Reducing or eliminating the use of plastics is now a must for everyone. For some companies, it is a matter of making even drastic changes. For others, however, it is a bet won from the start because they have always focused on other materials, such as Foppapedretti Spa, for example, founded in 1945 by visionary entrepreneur Ezio Foppa Pedretti, born in 1927 in Telgate, Bergamo.
From toys to baby products
The third of four siblings, Ezio is gifted with passion and imagination. From an early age, he turned woodworking scraps from his uncle’s workshop, where umbrella handles were produced, into toys. He studied to be a mechanical engineer, but at 19, thanks to a loan, he and his siblings Tito and Letizia founded the Fabbrica di giocattoli dei Fratelli Foppa Pedretti (later Foppapedretti), which produced wooden children’s toys with attention to detail. The 1950s saw the advent of plastic in the toy world, but Ezio Foppa Pedretti diversified production by introducing quality and safe early childhood items such as high chairs and cribs instead of abandoning wood. Then, the production expanded to changing tables and bedroom furniture.
Functional objects for everyday use
In the 1970s, the company began producing garden and terrace furniture. In the 1980s, while competitors used mostly plastic, Ezio Foppa Pedretti still bet on the ecological and decided to revolutionize the market by proposing everyday objects “as never seen before”: made of solid wood of certified origin (FSC), beautiful to look at, with functional design and evocative names such as the Dandy tie rack, Gulliver, the clothesline named after the protagonist of J. Swift’s novel, and the ironing board Ace, leading the company to become an industry leader with the slogan “The Tree of Ideas.”
Evolving to grow
While wood remains the predominant material in Foppapedretti’s production, in the early 2000s, the company started a new adventure and began marketing strollers, which not only had to be functional, practical, and safe but also innovative. Thus, in 2011, Myo Tronic was produced, a stroller equipped with an electric motor that won the prestigious international Red Dot Design Award.
Sustainability in the DNA
Foppapedretti uses only wood from certified geographic areas and from forests with controlled reforestation to create quality products that last “longer than nature takes to reproduce that same amount of wood,” explains President Luciano Bonetti. All wood waste is reused to heat the plants and offices and to power some production facilities. In addition, thanks to photovoltaic panels, the cut in carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere is about 340 tons per year. Finally, a non-toxic water-based coating is used, drastically reducing harmful emissions, improving operator safety and ensuring non-toxicity for consumers.
Today, Foppapedretti, headquartered in Grumello del Monte (BG), has 250 employees, tens of millions of euros in sales, designs and manufactures in Italy, and sells in Europe, the US, China, and Korea.
Congratulations to those who have always believed in eco-friendly production and brought Made in Italy to the world!
Learn about other outstanding Italian design companies.