The history of Bovano of Cheshire began in 1952,
when working alone in the
basement of his home in Cheshire, Connecticut,
artist Jim Bower began
experimenting with powdered glass fused to small
copper plates. His playful
approach resulted in early designs applied to
small glass enamel plates, which
were sold under the name Bower Enamels.
It wasn't long before Jim met John Bonsignor who
realized the potential of
developing a wider array of glass enameled products.
John moved the
studio to an upper floor of an old foundry building
in Cheshire and began a
passionate pursuit of copper enameling. The name
"Bovano" was coined from
the first two letters of the last name of each
of the three original owners:
Bonsignor, Van Leight and Noden.
In 1964, David Flood partnered with John to continue
the growth of Bovano of
Cheshire. Dave and John collaborated together
through the 1960's. It was also
during this time that the company made a dramatic
change away from copper
enameled plates and trays, turning instead to
the creation of simple little copper
enameled flowers. Later designs were extended
to larger tabletop flowers, with
a growing choice of flowers, bonsai and maple
trees, birds and butterflies.
In 1975, David became owner of Bovano of Cheshire.
Hotel based trade shows
became his regular destinations. He carried products
and displays to markets in
New York, Boston and Chicago. Growth of the company
continued for decades as an ever-widening range
of high quality wall and table sculptures were
crafted by hand.
Today, Bovano artisans continue to use many of
the techniques developed
in the early days of the company. By combining
modern technology and old
world craftsmanship, the highly skilled Bovano
artisans continue to create quality
sculptures using the knowledge acquired through
decades of experience. |