IP66 - Magia Luminii

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Ghisamestieri
The story of Ghisamestieri goes back to the XIX century,
coinciding with the story of public lighting and the beginning of
industrial production on the Italian territory. Though its trademark
is recent, the heritage of such a glorious past has been handed
down to clever men, technicians and managers, together with the
know-how they have acquired. They are nowadays Ghisamestieri’s
pulsing heart and boast. Ghisamestieri was founded and is wellknown
with foundries in Italy and abroad for the manufacture
of artistic lighting systems. Now, thanks to the farsightedness of
its founder, Leardo Ravaioli, Ghisamestieri can show, beside its
prestigious historical castings, a series of contemporary products
characterized by careful design and great functionality.
Among the “heavy industries” in the Nineteenth century, Forlì
numbered only the “Società anonima per il gas e fonderia di
ferro” (Gas and Iron Foundry Joint-stock Company), established in
1863. It was founded as a private enterprise, by Ulisse Fioruzzi and
partners. This factory began since 1864 producing also low-grade
anthracite gas, used to light the city, thanks to a contract with the
City Council of Forlì. In 1865 the Company counted already 40
employees. The business, only two years after its foundation, was
taken over by the Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì (Forlì Savings Bank).
The turning point for the managerial equilibrium occurred when
the executive management passed since 1878 to Enrico Forlanini:
he was an aeronautical engineer and well-known airship builder
from Milan, who conceived the first steam-engine helicopter. The
enterprise, a serious and efficient competitor among the most
important industrial plants in our Country, achieved success under
his management also at a national level, obtaining considerable
orders. In 1888 the workshop was able to feed 371 public lighting
burners, employing 10 ignition men and 5 workers. The employees
rose to about 150 in 1894. This is the period when an operative
sector of carpenters, patternmakers, carvers, draftsmen, designers
and decorators arose in the “Società Anonima Officine di Forlì”
(Forlì Workshops, Joint-Stock Co.), busy designing and realizing
artistic street lamps intended to light so many towns in Italy. In
1895 the enterprise was bought by Enrico Forlanini, manager in the
business. In mid-20’s the factory owned a global area of 30,000sq.
m., assuring work for over 300 workmen. The following years were
characterized by the first difficulties and the enterprise began
feeling the effects of great shortage of ferrous materials that were
reserved for civil utilizations. The factory owners declared the
Company’s actual closing down and contemporaneous setting up
of the “Società Anonima Officine di Forlì” in 1942.
The plant was then acquired by E.Bartoletti S.p.A. in 1958.
In 1987 E.Bartoletti S.p.A. hived off the branch of business
“Fonderia e Modelleria” (Foundry and Patterns) and established,
together with “Fondart s.r.l.” from Bertinoro, a new Company
named “Fonderie di Forlì” (Forlì Foundries Co.) having its head
office inside the premises of former “Officine di Forlì”. The new
Company’s management was entrusted to Sergio Mangano, with
the cooperation of Leardo Ravaioli, trusted with the commercial
direction. In this very period a heritage of drawings, dating back
from the end of the Nineteenth century to the fascist period, were
found in the archives of former “Officine di Forlì”. These drawings
will be the reference matrix for the most important Italian firms
in this field. The “Fonderie di Forlì”, with the stylistic know-how of
these drawings and the acquisition of the trade mark, patterns,
and dies of FOA, a company from Bologna operating since the
60’s, proposed again the enterprise in the field of artistic lighting,
a business sector inherited from its precursors since 1863. In
1992, after the great structural crisis that fell upon casting houses,
the “Fonderie di Forlì” met big problems in facing competitive
markets: the business did not reach managerial equilibrium,
due to the lack of support by its most representative partner,
Bartoletti S.p.A. The Company was thus obliged to close down
in 1993. The direction of the “Fonderie di Forlì” was handed
over during the same year to Milco Piraccini, a determined
young entrepreneur who started up a business and, acquiring
machinery, patterns and dies, started again the designing activity
and realization of lamp-posts and articles for urban decoration,
formerly carried out by the Fonderie di Forlì. During the same
year Mr Piraccini achieved the co-operation of three assistants
who turned out to be basic for the success and growth of the
business: Domenico Tarducci, a valid foundry expert, Nadia Fucci,
an efficient executive, and Leardo Ravaioli, already mentioned
as commercial superintendent for the Fonderie di Forlì. It was
L.Ravaioli, a true business leader, who trusted this team and
established a new Company in the name of Ghisamestieri.
The rest is recent history and marks Ghisamestieri with a steady
and dynamic growth, with achievements on the Italian and
foreign markets, with structural expansion, but primarily with
plans, designs, qualities that wisely make the best use of the
heritage of drawings from the Officine di Forlì and at the same
time worthily inherit its business mission. Today Ghisamestieri is a
Company loving and enhancing the value of its past as well as the
artisan tradition of its origins, looking ahead and being successful
also owing to its designs and innovations.
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Introduction