mario pedrali is the “olivettian entrepreneur” of 2017
09 Jun, 2017
On Saturday May 27th Mario Pedrali was awarded with the Special Prize “Olivettian Entrepreneur 2017”, appointed by the association Archivio Storico Olivetti. The prestigious prize was handed over at Villa Casana, the historic headquarters of the Archivio Storico in Ivrea (Italy), by professor Bruno Lamborghini, former President of this association and coordinator of this special prize, to Mario Pedrali, founder of Pedrali Spa, an Italian company producing contemporary furniture for public spaces, offices and homes since 1963.
Mario Pedrali started his own activity in the ‘60s in Palazzolo sull’Oglio (Brescia), where he was producing his first collections of metal seatings for outdoor, using the care of a craftsman: he owed such a knowledge of the materials and their characteristics that he also designed the machines to produce the furniture.
Since then, Pedrali spa has never stopped growing thanks to his courage and entrepreneurial spirit: Mario Pedrali has been able to carry out the necessary investments in a honest, careful and farsighted manner, combining the increase of the orders and turnover with a qualitative growth of the company, its collaborators and the related community. On the other hand, Adriano Olivetti insisted on innovation as a search for beauty in product design: at the same time, Mario Pedrali has always aimed at being a step ahead and making furniture which could pursue the beauty and improve people’s life.
The attention to the quality of life that permeates every aspect of business life, including the same work environments of the employees like the headquarters of Mornico al Serio, inaugurated in 2006 and designed by Studio Cantarelli Moro & Partners, do witness: a building created to be functional, welcoming and comfortable, just as it was in Ivrea. The same philosophy has been applied for the realization of the new automated warehouse inaugurated in 2016 and designed by CZA – Cino Zucchi Architetti: a specific response that is strongly related to the environmental context, a visual screen that responds to the diverse conditions of the surrounding landscape.
The strong link to the territory is further reflected in the numerous social and cultural initiatives sustained by the company which has always felt the main principles of the corporate social responsibility as its own.
Mario Pedrali has always been passionate about rare items: for this reason in 1995 he inaugurated San Fedele Museum in Palazzolo sull’Oglio which is gathering over 500 vintage typewriters and calculators.
The ideal continuation of the Olivetti spirit is therefore daily reflected in the essence of the company philosophy Made in Pedrali, which puts the man at the center of its research, based on beauty, tradition and innovation.
This is the official motivation of the Special Prize "Olivettian Entrepreneur 2017":
"Having created a main furniture company inspired by the Olivetti design and, at the same time, starting from his passion as collector, for having created at Palazzolo sull'Oglio a large museum of the office equipment where the most beautiful Olivetti collection of typewriters is placed”.
In addition to a plaque stating the motivation, the award was symbolically represented by a portable Olivetti typewriter Lettera 31 with transparent frame, produced in Mexico in the only copy delivered in the early 2000s to Lamborghini, at that time Chairman of Olivetti Tecnost. This unique piece will then become part of Mario Pedrali’s collection of Olivetti typewriters in Palazzolo sull'Oglio.
The Special Prize "Olivettian Entrepreneur" appointed in 1998, the centenary of Olivetti foundation, throughout the years was given to entrepreneurs who followed Olivetti’s values in their work: among them Brunello Cuccinelli, Enrico Loccioni, Paolo Benini, Adolfo Guzzini , Gianluca Martino and Elena Zambon.
Mario Pedrali started his own activity in the ‘60s in Palazzolo sull’Oglio (Brescia), where he was producing his first collections of metal seatings for outdoor, using the care of a craftsman: he owed such a knowledge of the materials and their characteristics that he also designed the machines to produce the furniture.
Since then, Pedrali spa has never stopped growing thanks to his courage and entrepreneurial spirit: Mario Pedrali has been able to carry out the necessary investments in a honest, careful and farsighted manner, combining the increase of the orders and turnover with a qualitative growth of the company, its collaborators and the related community. On the other hand, Adriano Olivetti insisted on innovation as a search for beauty in product design: at the same time, Mario Pedrali has always aimed at being a step ahead and making furniture which could pursue the beauty and improve people’s life.
The attention to the quality of life that permeates every aspect of business life, including the same work environments of the employees like the headquarters of Mornico al Serio, inaugurated in 2006 and designed by Studio Cantarelli Moro & Partners, do witness: a building created to be functional, welcoming and comfortable, just as it was in Ivrea. The same philosophy has been applied for the realization of the new automated warehouse inaugurated in 2016 and designed by CZA – Cino Zucchi Architetti: a specific response that is strongly related to the environmental context, a visual screen that responds to the diverse conditions of the surrounding landscape.
The strong link to the territory is further reflected in the numerous social and cultural initiatives sustained by the company which has always felt the main principles of the corporate social responsibility as its own.
Mario Pedrali has always been passionate about rare items: for this reason in 1995 he inaugurated San Fedele Museum in Palazzolo sull’Oglio which is gathering over 500 vintage typewriters and calculators.
The ideal continuation of the Olivetti spirit is therefore daily reflected in the essence of the company philosophy Made in Pedrali, which puts the man at the center of its research, based on beauty, tradition and innovation.
This is the official motivation of the Special Prize "Olivettian Entrepreneur 2017":
"Having created a main furniture company inspired by the Olivetti design and, at the same time, starting from his passion as collector, for having created at Palazzolo sull'Oglio a large museum of the office equipment where the most beautiful Olivetti collection of typewriters is placed”.
In addition to a plaque stating the motivation, the award was symbolically represented by a portable Olivetti typewriter Lettera 31 with transparent frame, produced in Mexico in the only copy delivered in the early 2000s to Lamborghini, at that time Chairman of Olivetti Tecnost. This unique piece will then become part of Mario Pedrali’s collection of Olivetti typewriters in Palazzolo sull'Oglio.
The Special Prize "Olivettian Entrepreneur" appointed in 1998, the centenary of Olivetti foundation, throughout the years was given to entrepreneurs who followed Olivetti’s values in their work: among them Brunello Cuccinelli, Enrico Loccioni, Paolo Benini, Adolfo Guzzini , Gianluca Martino and Elena Zambon.