Angelo Dalla Venezia

The satisfaction of holding a perfectly smooth, spherical, or curved object in your hand is hard to describe, especially when it's made of wood—polished to a shine while still displaying visible grain and veining. Such is the art of Angelo Dalla Venezia, the last Venetian turner. A cheerful, dynamic man over eighty, he shows no sign of losing his enthusiasm. Though retired for about twenty years, Angelo still spends his days in his workshop on Calle del Scaleter, just behind Campo San Polo—a place he considers his second home; a warm space filled with wooden objects that can be glimpsed through the wire windows, neatly arranged in piles and displays. Here, Angelo has worked since 1959, producing his wooden creations with the manual cast-iron lathe that dominates the space—the same tool he's used for decades.

Angelo brings a contagious drive and passion to his craft, evident in the exceptional results. In his workshop, you’ll find both decorative and functional handcrafted objects of all types and sizes: wooden balls, spinning tops, eggs, flower pots, geometric shapes, fruits (perfect apples and pears), supports and stands, pencil holders, key racks, bobbins for bobbin lace, knobs for furniture, grandfather clocks, candle holders and rings, which Angelo began making regularly after receiving a special request for wedding rings. Each piece is one-of-a-kind and yet astonishingly precise, made entirely by hand using different types of wood, including olive wood, patuk, ebony, amaranth, zebrawood, pau violet, and pinkwood. The variety is mesmerizing, and the attention to detail, even more so.

Today, decades into his career and hundreds of custom projects later, Angelo Dalla Venezia continues to craft bespoke objects, preserving the tradition of the manual lathe and maintaining the passion for craftsmanship that has always defined him.