Ardea Zanotta

Established in 1954, Zanotta is one of the recognized leaders in Italian industrial design. Guided by the insight and wonderful entrepreneurship abilities of the founder, Aurelio Zanotta, beginning in the 1960s it won and has held the international spotlight. This was thanks to its products : emblematic for both their formal and technological innovations. In the late 1980s Aurelio Zanotta gave the following explanation of his success. "During the 1950s and 1960s the furniture and furnishing accessories industry was bubbling over with creativity. Some firms which currently are leaders in the industrial design field and have gained international stature were sharp enough then to grasp the crux of the design and manufacturing problem. It was possible to produce both profits and culture, at the same time." Internationally famed architects and designers have always been called in to create the products. Some of them are: Achille Castiglioni, Gae Aulenti, Marco Zanuso, Ettore Sottsass, Joe Colombo, Alessandro Mendini, Andrea Branzi, Giuseppe Terragni, Carlo Mollino, De Pas-D’Urbino-Lomazzi, Enzo Mari, Bruno Munari, Alfredo Häberli, Roberto Barbieri, Ross Lovegrove… Today's collection comprises these furniture types: armchairs, sofas, storage units, bookcases, chairs, tables, coffee-tables and furnishing accessories.

Diverse manufacturing technologies are employed. In harmony with the corporate philosophy aimed at R&D, they allow the advanced use of a host of materials, like metals (aluminum alloy, stainless steel, brass, bronze, etc.), plastics, glass, marble, granite, wood, fabrics and leather. In 1989 the "Zanotta Edizioni" collection was added to our line; these furnishing objects are close to applied art. Freed from the constraints of mass-production, the collection's articles are handmade to a great extent. By harking back to the most significant facets of Italy's artistic craft tradition, they revive and rework disused techniques, like mosaic, inlay and painted decorations.

The pieces in the "Zanotta Edizioni" are supposed to be selected and loved, as one picks and loves paintings, sculptures, rugs and tapestries. They, too, are destined to expressively enhance the home. Lastly, this small-batch or numbered and limited edition will augment their value over time Many of our pieces' forms rise above the triteness of the threadbare expressions or represent creations that went against the tide.

So many creations are mentioned in design history books and displayed at the world's major museums (New York's MOMA and Metropolitan Museum, the Paris Centre George Pompidou, the London Design Museum, Berlin's Arts and Crafts Museum, the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, etc.). Zanotta has received legions of prizes for its achievements. They include three Compasso d'Oro Awards: in 1968 for the Guscio hut designed by Roberto Menghi; in 1979 for De Pas-D'Urbino-Lomazzi's clothes-stand; and for Enzo Mari's 1987 Tonietta chair. Over time, our company has backed a multitude of experimental endeavors and cultural undertakings to promote the development and dissemination of concepts tied to the creation of household artifacts. Zanotta participates yearly in countless exhibitions and shows in the sector of industrial design, art, architecture and fashion. This intense cultural promotion of the collection boosts its manufacturing. Currently, the firm's collections are distributed in over sixty nations.