Handicrafts corner

If you are looking for a souvenir to take home or a truly authentic gift, this corner is for you. At the InfoPoints of Bellinzona e Valli Turismo you will find handmade works by local craftsmen using regional raw materials of the highest quality.

Live local, buy local!

The artisans of the moment

Giannini Graniti SA, Lodrino
www.giannini-graniti.ch

The company Giannini Graniti has been at the forefront of the extraction and processing of natural stone for more than 50 years.

Thanks to an ever greater awareness of sustainability issues, its design objects maintain a green spirit, combining a material that is 100% natural with unique lines of design.

The Mezza Luna wine holder is made of gneiss, a material that forms part of the granite family and is extracted from the quarries located in the village of Lodrino. Composed largely of orthoclase, feldspar and mica, which give it its natural brilliance, it is unique the world over and is found only in the subalpine region.
 

Paola Toschini - La Casa dell'Artiginato, Dongio
www.toschinipaola.ch

Paola lives in the Blenio Valley and works in Lottigna. She started working with ceramics forty years ago as a hobby, following courses and learning from ceramicists. She primarily works on objects using a lathe, modelling and firing using the raku technique.

Paola offers raku courses and is president of the Associazione Artigiani Bleniesi, the regional artisans’ association. She helps to manage the association’s shop, the Casa dell’Artigianato in Dongio, and also sells her pieces there.

The Sosto bowl is a splendid reproduction in stone fired at a high temperature, which is intended to represent local production and at the same time the magnificent landscape with the iconic form of the mountain that symbolises the valley, the Sosto.

Giulia Taragnoli - La Butea da Quint, Quinto
www.buteadaquint.ch

Giulia was born and raised in the green Leventina region and from an early age drew inspiration from the materials she found in nature. Now, her jewellery is inspired by the people who will wear it – their desires, their habits and what they want to express by wearing it.

She likes to start with whatever the stones convey, then develops the idea that will turn them into jewellery. Using local stones, she produces pieces that create a sense of connection with the terrain and with a profound part of ourselves. The Alps are rich in precious gems, but also in simpler stones that can inspire an affection that makes us want to wear them around our necks as jewellery.

Giulia makes her Leventina necklaces using various types of stones she collects during her walks in the valley, which she works by hand.

Fausto Pellegrini - Il Legno è Arte
Facebook and Instagram @illegnoèarte

Fausto was born and raised in Pianezzo, where he still resides today. He has always had a passion for wood, and in 2011 he qualified as a carpenter, a trade he has always practised with passion. In 2019 he embarked on a specialist training course at the Höhere Fachschule Bürgenstock, gaining a diploma as a production specialist with the highest grade in November 2020.

In parallel, he has always done craft work to give vent to his creativity, and it was this that gave rise to his adventure with “Il legno è arte”, or “Wood is art”. He frequently exhibits and sells his works at fairs and markets locally and in other cantons.

The Assetto Fortezza was produced with various types of wood that all come entirely from the region, with the majestic Montebello Castle in Bellinzona as an engraving.