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
direction and image.
Inside the new Zucchetti Group, the Zuc-
chetti and Kos brands will be distinct yet
complementary—continuing to operate
with decision, character and quality in the
world of bathrooms and wellness, while
increasing the diversity of languages
and forming new collaborations 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
manufacturing facilities, he exhibits the
brand at the Milan trade fair and then,
one by one, at all the other most impor-
tant international trade fairs. Mario also
opens the first Zucchetti export office, to
conquer international markets engaged
in the post-war reconstruction. The first
significant 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 television 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 con-
veying its values and excellence through
several communication 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 institution-
ally and join the two Zucchetti and Kos
brands, with the precise intent to enhance
its specificity, pushing their complementa-
rity and difference.
