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Pittella and the Permanence of timeless design

Pittella and the Permanence of timeless design

For over 40 years, Pittella has stayed true to its artisanal manufacturing roots, creating functional designs that subtly interpret the Australian values of elevated craftsmanship and materiality.

When Pittella’s door handles were first imported into Australia in the 1970s by Simone Pittella’s father, Felice, Italy was considered to be the reigning global leader of luxury, premium design and manufacturing.

As the second generation heading up the Company, Simone Pittella has continued this commitment and further developed the product offering of door and bathroom fittings, carving out an elevated niche in the Australian architecture and design (A&D) market for the past four decades. Some would say its unique position, borne out of two generations of Australian-Italian design heritage, is informed by the interpretation of beauty, sophisticated taste and an appreciation for quality – otherwise known as ‘bellezza’ – that is an intrinsic part of Italian life.

“Italy is a nation that values beauty,” says Simone Pittella. “The overall experience of quality and a culture of design translates to the building materials which inform the product selections for Italian homes. A case in point is the ‘Kea’ handle from one of our new tap-ware collections, by the Florentine designer Marco Pisati. You have a direct connection with the tap handle and there’s a feeling of tangible luxury which, when you operate the mechanism, transfers to the user.”

In spite of its hybrid DNA, Pittella’s design story is unmistakably Australian. Mirroring the global recognition of Australia in the A&D arena today and core to this accomplishment, is the idea of permanence in design and the importance of materiality in architectural projects. “The value placed on artisanal craftsmanship and materiality is a reflection of Australia’s highly multicultural nature and Pittella products are an integral part of that tradition,” he muses.

Pittella typically develops products inspired by the notion of iconic Australian architecture, where locally-sourced raw materials such as hardwood timber cedars and stone, offset by glass, feature prominently, to create a living environment with nature. “And that, I think, is the real Australian architecture, where you’ve got this interaction with your surroundings that’s beautiful,” says Simone Pittella. Today, the pendulum has shifted and it’s the creators of products in Australia who “have fans all over Europe and Italy.”

Director Charlotte Pittella reflects on the firm’s advocacy and reverence for Australia’s emerging designers. “We’ve been part of the Australian A&D market for 40 years, so we are as much a part of this architecture that is revered around the world, as they are. Our products are Italian but we are led by Australian design,” she explains.

Throughout its 40-year evolution, Pittella has stayed true to its quality roots, manufacturing the majority of its products in the region of Lombardi, where the specialist art of brass metallurgy dates back to prehistoric Italy and the Metal Ages. “The regions of Italy and Lombardi, in which our products are produced, where brass products have been worked on and worked with as noble materials, still carries through those various areas,” says Simone Pittella. “The work of these skilled artisans is integral to the production cycle; using artisanal values, materiality and craftsmanship to create beautiful products that make life better.”

It’s a production legacy which, to this day, sees Simone Pittella travel to Italy to develop products and finishes with the engineers and craftsmen he has known since childhood. “With the skill of manufacturing and engineering, you have this perfect combination of a product that is fit-to-purpose in high-end architecture and interior design in Australia. And we make that possible,” he says. It’s a deeply collaborative process that enables Pittella’s engineers and suppliers to produce products especially for the Australian market. “That’s where the skills of generational knowledge married with artistic creativity come into play,” he reveals. “These qualities are uniquely relevant in our local design market.” According to Charlotte Pittella, this “lifelong vocation” of the individuals shaping such a skilled manufacturing process is borne out of a deep sense of pride.

As people yearn to incorporate a sense of permanence into their surroundings, Pittella’s beautifully designed brass accessories are testament to a design process in collaboration with renowned Italian designers, handcrafted by Italy’s leading artisans. For Simone Pittella, the design process is nuanced and multi-layered. “We curate for a market that we feel is right for our clients. And we do that with our partnerships, with our manufacturers, and we’ve done this for so long that people think of Pittella as being a brand that makes their own products and that is what we’ve become.”

Design remains a personal process for Simone Pittella who, inspired by his travels to Italy, to Milan or its outskirts, is influenced by the makers where the manufacturing takes place. “I might see part of a building, a form of concrete; and it will remind me of part of a product that I would imagine being a door handle or a door pull. Then I’ll be able to think more about it and it starts that spark [of an] idea.” Ultimately, the design of each product always starts with a reverence for the form. “And then it goes to the treatment, to the finish, the look,” he adds, citing form as the most important element of their products. “It has a very distinct effect on the owners’ or the users’ feeling, with the transition from one room to another. Or, turning on that shower – there’s a human interaction where you touch that item. The door handle or tap has an emotional connection to the architecture and it’s probably the only item within the building with which you actually have a physical interaction.”

