Good practice:

Tuscan Collections

Designed by Artex – Center for the Artistic and Traditional Handicraft in Tuscany, and developed in collaboration with Region of Tuscany, Confartigianato Toscana and CNA Toscana,Tuscan Collections is the network for Tuscan artistic productions, the B2B platform that allows operators, buyers, journalists, architects, interior designers, galleries and companies from all over the world to meet and know Tuscan companies. Tuscan Collections is the virtual place where to know and meet the best of Made in Tuscany and Made in Italy. Products in the website are divided into 7 macro categories: furniture, lighting, contract, home-decoration, table and kitchen, gift and lifestyle ideas, unique and custom made pieces. Each macro category is a container where it’s possible to find artistic productions of Tuscan companies. It is focused on showing the know-how and products from SMEs to international specialized buyers who can come into direct contact with the companies, ask for information and build together with them customized solutions. Tuscan Collections is a B2B website where companies can promote themselves and foreign buyers can find new sources to buy from.

The economic resources needed to launch this project amount of 30.000 euros. People involved are 5 project managers to communicate to the companies the project and promote the platform to international buyers, a team of web designers to develop the platform, a graphic designer for visual material.

This is still in progress, however, we actually have 60 SMEs inside of the B2B platform and the virtual meetings with foreign buyers (in order to present the productions included on the website) are started in February 2021. This practice sounds to be successful as it is a feedback of a need that Tuscany manufacturers have after Covid-19. They don’t have fairs and they need other platforms to be in order to bring on their activities.

The biggest challenge is to get from micro artisans some very good pictures of their goods. When we move from a physical meeting place to a digital meeting platform is fundamental to have good quality pictures. That is something fundamental. Communication is vital for the Craft sector.

Tuscan Collections was developed to address micro and SMEs in a period of changing, when covid-19 affects every aspects of the contemporary and future markets. This platform is ambassador because is the first that leads to a new way of connecting between buyers for the craft sector in the Region. It’s a B to B platform of Tuscany crafts. It’s transferrable because it could be something that is easy to repeat in other Regions and Countries.
Its main goal is to offer an alternative solution to craft SMEs of events and fairs that were canceled due to the Covid-19, so it’s objective-oriented in that sense. Tuscan Collection is an innovative marketplace, something new in the craft field because it is focused on showing the know-how and products from SMEs to the international specialized buyers. This platform is complete because addresses a very contemporary problem: the extinction of national and (more) international fairs, events, exchange, travel.