6
THE HISTORY
With nearly a century of experience
behind them and a new experimental
phase on the horizon: as the Zucchetti
brand nears its 100th birthday, it strength-
ens its history and institutional identity by
renewing and sharpening its design direc-
tion and image. Inside the new Zucchetti
Group, the Zucchetti and Kos brands will
be distinct yet complementary—continu-
ing to operate with decision, character
and quality in the world of bathrooms and
wellness, while increasing the diversity
of languages and forming new collabora-
tions with the design field.
Zucchetti’s story first begins back in
1929, with a small foundry in Valduggia
(Piedmont) set up by Alfredo Zucchetti.
Today the Zucchetti Group is led by the
third generation, Elena and Carlo, with
cousins Marco and Paolo Zucchetti. The
group consists of 2 factories, covering
a total surface of about 35,000 square
metres, employing 200 people and pro-
ducing 600.000 articles every year.
The basic values of Zucchetti have
always been innovation, design, and
quality: the essential cornerstones that
have guided the firm throughout its
history. After an early phase manufac-
turing industrial valves and fittings, in
1950 the factory is converted to produce
chrome sanitary taps.
In the early 1950s the firm brings in Mario
and Luciano Zucchetti, Alfredo’s sons.
Mario, president and enlightened entre-
preneur goes on to lead the company for
nearly fifty years. He steers the company
towards, technological and commercial
advancement and major production
development: he completes the large
new headquarters in Gozzano (Novara)
which he equips with advanced manufac-
turing facilities, he exhibits the brand at
the Milan trade fair and then, one by one,
at all the other most important interna-
tional trade fairs. Mario also opens the
first Zucchetti export office, to conquer
international markets engaged in the
post-war reconstruction. The first signif-
icant overseas contracts come in 1958:
Canada and Australia (among the others)
become important new markets for
the firm. In 1970 is founded the second
company of the Group, Zucchetti Mario
S.p.A., specialized in hot forging of brass
and other metal alloys. While Omez S.p.A.
dedicated to moulding of plastics, is
established in 1983.
The seventies see the company start its
own path in the world of design. Mario
Zucchetti strongly believed in the impor-
tance of the design image of any product,
as a synthesis of innovative technical
and aesthetic values. He decides to call
in Studio Nizzoli for the first single-lever
mixer produced in Italy.
In the eighties, Zucchetti enters the
world of communication, both on tele-
vision and in the press, with the aim
of building a strong, recognised brand.
The company has never abandoned this
course because it is fully aware of the
importance of conveying its values and
excellence through several communica-
tion channels.
With the turn of the century, the bathroom
moves centre-stage, reflecting changes
in society and culture as taste evolves
in line with consumer sensitivity and the
bathroom becomes the “bathing room”.
Attentive to changing sociological and
man-made aspects, Zucchetti is one
of the first to believe in investments in
increasingly more innovative projects,
meeting the demands of a public looking
for desirable experiences rather than
necessary objects. In 2004 the company
decides to avail of the strategic con-
sultancy services of Ludovica+Roberto
Palomba, new art directors of the brand.
2007 sees the birth of the project for a
complete bathroom proposal, following
the acquisition of Kos, a brand associ-
ated with the best production of design
bathtubs and shower cabins. A bath-
room-world that shifts from a merely
functionality level to one of sensation and
physical seduction, giving rise to one of
the most interesting, eclectic design reali-
ties linked to the bathroom sector.
2019 marks a new turning point with the
definition of Zucchetti Group and the new
art direction by Matteo Fiorini Studio.
The group is formed to represent insti-
tutionally and join the two Zucchetti and
Kos brands, with the precise intent to
enhance its specificity, pushing their com-
plementarity and difference.
