L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 25, 2025 www.italoamericano.org 12 L'Italo-Americano F or many Italians, a THUN figurine is linked to personal milestones: a bap- tism, a wedding, a first home, or a Christmas dis- play that comes out of the box year after year. The brand's soft colors and rounded forms are instantly recognizable, yet its history is often less familiar than its products. T H U N w a s f o u n d e d i n 1950 in Bolzano, in South Tyrol, by Countess Lene T h u n a n d h e r h u s b a n d , Count Otmar Thun. Its aes- thetics were profoundly affect- ed by the varied culture of its place of origin, South Tyrol, a region positioned between Italian and Central European worlds, which lent to THUN its quintessential style made of Alpine imagery and Christ- ian symbolism. The compa- ny's story begins with a single creation that would become i t s d e f i n i n g s y m b o l : t h e Angel of Bolzano. Modeled by Lene herself, the figure was conceived as a simple object meant to bring warmth and reassurance into everyday domestic spaces. S o o n e n o u g h , T H U N moved from being a small artisanal workshop to a struc- tured company with national reach: over the decades, its d i s t r i b u t i o n e x p a n d e d t h r o u g h o u t I t a l y , t u r n i n g what were once niche decora- tive objects into widely recog- nized household items. Cru- cially, the brand developed alongside postwar Italian con- sumer culture and became part of a broader shift toward gift-giving tied to life events instead luxury or display. Needless to say, Christ- mas played a central role in this evolution, and no product expresses this more clearly than the THUN presepe. Introduced as a softer alter- native to traditional nativity scenes: its simplified, round- e d f i g u r i n e s w i t h g e n t l e expressions and warm color schemes quickly made it one of the brand's most recogniz- able creations. Thanks to this approach, THUN presepe fit- ted easily into contemporary homes, appealing to families who wanted to preserve the tradition while adapting it to modern interiors. There is also a "collector factor" that makes it popular: usually, a THUN presepe isn't assem- bled all at once but grows gradually over time, with new figures added year after year, with an incremental dimen- sion that mirrors the way pre- sepi have traditionally func- tioned in Italy. T H U N t o d a y m o v e d beyond figurines to include home décor, tableware, and seasonal gift items, while maintaining a consistent visu- al language; the opening of mono-brand stores across Italy certainly helped consoli- date this identity by offering s p a c e s t h a t p r e s e n t e d a coherent domestic universe centered on celebration, fami- l y l i f e , a n d r e c u r r i n g moments of togetherness. O f c o u r s e , t h e i d e a o f Made in Italy remains cen- tral to understanding THUN's identity, even though some c o n s i d e r a t i o n s s h o u l d b e made. The actual production of its figurines has taken place abroad for many years, yet the brand's creative and o r g a n i z a t i o n a l c o r e remains firmly Italian: head- quarters, design development, and brand direction are still based in Bolzano, and collec- tions are conceived within an Italian cultural framework. Plus, THUN's storytelling and visual choices reflect values commonly associated with Italian design: warmth, recog- nizability, and a close rela- tionship with everyday life. In more recent times, the brand has also increased its i n t e r n a t i o n a l p r e s e n c e , through a combination of brick-and-mortar retail loca- tions and online sales, espe- cially in Europe, where its restrained Christmas imagery and gift-oriented products are especially appreciated. Unfor- tunately, though, THUN does not currently operate an offi- cial retail network or e-com- merce platform in the United States, therefore, for Ameri- can consumers, the brand is mainly accessible through third-party channels, includ- ing online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, and Etsy, as w e l l a s s p e c i a l t y r e t a i l e r s importing European giftware. More difficult to source on this side of the Atlantic, per- haps, but totally worth it, if you ask us. More than seventy years after the creation of its first angel, THUN remains a famil- iar presence in Italian homes, especially during the Christ- mas season; its success lies in continuity and a well-defined aesthetic, characterized by a consistent style, a clear emo- tional register, and a brand identity that has found a last- i n g p l a c e n o t o n l y w i t h i n Italy's Christmas rituals but in its people's daily life. F or centuries, eat- i n g w i t h t h e h a n d s w a s t h e n o r m a c r o s s much of Europe: knives and spoons were com- m o n a t t h e t a b l e , b u t t h e fork as we know it today arrived relatively late, and its story is closely tied to Italy. Early forms of fork-like u t e n s i l s e x i s t e d i n t h e ancient world, particularly in Byzantium and the Eastern Mediterranean, where small two-pronged tools were used for serving food, but their use at the table was rare and often viewed with suspicion. The turning point came in Medieval Italy, where the fork began to take on a new, practical role. One of the earliest docu- mented episodes dates to the l a t e 1 0 t h c e n t u r y , w h e n a Byzantine princess married into the Venetian elite and reportedly used a small gold fork at banquets. The gesture c a u s e d s c a n d a l a m o n g c h u r c h m e n , w h o s a w t h e utensil as unnecessary luxury and even moral excess. But in Italy, especially in wealthy urban centers like Venice, Florence, and later Naples, the fork slowly gained accep- tance. By the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance, Ital- ian food habits made the fork increasingly useful: the grow- ing popularity of long, thin pasta shapes required a tool t h a t c o u l d l i f t , t w i s t , a n d manage strands cleanly, so Italian craftsmen responded by refining the design, mov- ing from two to three and eventually four prongs, which made the fork more stable and efficient. The fork spread from Italy to the rest of Europe largely t h r o u g h c u l t u r a l exchange: Italian nobles, merchants, and brides car- ried the utensil with them, particularly to France but, even there, its adoption was slow. In the 16th century, Catherine de' Medici is often credited with introducing the f o r k t o t h e F r e n c h c o u r t , though it took generations b e f o r e i t b e c a m e w i d e l y accepted. For many Euro- peans, eating with a fork still seemed affected or unneces- sary. By the 17th and 18th cen- t u r i e s t h e f o r k w a s f i r m l y established across Europe, and its Italian origins were l a r g e l y f o r g o t t e n . Y e t , i t s modern form was shaped in Italy. And so, what began as a controversial novelty became a standard object of daily life, which changed the very way we eat and enjoy our food. A modern fork. This ubiquitous piece of cutlery originated in Italy's Medieval courts (Photo: Vclements/Dreamstime) How the fork transformed the Italian table A soft Christmas icon: the story of THUN THUN's Christmas classics (Photo: Ivan Savini/Dreamstime) IMPRESA ITALIA MADE IN ITALY TOP BRANDS BUSINESS & ECONOMY

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