Innovative partnerships which respect Pittella’s philosophy and origins are an important strand to their story. Teaming up with iconic Italian design house dnd and its award-winning designers, a shared history of sophisticated product design has created high-quality brass door handles exclusively for the Australian market. This approach to reinterpreting classics is key to Pittella’s creation of functional designs that are subtly new and relevant. Built on a genuine shared love of the material: brass; and a respect for craftsmanship, such partnerships represent an innate belief in timeless design and quality manufacturing. Pittella is uniquely positioned to exclusively adapt such products for Australian design sensibilities. “We customise the processes to make it suitable for our DNA,” explains Simone Pittella.

Built on a genuine shared love of the material: brass; and a respect for craftsmanship, such partnerships represent an innate belief in timeless design and quality manufacturing. Pittella is uniquely positioned to exclusively adapt such products for Australian design sensibilities. “We customise the processes to make it suitable for our DNA,” explains Simone Pittella.

Influenced by this idea of timelessness, Pittella creates a product that fits an architectural narrative which might be the opposite of what would appeal in Europe. It’s a unique thread that runs through the sophisticated design and life-cycle of every Pittella door pool, door handle or joinery knob. “We have this beautiful treatment called ‘tumble brass,’ which is really quite raw and alive,” says Simone Pittella, who admires the beauty of one of its core collections with a precision-finished, aged look that gives it a sense of permanence. “It’s never going to go out of fashion. It will stay like that forever.”

Thirty Years. Two brands. One philosophy. A shared history of artisan craftsmanship comes together in an exclusive collection.

Thirty Years. Two brands. One philosophy. A shared history of artisan craftsmanship comes together in an exclusive collection.

With a shared history tracing back to their origins in Italy.  The bespoke creators have now come together to bring a carefully curated selection of dnd’s finest designs to the Australian market, manufactured with Pittella’s leading edge technology.

For over 50 years, dnd has transformed brass into handles of the highest quality standards and design.  In 1968, FMN Martinelli (as it was then known) was founded under the leadership of Angelo Martinelli in the valleys of Brescia, Lombardy in central north Italy. This is an area with centuries of knowledge in the steel industry, dating back to the Metal Ages, and has become well respected over the years as the centre of Italian metallurgy manufacturing.

In the late 1990s , Simone worked alongside his late father Felice with the Martinelli family to produce and introduce a range of classical fittings into their core collection. Now, 30 years on, the two companies have reunited with the Martinelli family and under the stewardship of the next generation, Simone Pittella and siblings Pietro and Simona, to continue this natural generational collaboration.

Together the companies have worked to introduce a selection of key lines to the Australian market, with a focus on contemporary design paying respects to neo-classical, art deco and other key design influence.

The market was hungry for something new, for us it was about delivering innovative designs, relevant to the Australian market and manufactured to the highest standards that we have come to represent. It was these synergies that led us to the collaboration with dnd”, says Simone Pittella.

 

We will never compromise on our manufacturing standards, and our fixing technology which delivers reliability and longevity to our clients”. Together, the collaboration allows our clients access to dnd designs with the confidence of our fixing system, enabling us to invigorate the Australian architectural and design market.

It goes without saying that the companies share the same artisanal values, they value materiality and the craft of the ‘artigiani” that they work with. Both companies, see the work of these skilled artisans as integral to the production cycle. Techniques like hand polishing are still employed by both companies, despite being overtaken in many instances of modern-day manufacturing techniques.

Both companies share a love of brass, for its hardiness, fusability and versatility. Contrary to other materials (such as, alluminium or zinc) is the different coloring of the oxides that enable the vast array of finishes that can be produced for any given project. The collaboration also introduces an introduction of the special PVD finishing, or ‘forte’ as it is called by dnd. This is a special finish designed to mimic many of the natural brass finishes (eg polished, satin or aged brass), but delivers high resistance to abrasion, scratching and corrosion. It is also impenetrable to solvents and cleaning products.

However, it is not only the history, love of brass and old-fashioned workmanship that bonds the two companies but a deep rooted understanding and philosophy that the door handle is “the frontline of the architecture, a modest but also indispensable declaration of intent”. In this way, the door handle is seen as essential design element in the transition between inside and out.

Giulio Iacchetti Image credit: Alessi.com
Ginkgo Door Pull Design: Giulio Iacchetti Image credit: lynton crabb

To this end, both companies share a true creative dialogue and have worked with many renowned architects and designers, to develop and introduce new designs to the market. Notably Marco Pisati, Stefano Boeri and Jamie Hayon are among them.

