A HISTORY OF STORYTELLING The way a story is perceived has a lot to do with how the story is told. The Flexform story was born under a lucky star. Early on, the company understood the importance of image and communication and, in 1969, it commissioned architect, creative visionary and graphic artist, Pino Tovaglia, to design the company’s logo. (Among his other creations are the Pirelli and Alfa Romeo logos.) True to his reputation and bucking the traditional furniture manufacturing trend of exploiting the family name, Tovaglia proposed the name Flexform is a combination of the words Flexible and Forms. The first ad campaigns appeared in magazines. These were the years when Andy Warhol and Studio 54 were inspiring creative talents around the world, and this spirit influenced the images, colors, forms and positive energy that filled the Flexform brochures, catalogs and ad campaigns. In the 1980s, the job of narrating the elegant world of Flexform came under the artistic direction of Natalia Corbetta, who turned to the expressive intensity of black & white photography to set the tone for advertising art, signed by renowned photographers like Aldo Ballo, Gabriele Basilico, Gianni Berengo Gardin, Giovanni Gastel, Gian Paolo Barbieri, Maria Vittoria Backhaus, Mario Ciampi and Fabrizio Ferri, who charted a course through a singular, extraordinary visual landscape. Since 2015, Flexform has shifted the focus of its brand storytelling from product quality to the quality of life created through the experience of living with the product. In short, it “turned the house into a home”. A sentiment the company wants to share with its audience. Print campaigns, videos, digital and social media, catalogs and events: all the communication tools produced by the company contribute to conveying the intended perception of the brand, in order to inspire an ever-increasing audience in Italy and around the world. “Our work is consistent with the past, maintaining the high quality of our communications. In our advertising campaigns, we continue to work with photographers known for their intensely-expressive images, creative talents accustomed to thinking ‘glocally’ and directors capable of conveying emotions to our audience by transmitting our brand values in videos. Our brand exists in the realm of desirability, and the ability to tell stories is undoubtedly the proving ground for the future of communications.” FAIRS AROUND THE WORLD The Salone del Mobile furniture show in Milan remains the leading international trade show for furniture and design. Launched in 1961, it was the brainchild of a tight-knit group of forwardthinking, visionary industrialists from the nearby Brianza district. Flexform and the Galimberti family were part of that group. Since 1961, Flexform has participated, without fail, in every edition of the Salone del Mobile di Milano. Creativity, fine-craftsmanship, knowhow and research have all played a part in making the company a beacon of style that the rest of the world depends on, year after year, to set the direction and trends of Made in Italy design. Of the 2,000 plus current exhibitors at the Salone di Milano, Flexform is one of only 20 that has exhibited, non-stop, since the very first edition. The Salone is so successful, its format has been exported abroad – as the Saloni WorldWide Moscow and the Salone del Mobile.Milano Shanghai, in which Flexform also takes part. Instinctively perceiving the powerfully expressive energy projected through stand design and the persuasive force the atmosphere casts over the products, from the very beginning, the company’s owners understood the value of recruiting the help of design masters – from Achille Castiglioni to Antonio Citterio – to enhance and communicate the brand’s values to an audience that becomes more and more international with each edition. Every year, dealers, architects and interior designers
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