The Contour of Luxury Spring/Summer 2018 | Page 107

Alexis Day The Lorenzi Milano brand is known for its skilled craftsmen and is deeply rooted in tradition. How have the traditions that started in 1929 aided in the widespread success of Lorenzi Milano? Lorenzi Milano When G. Lorenzi shop was founded by Giovanni Lorenzi in 1929 as a small retail business specializing in cutlery and grinding, Montenapoleone street was an elegant residential area downtown Milan, home to refined and high maintenance customers. In order to fulfill the requests of the demanding and stylish customers of the neighborhood, Giovanni started to widen the range of the items on sale and, helped by his sons and supported by his wife Lina, he devoted his great passion to the search for original and high quality products, often providing custom-made items on demand. In this way, he set the basis for a company built on devotion and expertise. Between the Fifties and the Sixties, the growing business became a remarkable company among the sophisticated and internationally oriented stores of Montenapoleone street during the economic boom. At the end of the Seventies, Mauro Lorenzi, Giovanni’s young and farsighted grandson, began to work in the family business as an apprentice and he soon showed how passionate he was about the family traditions. During his apprenticeship, the passion for refined objects and raw materials that he ­inherited from his grandfather, convinced Mauro that it was time to design and produce new handcrafted ­collections, that would then be very successful with the refined customers of the ­“parlour” of Milan. G. Lorenzi increased its popularity becoming a renowned quality and valuable brand and, over the years, a distinguishing mark in Montenapoleone, the centre of upscale shopping, in a city which was building up a reputation as the capital of style and design. When in 2014 the Montenapoleone shop was closed, the family decided to give up the G. Lorenzi brand, committing to its protection in order to prevent its further exploitation. However, Mauro and his sons, the fourth generation involved in the family business, have understood how important it is to preserve the Lorenzi values and traditions: they decided to established Lorenzi Milano, whose production tries to preserve the tradition of craftsmanship handed down by generations.