“Santo Stefano di Camastra” Zenith Ceramic Handle Brush

I wanted to write a little about the Zenith ceramic handle brushes that I have for sale. The handles are hand crafted by an artisan from Santo Stefano di Camastra. I received an email last July with some responses to questions that I had for an order that I placed. At the end of the email Antonella Pandolfo asked me:

We are implementing our range of shaving brushes with pure badger silvertip shaving brushes with Sicilian artistic ceramic handles (“Santo Stefano di Camastra” – see attached photo). Could You be interested about it?

Here was the photo:

Of course my response was a definite yes. I think 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

that they ultimately made it with a larger knot for the American market.

 

It has a

26.5 knot

Loft is

set at 

.

Notice the differences in design.

51mm. Effective loft is 45-48mm from glue bump. Weight for these brushes range from 94-103 grams. These are each hand crafted and are unique which is why there is a discrepancy in the weight.  The difference in the height comes from the differences in the handles.

 

Santo Stefano di Camastra is a town in Sicily about 60 miles east of  Palermo.  The modern town was founded in 1683 after a landslide destroyed the previous settlement. The blue and white floral design is typical of the region.

Sicily is known for their ceramics with each town developing their own styles.  If this run does well for Zenith, according to Antonella, they plan on doing other handles with different colors and decorations in the future. I am unclear if it will be with the same artisan or a different one.  Antonella has not shared the name of the artisan with me.

Zenith has been known to change handle styles quite often, and I imaging future runs will incorporate an entirely different design rather than keep this particular design in stock.