Artistry in Olive Wood

Posted on April 15, 2018

As often happens a client is the catalyst for new discoveries.  This time a client requested olive wood utensils.  Having seen many I assumed it would be a quick easy request.  As usual, it became something much more.  While there are obviously thousands upon thousands of olive trees in Italy, there are not so many available to make olive wood good from.  And, while there are commercially made spoons, cutting boards and rolling pins, there are not so many crafted bowls, boards and utensils (that are actually made in Italy).

With the internet it seems easy to find online anything you want.  However, like many products, there is often a large difference between the lovely photos and catalogs you find and the quality of the finished pieces.   And, the location of manufacturing can be far from where olive trees are grown.

Olives have been cultivated throughout the Mediterranean throughout history.  The Romans cultivated olives throughout Italy and olive oil became so valuable they even used it as collected taxes.   Ancient olive wood is beautiful and a real sustainable source.  As I have mentioned in earlier posts, olives produce for  hundreds of years, but eventually they stop producing and are classed as ancient.  Usually it is this wood that is gathered and used for crafting the larger pieces of olive wood you see.  The large cutting or carving boards, the table tops or large salad bowls.   Every tree has its own unique pattern in the grain.  You will never see two pieces created of olive wood that look exactly the same.

Olive wood is very hard, strong, durable and has natural anti-bacterial properties which make it ideal for production of items used for food.  If cared for properly, olive wood items will last hundreds of years.  So an ancient piece of wood becomes an antique long after it is harvested.  Olive wood bowls, and utensils of the highest craftsmanship are not as ubiquitous  as you might think given how many trees there are here.

Because the olives are a most important crop healthy trees are never felled for use of the wood.   The limited availability is part of the reason for the high cost of quality olive wood articles.  Although there are artisans in almost every region with high olive oil production, there are not as many craftsmen who work with olive wood.  In Tuscany, I understand there are only a handful of artisans who work with olive wood. And, they tend to specialize in the types of pieces they like to make.  There is one craftsman in a small town near Sienna that makes only small to large pots with lids, another near Florence that works only bowls.  It seems that each artisan has their specialty.  That is why I tried to find someone who has worked with these artists and could inform me how to determine the best pieces.

Luckily I found Ricardo Amoruso.  He is from Tuscany and has resources throughout the region for artisans in a number of categories (his wife is a ceramicist) including the few who specialize in olive wood.  Ricardo explained to me that there is always a shortage of olive wood.  If the spring weather is below normal for too many days I believe he said 15) in a row the tree can be damaged and not just lose the crop of olives, the tree can be damaged beyond survival, but the wood also can be unusable from the stress of the cold.   He explained that there are numerous makers of kitchen utensils because those do not require the whole tree to be used.  In spring when they must prune the branches, they are collected and many are thick enough to be able to form spoons, spatulas and rolling pins.    They are the most affordable of pieces in olive wood.

Once I saw some of the fine works he handles I knew that this quality was superiorto most of the other pieces I have seen.  The prices will always be high so it is important to get the best quality wood that is formed by the best artisans.

 

His advice on how to  make                                                                                                          your wood pieces last forever… Do not soak them, or put in a dishwasher.  Use only water to clean them.  About once every month or so, brush or wipe on a light oil like coconut or sunflower oil and let it sit on some newsapers several hours or overnight.  Afterward wipe any left oil with a paper towel.It is important to keep the wood from over drying.  This prevents cracking or warping.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are some really spectacular pieces that I am now sure I must have.  The bowl below is from the works I purchased for another client.

This totally unique flat salad bowl is so stunning I start to drool every time I look at it.

Every trip to Italy introduces me to new places, people and products.  It seems a never-ending journey.  I have introduced my Sardinia honey source to olio nuovo from Farfa, I have been able to learn about the different grades of cashmere from my scarf vendor in Florence (who uses only Italian materials and workers and produces all she sells right outside of Florence).  There are so many fine olive oils available from every region but my clients are spoiled by the consistently fabulous taste of Il Saporito’s olive oil from Farfa.

It is always a challenge to get everything done in the short time I have in Italy (a month is hardly enough time to get your breathing slowed down).   And, I always end the trip with my stop at Campo dei Fiori to fill up on the “Spezie Famose nel Mondo” and meet up with Mauro Berardi for his amazing spice mixes that have people all over the world addicted.

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There is never enough time here, never enough space to bring all I would like and always too much weight.   But I love it and hope to continue to introduce products and people from Italy to as many as I can.