AZIENDA

Fifty years have now passed since the time of the Fondo Pasinetti – the site in Via Magenta, in the center of Scarperia, where the Consigli brothers opened their first premises.

Luigi – at the time, just a little over 20 years of age – and Enrico, his slightly younger brother, had already spent several years producing knives on behalf of the same company for which their father had been forging metal and making pattada knives and grafting knives since the very early part of the century.

By the mid-1950s, while most of the town’s youngsters left the wonderful but impoverished landscapes of the Mugello to seek their fortune in nearby Florence, the Consigli brothers and their friend, Marcello Azzini, decided to stay on and work together under the name ConAz (a conjunction of the first part of their surnames). The Fondo Pasinetti, with its forge, manual equalizer to cut steel and coal furnace for tempering, was their first workshop.

In the mid-60s, to meet consistent demand from the Sardinian market, ConAz started to diversify its production.

The company decided, therefore, to focus on the production of both robust, practical knives (with finishes that were nothing short of revolutionary for the time) and of prestige knives, such as the pattada with polished horn and mirror-finish blade, achieved by mixing glue with fine emery. Even back then, while new production methods resulting from the availability of plastics were all the rage, the brothers realized that their traditional approach was a dying art, and as such had to be jealously guarded.

The polished horn was the distinctive sign of superior quality. To shape the horn, they used furnaces rather than paraffin, thus causing the layers that compose it to become more compacted and reducing the possibility of flaking that was always a common problem with knife handles.

As the years passed, air tempering – which was carried out by laying the blades on a cold floor – gave way to oil tempering, which was at once more practical and more accurate. The old methods of working the materials were handed down with great care, even though the number of models being made continued to decrease.

The company decided, therefore, to focus on the production of both robust, practical knives (with finishes that were nothing short of revolutionary for the time) and of prestige knives, such as the pattada with polished horn and mirror-finish blade, achieved by mixing glue with fine emery. Even back then, while new production methods resulting from the availability of plastics were all the rage, the brothers realized that their traditional approach was a dying art, and as such had to be jealously guarded.

The reawakening of interest in the authentic art of cutting irons gave ConAz the impetus to expand their portfolio by embracing the Scarperian traditions like never before. It was at this time that the company came out with the models that would consolidate its reputation with modern consumers – the Fiorentino, the Senese, the Maremmano and the Rasolino.

Currently, alongside its typically Italian models, which represent the perfect synthesis of tradition, technique, elegance and refinement, the company also produces high-quality table and kitchen cutlery that is expertly finished using noble materials like cow horn, buffalo horn and olive wood. The Consigli family is totally committed to authentic steel-working techniques and to the preservation of the values of manual processing. Now that Luigi Consigli has reached his well-earned retirement, Enrico is supported by his children Elena and Pietro. They are determined to meet the challenge of safeguarding the company’s artisanal traditions while remaining faithful to the ideals that lay behind the creation of ConAz in the Fondo Pasinetti, more than half a century before.