He was born in Borgo San Lorenzo in 1870 from Tito Chini, decorator, and from Paolina Ulivi. He was baptized with the name of Giovacchino, and wrongly registered in the Municipal deeds with the name of Giulio. After his elementary studies, he worked with his father as a supporting decorator assistant. Following the death of his father which occurred in 1883, he was taken on by the company of his uncles Dario and Leto, also decorators. In February 1897, he began to participate in Ceramic Arts, together with his brothers, Guido and Augusto. He contributed considerably in the running of the factory, above all from the financial point of view. He even went as far as to mortgage the paternal home so that he could prepare the production for the Exposition in Turin and in London in 1898. In 1901, following Vittorio Guinti’s exit from the company, he became technical director.
He designed the entire plant of the new premises in Fontebuoni. In 1902, he resumed correspondence, already begun by Giunti in 1897, with Bernardino Pepi, a Sienese chemist and pharmacist, and also a great expert of ceramics. In 1903, he made some trips to Golfe Juan, in the south of France, to acquire further technical knowledge in the factory of Hospied. For contrasts with the management, he left the company in December 1905.
For a short period he returned to the activity of decorator. In 1906, together with his cousin, Galileo, and his brother, Pietro, he founded a factory of ceramics called “San Lorenzo Furnaces” of which he became technical director. In this period he also began the production of glass, thanks to his interests in this sector already cultivated in the period of the Ceramic Arts. He was the creator of numerous projects of realignment of the company, seeking more and more rational methods for the distribution of the work.
In 1930 he also used the factory of the ex “Florentia Ars”, in Piazza Bernardo Tanucci in Firenze, bought in 1924, to install there a special division for the manufacturing, above all, of stained-glass windows. In 1943 the factory was destroyed by bombing. In 1947 he made an attempt at an agreement with some financers, well-known to his son, Tito, to set up a new factory in Milan. The agreement never reached, and also the death of Tito, convinced him to abandon his interest in the ceramics sector forever. He died in Borgo San Lorenzo in 1957.
Itinerario Liberty - Planning and Realization - Stefano Pelosi - www.stefanopelosi.it