Fontana Milano 1915
Fontana Milano 1915 is an historical Italian leather goods brand, founded in 1915 by Guido Pieracci.
From Florence to Milan
The brand was founded in 1915, when Guido Pieracci opened a leather workshop in the center of Florence. His beginnings are linked to Italianness and the sense of family. The laboratory, adjacent to the Pieracci house, houses a dozen master craftsmen and sells the products in retail. Guido Pieracci is a creative and far-sighted man who manages to combine the love for the quality of raw materials with a modern and captivating design.
In 1945 he and 25 collaborators move to Milan, where he still has one of his two factories (the other one is in Florence), which produces his own line of women’s bags, belts and small leather goods, combining tradition, high craftsmanship and modern style.
The third generation
After 100 years of history, 70 of which in Milan, in via Trebbia, in Porta Romana district, the company is now leaded by its third generation, represented by Michele and Paolo Massa, who insist that Fontana Milano 1915’s winning formula is its respect for work, but that:
It was dad who made the improvement of quality. Dad was proud to have arrived in Milan in shorts and clogs, and he was proud to be a socialist. He loved human relationships and he invested them in his work: the company, for him, was an extended family.
After marrying Lully Pieracci, Guido’s eldest daughter, the young Carlo Massa, grown up as an Olivetti salesman, opened the company to foreign markets, especially the Far East one. He was a pioneer: at the end of the ’70s, the Italian leather and hide manufacturing is establishing itself in the world as an important sector of made in Italy. In 1988 Carlo died suddenly and the two young men found themselves alone: nowadays Michele is in charge of administration and sales, while Paolo is the man-product.
Other brothers are always close, but look elsewhere: Marco has successfully turned to jazz, guitar and ukulele and Silvia is now an established designer. Mum Lully, 89, enjoys the large family, and the ranks of her grandchildren.
The headquarters in via Trebbia 26
Entering the three-floor factory in via Trebbia 26, among counters, large lamps and windows, you have to forget the glamour of fashion. Michele and Paolo work with their employees, young and old, men and women, Italians, Filipinos, Egyptians, Moroccans, in an equal relationship: they work standing on wooden boards, with lanzette, hammers, scissors, feeler gauges, points, skiving knives and compasses. The dean is Ernesto, who has been working in these places since 1986.
Inauguration of the workshop Fontana Milano 1915
International expansion
From Milan, the brand expands all over the world, opening its first store in Seoul, in 2016; the second one, in 2019, is followed by a third in 2020, opened inside the Luxury Hall Gallery. Today there are 300 hands that work to build the future of the company, without losing the roots of a long history.
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Contacts
Via Trebbia 26, 20135, Milano (MI), Italy
To read the item in Italian click here.
