50 years in design

Favaretto & Partners celebrates 50 years of activity. Helmed by a new generation, with a new creative and managerial vision, steering the studio into the future of design

Paolo e Francesco Favaretto
Paolo e Francesco Favaretto

What amazes me, conversing with Francesco Favaretto, is the energy and intensity of his narrative of projects, for which he knows every detail, every material and all the creative nuances – whether the topic is recent work or projects from the past, individual creations of wide-scale compositions. And the numbers are impressive! The studio that bears his name, Favaretto & Partners, designs over 60 collections each year. Everything takes form at the Padua headquarters, where the studio was founded exactly 50 years ago by Francesco’s father Paolo, when he was still a student at the IULM in Venice. An architect by background, “he called himself an industrial designer, and at the time people thought that meant designing factories – Francesco says with a smile. – Today we say simply ‘designer,’ though it is a term that has unfortunately been much abused.”

Lo studio Favaretto & Partners a Padova
Lo studio Favaretto & Partners a Padova

From his father Francesco has learned the trade and above all a working method that has allowed the studio to grow and develop, not only in time but also in space, establishing connections with the most important international markets.
“Watching my father, at first I went to architecture school, but after just five days I realized that was not for me. So I took a degree in industrial design, and in 2009 my father brought me into the firm. In 2015 we founded Favaretto & Partners, where I now run the operations, while my father has earned the right to divide his time between fishing and another job, that of a grandfather. But what I know I owe to him, he taught me this profession, which means not only having ideas, but above all making prototypes.”

The ‘practical’ aspect of the studio is where Francesco spends most of his time: the ability to create every product in-house before presenting it to a client, the knowledge of materials, workmanship and mechanisms, all the way to direct contact and interaction with the artisans of the territory, set the studio apart. “To know how to create what we put down on paper is what makes the difference, fostering our credibility that has moved forward for 50 years. Today you cannot make mistakes, there is no time or possibility to do that, since companies demand immediate expertise and performance.”

Tondina, Infiniti
Tondina, Infiniti

he job of the designer has indeed changed over the last five decades, and the studio knows it. This has led to openness not only to new markets, but also new production types. “My entry has definitely brought a more managerial approach, and we have also begun to look at foreign markets never approached before, like Asia, though already in the 1980s my father had established relations with companies based in the USA and Canada, with which we still work (from Steelcase to Bernhardt). The products have also changed over time: we began with a chair and we have specialized in seating, but while at first 90% of our creations were for the world of the office, over the last decade – also due to the contract and HoReCa market, now a specialization – we have expanded our range of typologies and uses.”

Agorà, Emmegi
Agorà, Emmegi

The first chair designed by Paolo Favaretto for Emmegi was Agora, and 50 years later it is still in production. This has been followed by hundreds, but in history remain the Assisa for Steelcase (distributed by Press in Italy), coming to the present day with Tondina by Infiniti, the Juve lamp by Vistosi and the Ambrogio coffee tables (a tribute to Paolo Favaretto) and Amanda for Slide.
The 2023 novelties testify to this lively proliferation of ideas that are embodied in the collections we will see at Milan Design Week in collaboration with Infiniti, True Design, Masiero, Gaber and Slide, and later at NeoCon in Chicago along with Bernhardt and Versteel.

Agorà is the name of the first chair designed by Paolo Favaretto for Emmegi, and 50 years later it is still in production. It was followed by about 100 items, but history will recognize the value of the 106 model designed for Anonima Castelli, Assisa for Steelcase (distributed by Press in Italy), all the way to the present with Tondina by Infiniti, the Juve lamps by Vistosi and the Ambrogio table (a tribute to Paolo Favaretto) and Amanda table for Slide.
The new developments for 2023 reflect this proliferation of ideas, taking concrete form in the collections presented during Milano Design Week in collaboration with Infiniti, True Design, Bernhardt, Masiero, Gaber and Slide, and later at NeoCon in Chicago along with Bernhardt and Versteel.

Ambrogio e Amanda, Slide
Ambrogio e Amanda, Slide

Observing the wall of the office next to Francesco’s desk, entirely covered with drawings, notes, images of projects in progress, we can be sure that there will be many more creations. Each one developed with the same maniacal care, the same enthusiasm.