Pineider

Custom Personalized Luxury Gifts from Italy

Pineider continues a tradition of custom luxury personalized gifts with handmade papers, hand-engraved stationery, luxury leather goods, fine writing instruments and wedding necessities of the finest quality. Get diaries, organizers, cufflinks, and watches. Customization and personalization is available for most Pineider luxury goods.

History: Custom Personalized Luxury Gifts Since 1774

In 1774, Francesco Pineider opened his first stationery shop in the heart of Florence, in Piazza della Signoria, opposite Michelangelo's David, where it remains today. Pineider's shop started producing and selling exclusive paper, handmade by local artisans and craftsmen from France and Holland The shop was soon renowned for both the high quality of its paper and the wide range available Francesco Pineider was the first man in Italy to introduce printed letters drawn from the Anglo-Saxon and Germanic tradition, and his avant-garde equipment made it possible to produce perfect, spotless lithographic and copper-plate prints such as relief prints, produced from hand engraved dies. Pineider soon became the stationer of choice for the European bourgeoisie who appreciated this luxury paper and asked for made-to-order visiting cards, papers with elegant embossed characters, coats of arms and escutcheons engraved in gold, using a technique perfected by renaissance goldsmiths.

In the early nineteenth century, at the request of privileged customers, Pineider created a series of extremely elegant writing desk objects such as pens, inks, folders and accessories. Later on Pineider introduced leather objects made in Florence by master craftsmen. Classic black, brown, crimson and bright forest green briefcases, travel bags, and cases, made exclusively in pigskin. Pineider rebound books and albums from private collections, decorated them with gold embroidery, and personalized them with initials and stamps.

Cultured and romantic English, French and German travelers fell in love with Pineider when they would arrive in Florence, the typical destination of the nineteenth century Grand Tour. Legend tells us that Napoleon was among the travelers who entered the historical Pineider shop, which became the stationer of choice for authors, artists and poets, such as Stendhal, Lord Byron, Percy B. Shelley, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Giacomo Leopardi and Charles Dickens.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, the founder's successors followed Pineider's tradition with the same care and passion Florence became the Italian Capital and, as a consequence, tourism soon flourished. Pineider printed the first official guides to the city and produced photographs and postcards, ushering in the era of the ready-to-buy souvenir. Florence was an important cultural and commercial crossroad and Pineider was the stationer for prestige communications, for printed documents, and for cards. Embassies, ministries, state offices and The Savoy Royal Family became customers of the shop in Piazza della Signoria, which soon became too small to cope with the dizzying increase in demand and business. In 1867, Pineider opened a second elegant shop in Florence in the magnificent Via Tornabuoni. When, five years later, Rome became the Capital of the kingdom, the Savoy family then asked Pineider to open a new shop in the Eternal City to cater for the needs of the Royal household.

In the twentieth century, Pineider kept pace with international cultural trends while keeping in touch with traditional products. Printed invitations, birth announcements, weddings and debuts, visiting cards, note cards, personal bindings, ex libris labels, stamps and seals all joined the catalogue Pineider also added traditional, sumptuously elegant accessories from clocks, frames, desk calendars, paperweights and Pineider patented ebonite fountain pens, to the inimitable, functional bags, in calfskin enhanced by vegetable dyes. Pineider made an appearance in all the world's cities, thanks to the patronage of sovereigns, public figures and arts and show business personalities. These are just some of the illustrious names on its roll of clients: Eleonora Duse, Gabriele D'Annunzio, Luigi Pirandello, Maria Callas, Liz Taylor, Henry Ford, Marlene Dietrich, Rudolf Nureyev, Luchino Visconti, among others.

Today, the demand for personalization includes also the logos of high society companies all over the world. Today, Pineider still works the paper by hand, still colors them with natural pigments The sheets are still water cut, and the watermark is present even in the heavy papers. Pineider still makes the objects exclusively in Italy using crafts techniques. They evolve in harmony with the classic materials like leather, silver and brass. Uniqueness remains a sign of distinction. Pineider aims to express this awareness by respecting traditional Italian methods in order to honor those who love the highest quality paper and writing instruments.