有弹性的冒险家

49岁的工程师安德里亚·玛格丽泰利(andrea Margaritelli)的话引发了一连串的画面。我们回到了罗马成为统一的意大利首都的时代，如果你愿意，也可以说是巴黎公社在俾斯麦战胜拿破仑三世之后的首都。我们不妨从法国开始，因为如果没有勃艮第的森林，该公司甚至不会存在。安德烈娅的曾祖父尤金尼奥是家族企业的创始人，他有一种勤奋的精神。他为农业机械制造零件，发明了一种新型犁，并在那个新生的充满希望的意大利扬名立万。但德国的机械工业是一个强有力的竞争对手。然后是一场持续了整整20年的经济危机，直到19世纪90年代中期，这个国家才摆脱了这场危机。这有点像我们在第三个千年之初经历的危机，同样来自美国。当美国与“坐牛”(Sitting Bull)作战时，各种廉价产品充斥欧洲:仿佛它们是“美好时代”(Belle Epoque)的中国人。费尔南多继承了他父亲欧热尼奥的事业，并将其改造成“进入森林”，以寻求自己的财富。在那里，他发现了木头的原始能量，这些能量可以燃烧并转化为木炭。这是一个艰难而卑微的职业，但在20世纪初，它带来了经济和社会回报。铁路枕木供应给国家，使公司得以合并。Miralduolo di Torgiano工厂，位于佩鲁贾省。“短暂的世纪”开始了，在两次世界大战之后，它走到了中点，生活的许多方面都得到了惊人的加速。现在，能源不再来自煤矿或森林:现代燃烧石油。费尔南多决定他的时间到了。1946年，为了换取一小辆菲亚特托波里诺(Fiat Topolino)和位于佩鲁贾附近托吉亚诺(Torgiano)山区的一座优质葡萄园，他把企业交给了自己的三个儿子。公司拥有600名员工，产品遍布意大利各地。重建遭到破坏的国家显示出希望，但在此之前在里蒂省收集到的木材稀少，质量一般，不足以应付未来的挑战。正是在经济繁荣的年代，玛格丽泰利家族证实了代表其创业实力的“韧性”性格。他们去了法国的大森林，去了勃艮第，那里有最好的橡树。朱塞佩失去了他的两个兄弟，但这并没有阻止他。他在伯特伦格斯森林的边缘上开了家店，靠近波恩，在萨隆河畔的夏隆，又在方丹建造了一座大型工业锯木厂，用于木材加工的第一阶段。在那个年代，意大利人没有受到热烈的欢迎，他们只有经过多年的努力才会被接受。Legname proveniente dai querceti della Borgogna。勃朗峰隧道的开通使得将这种粗糙的材料运往意大利变得更加容易。该公司成为意大利铁路枕木的主要供应商。但进步从未停止，玛格丽特利也是如此。高速列车到达后，枕木必须用更结实的混凝土制成。朱塞佩没有放弃，他通过向意大利的家具制造商供应“他的”橡木来寻求新的出路。但半成品并没有带来任何满足感，在其他亲戚进入管理层之后，这个乌姆布里亚企业家家族现在追求的不仅仅是利润。正如安德里亚所说，“我们想要创造一些东西，将我们直接连接到终端用户。我们希望我们的生产链，从几百年来法国人根据严格的原则种植的可持续森林，到木材的调味、机械化加工和木材的选择，都能得到正确的评价。“马克·萨德勒& # 8220;Fabrique& # 8221;。木地板是一个转折点。朱塞佩与佛罗伦萨大学(University of Florence)教授、对树木有科学理解的古格列尔莫佐丹奴(Guglielmo Giordano)之间的相遇具有决定性意义。这对夫妇申请了桦木多层支撑的专利，这种支撑可以牢固地支撑玛格丽泰利镶木地板的橡木表面。这使得电路板的制作时间更长，引发了制造业的一场革命。这项1984年授予的专利实施了10年。到那时，世界上有太多的模仿，以至于它被允许失效。但事实证明，它取得了巨大的成功。部分由于这一创新的引入，木材现在占意大利房屋地板的5%。安德里亚然后填充背景:“这是太阳王路易十四,发起拼花:1684年,在恢复的过程中他的法庭,他的卡拉拉大理石大厅镜子”换成木地板:面板平方米的嵌入模式,和欧洲的贵族

The words of 49-year-old engineerAndrea Margaritelli trigger a stream of images. We are back in the time when Rome became the capital of unified Italy, of if you prefer, that of the Paris Commune following the victory of Bismarck over Napoleon III at Sedan. We might as well begin with France, as the company would not even exist without the forests of Burgundy. Andrea’s great grandfather Eugenio, founder of the family company, had an industrious spirit. He constructed parts for farm machinery, invented a new kind of plough and made a name for himself in that new-born Italy, a country filled with hope. But Germany’s mechanical industry was a tough competitor. Then came an economic crisis that lasted all of 20 years, from which the country only emerged in the mid-1890s. It was a bit like the crisis we have been through at the beginning of this Third Millennium, which also came from America. While the USA fought against Sitting Bull, it flooded Europe with cheap products of every kind: as if they were the Chinese of the Belle Epoque. Fernando took over the enterprise of his father Eugenio and transformed it, “going into the forest” to seek his fortune. There he found the primordial energy of wood, which could be burned and turned into charcoal. This was a hard and humble occupation but one that brought economic and social rewards at the beginning of the 20th century. The supply of railway sleepers to the State permitted the consolidation of the company.The Miralduolo di Torgiano plant, in Perugia province.The “short century” got under way, arriving at the halfway point after two world wars and an extraordinary acceleration of many aspects of life on its shoulders. Energy, now, no longer came from the mine or the forest: the Modern Era burned oil. Fernando decided that his time was up. In 1946, in exchange for a little Fiat Topolino and a fine vineyard in the hills of Torgiano, near Perugia, he handed over the enterprise to his three sons. The company employed 600 people, and its products were distributed all over Italy. The reconstruction of the ravaged country showed promise but timber, which until that time had been collected in the province of Rieti, was scarce and of