Galleria Marca Corona - Centrepiece in the shape of a bag, maybe for holding newspapers

Eager to offer an ever-richer selection of ceramic objects, the Rubbiani expanded their production of furnishings and decorations for the home.
They produced objects and trinkets for all budgets, be they centrepieces or ornaments, and were alert to the tastes of the period, which can strike us as kitsch.
This basket is one such product. It is perhaps a newspaper holder shaped as a bag, inspired by the most popular and widespread examples in the Modena area at that time: Carpi basketry. These were elegant and elaborate items, above all the hats, which rivalled the straw hats made in Florence.
The art of basketry emerged in Carpi in the sixteenth century and consists of extracting thin strands - shavings – of the same thickness, length and width from the trunks of willow and poplar trees.
Mechanisation made it possible to massively increase this type of production: once the long strands were woven, they could be used for hats, bags and more.
The success of the hats - light, cheap, waterproof and useful for providing shade from the heat of the Po Valley – also reached beyond Italy thanks to the National and International Exhibitions. The factories could be run cheaply, which, after the war, became an all-important factor in launching the area’s textile industry.