Wartime

After the catastrophic consequences of the First World War, the recovery of the woodworking industry of Val Gardena was very sluggish. Many markets had been lost and the demand for wooden handcraft products remained for many years on a historical low. Besides the general economic problems, the people of the valley had to cope with the loss of many men who fall in battle. As many of them were qualified sculptors or excellent wood carvers, their absence was heavily felt during the reconstruction period.

The uncertainty and the lack of perspective induced many wood carvers to look for a job in the neighbouring valleys or even in other countries around the world as for example in Argentina. In addition, because of the annexation of South Tyrol to Italy, wood diminished dramatically in value. In the first post-war years, for some wholesalers it was more profitable to sell the wood as firewood than to use it as raw material for the woodworking industry. The only positive consequence of the war was that people began to attach much more importance to the quality of the finished products. In 1926 the exports started to rose again and the economic situation of the valley improved increasingly until the outbreak of the Second World War.

Also the sector of the small wooden objects experienced an upturn thanks to the ready sale of articles of daily use and ornamental objects such as corkscrews, pen-cases, ashtrays, chess pieces, small Madonnas, stylized crucifixes and other souvenir articles. Before the First World War, half of the handcraft production consisted of altars and statues. Whereas the production and sale of the latter continued, the construction of altars ceased almost completely. The downfall of Austria-Hungary played also a part in this development, as important markets within the federation broke away. Moreover, the Italian market was more competitive because of the importance of marble as substitute raw material for the manufacture of altars and religious sculptures for the churches.

A further production sector which in this period became less important was the toy sector. The wholesalers were not able to interpret and satisfy the new requirements of the clients, and were also faced with the strong competition from the businesses producing toys of other materials.

But thanks to the two vocational schools in Ortisei and Selva Gardena, the wood carving industry of Val Gardena improved substantially through original and creative solutions and a higher technical perfection. Hence all the efforts of the two municipalities for the erection of the schools were rewarded. Unfortunately, the high artistic quality in the woodworking sector wasn’t sufficient to front the worldwide economic crisis of the 30s, and Val Gardena experienced again a period of severe economic difficulties.

Right before the outbreak of the Second World War, half of the production was exported to the United States, followed by Germany and Great Britain, whereas only 5 % of the products were intended for the national market.