Timothy Alouani-Roby: Let’s begin just a little bit about yourself, professionally and personally – including family history, of course!
Daniela Fantini (seated next to Bianca, the family dog): I entered the company [Fantini] when I was really young. Unfortunately, I lost my father when I was very young, [but] I had the chance to work with him for at least some years. It was really important for me because I understood from my father the concept of work well done. I think it’s really important to have the chance to work with the founder, because they can transmit you this real passion, the real philosophy is behind the company.
So, this is my history. I started when I was really, really young; I was in college, but I wanted to work at Fantini because it was in the midst of the boom of I Balocchi, our iconic product. I didn’t want to lose this particular moment in our company. I put a lot of passion into our company, I think that passion is really important and can also compensate sometimes if you [don’t have] particular talents. I’m convinced that Fantini has a particular [identity], because we are an Italian design company amd this means that product is at the centre of everything.
For you, what is Fantini’s approach to design?
Fantini has a particular approach. Every three or four years, we innovate with something new. For example, in 1977 my father and my uncle produced I Balocchi, a very revolutionary product because it was the first coloured faucet. And after we introduced it, for example, we had Acquatonica, which was the answer to the mechanical shower; Nostromo, the essence of minimalism; and so on. We put together ergonomics, details, finishes – all these different topics on the same small product.
How has the company evolved over time?
The company [was founded] in 1946, after the Second World War, by my father and his brother. The two brothers were really, really passionate about their work, and this is our most important heritage, their passion. They were, I think, very smart, and they created at the origin a company which was different from the others. We are trying to stay in the same direction of the founder [but] today Fantini has evolved: we have 110 employees, and we have offices in New York, London and Shanghai. As an international company, I think that we are on the same path as the founders, but we’ve made our revolution.
Tell me a about the importance of Milan Design Week and your connections to this beautiful place, Lake Orta.
In my opinion, there is a particular atmosphere [here in this place] – there is peace, silence. I think it’s an inspiration for our work every day. I think that our products are exactly like the landscape: calm and made forever.
It’s very interesting to compare [the silence of] this particular place in this moment with the energetic life of Salone del Mobile. It’s a very nice component of our life, because we go to Milano and we take inspiration from this energy, but also the calm and the elegance of [Lake Orta] is a component of our work.
What about your products today, specifically those that are available in Australia?
Venezia by Venini is a particular product I love!
I love it because I went personally to Murano in Venezia. The Venini Fornace [kiln] is the place where they make this spectacular production, and, together, we chose the colours – blue, green, the colour of the water. I think that every small piece is, well – in Italian we call it opera d’arte [work of art]. Every small piece is really unbelievable, full of capacity and artisan quality, [as well as] all the history that you can find in this place in Venezia.
How important are sustainability and innovation?
I think that if you see where Fantini is located, you can immediately understand that sustainability is really important. The landscape [here is] beautiful but delicate; 60 years ago, the lake was very polluted and today it’s one of the cleanest in the north of Europe. So, I think that Fantini has to work to sustain this place every day.
In our production, we really put a lot of attention to this. For example, our products are lead-free, which means that the content of the lead is very, very small. We produce with a particular attention to the use of water with stainless steel, for example, [and now] there is a chrome finish that we are presenting in the Flora collection.
I think sustainability is an important both outside and inside production. It’s at the base of our job.
We’ve heard all about the history and the wonderful family story, but what does the future hold?
It’s very difficult for me to predict the future in this moment because there’s a lot of change in the world. But in my opinion, we have to not change a lot because I think that the future of Fantini is to be coherent with his concept. This means work [done] very well, made in Italy – to develop always the real made in Italy – attention to the detail, attention to the ergonomics…
I think our space in the world is to be serious, to be ethical with people. We have to always put the same concentration for the future on the most important values in which we believe since our origins.
Fantini is available in Australia through Winnings