Sani and his brother have learned the trade from master restorers, or better ebanisti as the best restorers have been called in Tuscany since the Renaissance.
One above all, Maggiolini, an artisan furniture maker considered one of the greatest cabinetmakers of the neoclassical era. He used 86 different types of wood (including mahogany, ebony, maple, holly, olive, boxwood, hawthorn, etc.) while maintaining their natural colors, with the exception of rare occasions when he used silicate-based dyes, to get blue or light blue, colors that don’t otherwise exist in nature.
Another handed down technique is the use of shellac. Shellac is a natural resin secreted by the female Kerria lacquer, an insect present in the forests of Assam and Thailand. Shellac had always been used for many purposes but it is only since the 18th century that it has been used for finishing furniture. The basic recipe for a good shellac varnish is 200 grams of shellac flakes dissolved in a liter of 99.9 ° ethyl alcohol. One of the secrets of pad polishing is the use of very diluted varnish that allows it to penetrate the pores of the wood without creating a film on the surface. In fact, true shellac padding is a finish that does not create a “caramelized” effect on surfaces which is given by thick varnish application and which should therefore be avoided. The shellac varnish is also not applied with a brush but with a pad made of wool covered in cotton.
Sani currently works with high quality varnishes, which can achieve the same effect as shellac more quickly, keeping the wood very textured, whilst protecting it and enhancing the chromatic differences of the veins that make each piece of wood unique; they also can allow, when required, for a patina to form on the surface of the wood, to obtain an aged effect. With infinite passion, Sani blends the right colors for each wood in order to extrapolate its essence and give it life.