Guilio Iacchetti, designed the Ginkgo door handle and door pull, which leads the new collection. Since 2017 Industrial designer Iacchetti, has taken his place as dnd’s Art Director. Previously Iacchetti has created work for brands including Alessi, Artemide, Foscarini, Ceramiche Refin, Danese, Fontana Arte, Magis, Moleskine and Pandora.

Directors, Simone and Charlotte Pittella, will be sitting down with Iacchetti at the upcoming Salone Del Mobile this June in Milan to discuss with him the inspiration behind the Ginkgo and what he forecasts for new product design.

 

For dnd and Pittella, catching up in June will also represent an opportunity to meet and to celebrate the beauty in the Italian way of life and all things “fatto in italia”.

Products can be viewed here online or in the Pittella showroom by appointment.

Discover the Maralina Collection from Pittella

Discover the Maralina Collection from Pittella

photo: @Lyntoncrabb
Designed and manufactured by Pittella, the Maralina is the latest from our contemporary collection, continuing the tradition of disciplined design and inherent Italian style for which we are known.
Created in collaboration with a highly skilled team of local and international craftsmen, this suite of elegantly functional door pulls and handles are as finely studied and as beautifully executed as the projects in which they are placed. Inspired by the natural form, each product within the Maralina collection features a distinct curvature design element, bringing a fluidity, softness and tactility to the contemporary design envelope.
All the pieces are available in the Pittella specialist finishes, including the Industrial varnishes, chemical etch finishes and brass treatments.
They are made for application as a stylish standalone piece, back to back or single fix for entryways or as a feature on integrated fridges and built in custom joinery.
The Ala & Pesca joinery pulls featured here in OR - Oil Rubbed photo: @Lyntoncrabb
Maralina Offset door pull featured here in OR - Oil Rubbed photo: @haydncattach
The Maralina door pull, available in lengths of between 300mm and 800mm, features a curved profile in the rear of its elongated section.
The Maralina Offset version has a 30mm instep with curved rear profile designed specifically to provide the required clearance on aluminium, steel or timber sliding doors.
The Maralina DDA door handle provides an elegant 90 degree curved rear section that extends to a return, ensuring compliance with the Australian Disability Discrimination Act of 1992. It is also available in a version without the return design as a simple option to complete the collection.
The Maralina DDA lever handle and matching entryway door pull, featured in OR - Oil Rubbed photo: @Lyntoncrabb
The full Maralina Collection is available now, for architects and specifiers the complete product listing specification sheets, technical and design details can be downloaded on our website. Product availability as well as pricing and finish options form part of our extensive online library. Trade customers can purchase directly  through our website by clicking this link Here.

The nostalgic handcrafted Florentine wash basin collection

The nostalgic handcrafted Florentine wash basin collection

It is with great excitement that we reveal an expansion of the Pittella bathroom wash basin collection. Our beautiful, luxury Ceramica comprises of three handcrafted benchtop designs, all baring their own unique personality. They are called San Giuliano, Martino and Lorenzo.

There has been a noticeable shift towards our clients requesting handcrafted, statement products for their interior projects. As a result of this continued movement toward the handmade trend, Pittella’s 40 years in artisan Italian manufacturing led us straight to the town that is world renown for this type of small scale production. Our Ceramica wash basin range is created in the town of Vinci, the namesake of whom needs no introduction. Since the 16th century, this authentic Tuscan town situated on the outskirts of Florence has been recognised for beautiful handmade Crystal, Porcelain and Ceramic pieces that grace the interiors of luxury homes throughout the world.

The basins are manufactured in ceramic – a very durable, hard and non-porous material resistant to heat and scratching. Our unique designs begin from a mould that guides the general shape, and then turned by hand on a ceramic spinning wheel to further refine the sculpture. Let us take a closer look at these new additions;

The SAN GIULIANO

The San Giuliano features an emblazoning diamond pattern effect, giving it an embossed texture which is further enhanced by its glazed finish. Available in Gesso White or Pistachio and measuring 450mm in diameter and 195mm from the benchtop.

The MARTINO

The Martino is truly sculptural as it is practical, with a unique wavy rim that hints to organic forms found in nature. This design is presented in a matte exterior finish and glazed internally for durability by the traditional method of using a fire kiln. Measures 400 in diameter and 170mm from the bench top.

 

The LORENZO

The Lorenzo boasts a minimalist approach with a fine and meticulously even circular rim, enhancing any contemporary application. It is also finished by fire kiln with an all over glaze. Measures 410 in diameter and 150mm from the benchtop.

Both the Martino and Lorenzo basins are available in White Grey or Gun Metal

 

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