresti factory was established in 1949 and today has dedicated workers hand crafting each and every component. However, technology from the modern era combined with this, has assisted Agresti in becoming ‘the benchmark’

Think of master craftsmen making exquisite products and what do you picture? Usually it would be a small workshop with a handful of ancient, experienced artisans each at their own workbench wielding tools that haven’t changed for centuries, like fretsaws and spokeshaves.

The jewellery boxes, safes and armoires they produce are manufactured with the care and attention you would expect from elite artisans, but with the help of the most modern computer-controlled machinery. After all, if a computer can better detect tiny irregularities in a sanded surface, why would you not use it? The Agresti approach sees these tools every bit as valuable as a finely honed chisel.

Nevertheless, manual expertise is necessary in all parts of the process, particularly in the finishing.

The products are made from rare and beautiful woods, with the richly patterned briarwood being their signature material. Inside the cabinets, modern technology again meets exquisite craftsmanship. The locking mechanisms and biometric security devices contained in their safes are state-of-the-art, to maximise the safety of the precious objects stored within.

A fine example of old meets new – craft benefiting from the computer age – Agresti cabinets are internationally recognised as beautiful objects.

A range of Agresti goods are available in Australia from Peters of Kensington.