The Name
Giuseppe Ercolano
This site carries the name of a man who never saw it: the grandfather of the current generation, and the first of the family to make things with his own hands.
Photo: sepia archive portrait of Giuseppe Ercolano in the early workshop
Sorrento, 1957
From selling to making
The Ercolano story begins with commerce: Orlando Ercolano traded in the inlaid woodwork Sorrento was famous for. It was his son Giuseppe who crossed the line that matters — from selling other people's work to making his own. In 1957 he set up the family's first workshop, and the Ercolanos became manufacturers.
Photo: vintage workbench with marquetry tools and veneers
The Standard
A way of working
Giuseppe's rule was simple: a box should be as well made inside as out. Seasoned wood, marquetry cut and inlaid by hand, lids that close with a whisper. That standard passed to his son Orlando, and from Orlando to his grandson — who carries not only the workshop, but the name.
Photo: the current generation at work in the Sorrento workshop today
Three Generations On
The same hands, the same town
Today the workshop still stands in Sorrento, and the pieces on this site — jewelry boxes, humidors, chess and backgammon sets — are made the way Giuseppe made them. His grandson signs them with the name he inherited. This site is that signature.
What the name stands for today
Seven collections of inlaid and lacquered pieces, made by hand in Sorrento.
Discover the collections