Artemest: the Marketplace that protects handicrafts

History of Artemest

Founded in 2005 by Italian-American entrepreneurs Ippolita Rostagno and Marco Credendino, Artemest is a leading online platform for Italian craftsmanship and design. The company aims to support artisans, designers, and small businesses to compete globally by enhancing the traditions and high quality of Italian products. Artemest is based in Milan, but it also has a gallery in New York, which organizes several exhibitions with works by Italian artisans: a space where contemporary craftsmanship becomes collectible. Artemest preserves art and craftsmanship by helping the most qualified producers adapt to the new digital economy. The ultimate goal is to increase their international visibility. According to estimates, there are about 1 million small Italian handicraft enterprises, which create a supply chain that employs around 3 million people. Artemest assists these artisans in implementing technological services and solutions to create and develop a network of artisans and international buyers: customized communication, marketing, logistics, buying and merchandising services. The ultimate goal is to tell the global public about the traditions and know-how of fine handicrafts Made in Italy.
With a curated selection of over 65,000 products from around 1,500 of the most representative Italian manufacturers, Artemest offers the opportunity to buy contemporary designs (https://www.we- wealth.com/news/pleasure-assets/design/il-design-italiano-piu-sorprendente-da-phillips) in the furniture, home de?cor, lighting, lifestyle and art segments.
In a world where small businesses linked to craftsmanship struggle to keep up with continuous technological innovation, Artemest becomes a much-needed turning point capable of providing these companies with the services they need to keep up with the times.

The co-founder of Artemest

Ippolita Rostagno, the Italian-American co-founder of Artemest (daughter of an American artist and an Italian intellectual), grew up in the Tuscan hills just outside Florence, where she studied at an Art Institute before moving to the United States when she was 18. Thanks to her eclectic nature and entrepreneurial flair, in 1999 Ippolita founded the ‘Ippolita’ jewelry brand, whose collections are sold worldwide in renowned shops such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdale’s. Her clients include Kate Hudson, Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lopez and Courteney Cox.
Ippolita’s close ties with Italy and her love for the world of fine craftsmanship Made in Italy helped her conceive and implement Artemest, an enterprise that strives to preserve tradition and culture. Ippolita’s cosmopolitan background and attitude took her all over the world. She came into contact with different businesses, which inspired her to combine her knowledge of contemporary markets with that of local Italian craftsmanship companies, which tend to have a more traditional approach to doing business.

Six exceptional studios furnish L’Appartamento by Artemest at Milan’s Design Week

At this year’s Milano Design Week, Artemest ( https://www.we-wealth.com/news/pleasure- assets/design/milano-design-week-2023-fuorisalone-5-vie-cosa-vedere) presented a highly successful project called ‘L’Appartamento’.
The event was held in an elegant 1930s mansion and was curated by six renowned international interior design studios. Artemest assisted the project by carefully choosing furnishings from the Marketplace selections to enhance Italian craftsmanship and design.
Conceived as a crossroads of creative visions, L’Appartamento found its ideal space in the 5Vie district, inside an expressive building with evocative aesthetics: an ideal venue where the creators involved provided an
extraordinary journey to discover the world of high craftsmanship. The protagonists of this exciting project were
Anne-Sophie Pailleret, Kingston La erty Design, MONIOMI Design, Nina Magon, Styled Habitat and T.ZED Architects.
The six studios set up the different rooms with selected furniture, lighting solutions, accessories and artworks created by more than 130 artisans, companies, and artists who collaborate with Artemest.
“We wanted to bring this beautiful flat back to life and show how various figures and businesses can work with Artemest to create unique interiors capable of generating emotions and celebrate the excellence of Italian master artisans and companies, as well as their amazing products,” says Ippolita Rostagno, founder and Creative Director of Artemest.

We had the pleasure of interviewing the two founders, Ippolita Rostagno and Marco Credendino.

When and how was Artemest born, and what is its mission?

Ippolita R.&#x2028
Artemest was born out of the desire to preserve Italian craftsmanship, which is very close to my heart. I have been pursuing this since I came into contact with these businesses during the various trips I have undertaken around Italy. Marco Credendino, Founder and CEO, and I decided to join forces to create something that would carry an important message: to celebrate the role that art and culture play in our lives.

One of the founding pivots of Artemest is the great attention paid to Italian craftsmanship excellence. This mission is of fundamental importance as it preserves these endangered categories, contributing to keeping Italy’s cultural richness intact. What are the methods that can help meet this objective?

Ippolita R.
A quest to safeguard Italian craftsmanship, with Artemest being the guardian of this precious heritage. We are all called upon to be part of this endeavor, to promote excellence through education and public awareness, as well as to inspire new generations to learn the old traditions of Italian craftsmanship and pass them on. Artemest encourages collaboration between contemporary artisans and designers, bringing together tradition and innovation to create more Italian beauty and, in turn, heritage. Lastly, I believe these amazing artisans must be involved in cultural events, just as we did during the last Fuorisalone with L’Appartamento, where a 1930s Milanese mansion hosted the creative visions of six international interior design studios, which rediscovered Italian craftsmanship through the Artemest catalog.

How do you integrate the inspiration of contemporary designers with the tradition of craftsmanship?

Ippolita R.
Artemest has always encouraged contact between new emerging visions and traditional craftsmanship. It considers contemporary designers, with their creativity and innovation, as the custodians of the intrinsic values of Italian craftsmanship: embracing the richness of a millenary tradition and revisiting it with a more modern perspective. &#x2028This creates a unique synergy, an encounter between artisans’ tradition and contemporary visions that becomes a moral and cultural duty. We believe heritage and innovation must unite for progress.

In recent years, the pandemic forced many craft businesses to close. What do you foresee happening to this category in the future?

Marco C. &#x2028
The closure of many Italian craft businesses and the consequent loss of knowledge handed down from generation to generation were the main reasons why we decided to launch Artemest. Our mission has always been to give these small businesses a chance to stay focused on the product, supporting them in communicating their uniqueness to new markets. Unfortunately, the pandemic and rising energy and raw materials costs have hurt many businesses, which have had to close down. The key is to continue the process of promoting and distributing their products in new markets. It would also help to find ways to protect these companies financially by facilitating operations aimed at consolidating their highly fragmented market. In turn, this would protect the jobs of thousands of workers.

How do artisans react to the more technological and contemporary sales and business methods proposed by Artemest?

Marco C.
Most of our clients are beginning to understand the need to innovate internally, as this allows them to collaborate with a tech company like Artemest. At the beginning of the collaboration, the business operations and activities are run mainly by our team. However, when sales start to go up, most of them realize that their learning and
cultural evolution brings great benefits and organic business growth without cannibalizing their existing sales channels in their local markets.

How does the public in 2023 respond to these kinds of products where design and craftsmanship are conceptually and aesthetically ‘married’? Is there demand for it, or is the cheaper hit-and-run industrial design winning out?

Ippolita R.
Being endowed with refined sensitivity, our public enthusiastically embraces this union. They understand that there is a unique story behind every piece, an essence that transcends mere functionality. I am sure there is a strong desire to return to a more intimate and personal dimension in today’s world, and that also means a desire for authentic human connection. Handcrafted creations, as opposed to the so-called industrial product, become part of people’s lives as functional works of art, capturing the imagination and arousing a sense of wonder in the beholder, which is the ultimate nourishment for the soul.