Gio-batta Garlatti was born in the village of Forgaria, province of Udine, Italy, 1935. As a qualified cabinet maker, at age 22 he set out to make a name for himself. After travelling ten days by boat from Genoa, Joe landed in New York, June 19, 1957. He then made his way directly to Canada, settling, first, in Toronto, quickly gaining a reputation as a first-class cabinetmaker. Within five months he had saved enough money to send for his wife, Angela. Soon they relocated to Markham, Ontario. Known as “that Italian immigrant who could make or fix any piece of furniture,” Joe became a charter member of the Canadian Antique Dealers’ Association (C.A.D.A.). In 1976 he was commissioned by the National Film Board of Canada to craft a wooden box for Between Friends/Entre Amis, a special publication used as the official gift from Canada to the United States to celebrate the American Bicentennial. Joe was also commissioned to craft still another presentation box, this time for LOYAL SHE REMAINS, the acclaimed publication produced by the United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada and officially presented to Her Majesty The Queen, 1984, to commemorate Ontario’s Bicentennial Celebrations of that same year. Joe Garlatti, whose antique tool collection is the envy of cabinet makers, in this 1976 view, discusses with then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau the commemorative box he has just crafted for him. [Photo, courtesy Joe Garlatti]