In 1958 Mario Guerra, a young artisan fascinated by the beauty in the tones of the Zebu cow horn, founded the Arcahorn workshop in Recanati, Italy. Since then, the Guerra family has been creating exquisite high-end home accessories and furniture objects fashioned from processed Zebu horns. With a passion for the traditional craft that has been passed down through generations of the Guerra family, Arcahorn’s expert master craftspeople process Zebu horn to bring out the beauty of its natural qualities.
Arcahorn's vocation for craftsmanship is combined with respect for the environment. The Zebu horns used by Arcahorn are sustainably sourced, coming from cattle that is in no way endangered. The horns are recovered at the end of animals’ natural life cycle, and what is not used in the Arcahorn workshop is used in organic agriculture.
Preparing the horn is a long, involved, step-by-step process that can take an entire season before a production cycle is complete. A piece of horn passes through at least 12 hands before it is ready to be used. The horn is refined and shaped over an open fire, then the outer husk is hand-polished away to reveal the grain. Such is the skill of Arcahorn’s master craftspeople that they instinctively know how the grain will lie before polishing. The elegance of the horn is combined with the finest of materials such as ebony, silver, lacquer and brass, hand-engraved according to Renaissance techniques.
Objects The Artisan: a crafted tea room Exhibition Contact