mediocre quality, and would not be enough to meet the challenges of the future. It was in the years of the economic boom that the Margaritelli family provided confirmation of the “resilience” of character that represented its entrepreneurial strength. They went  to the great forests of France, to Burgundy, home to the best oak. Giuseppe lost his two brothers but this did not stop him. He set up shop on the fringes of the forest of Bertranges, near Beaune in the département of Chalon-sur-Saône, and constructed a large industrial sawmill at Fontaine for the first stages of processing timber. Italians, in those days, did not receive a warm welcome, and they would only be accepted after years of hard work.Legname proveniente dai querceti della Borgogna.The opening of the Mont Blanc Tunnel made it easier to transport the rough-hewn material to Italy. The firm became the main supplier of sleepers for the Italian Railways. But progress never stops, and neither did Margaritelli. High-speed trains arrived and the sleepers had to be made out of more solid concrete. Giuseppe did not give up, and sought a new outlet through the supply of “his” oak to furniture manufacturers in Italy. But semi-finished products offered no satisfaction and this family of Umbrian entrepreneurs, following the entry of other relatives into the management, were now seeking more than profit. As Andrea says, “We wanted to produce something that would connect us directly to the end user. And we wanted our chain of production, from the sustainable forest cultivated by the French for centuries on the basis of strict principles to the seasoning of the timber, its mechanized processing and the selection of the wood, to be properly appreciated.”Marc Sadler’s “Fabrique”.Wood for flooring was the turning point. The encounter between Giuseppe and Guglielmo Giordano, a professor at the University of Florence with a scientific understanding of trees, was decisive. The pair patented the multilayer support of birch that would hold firm the oak surface of Margaritelli’s parquet. This  allowed boards to be made longer, initiating a revolution in the manufacturing sector. The patent, granted in 1984, was enforced for ten years. By then there were so many imitations around the world that it was allowed to lapse. But it had proved a great success. Partly due to the introduction of this innovation, wood accounts today for 5% of the floors in Italian houses. Andrea then fills in the background: “It was the Sun King, Louis XIV, who launched parquet: in 1684, in the process of a restoration of his court, he had the Carrara marble of the “Hall of Mirrors” replaced by a wooden floor: panels of a square metre with inlaid patterns, and the nobility of Europe wanted to imitate him.”The Oak Avenue parquet designed by Matteo Thun for Listone Giordano’s “Natural Genius” range.The firm, in homage to the contribution made by the inventor and scientist, used his name for the trademark of a product whose range is so varied today that it is available in as many as fifty different shades of colour. At Miralduolo di Torgiano, location of the main factory (restyled by ABDR), the old vineyard of Giuseppe’s father has turned over the years into a company that produces, after aging in barriques of Burgundy oak, a hundred thousand bottles of DOCG wine a season.Terre Margaritelli is the family’s second business activity in addition to Listone Giordano: the 52-hectare organic vineyard produces 100,000 bottles of DOCG wine each season.And the noble 16th-century residence in which the Margaritelli clan, which is still close-knit (although Andrea’s father is now in his nineties and retired a few years ago), has lived for years is the seat of a foundation that promotes classical and contemporary art. It is also the owner of a precious Baby Jesus by Pinturicchio, loaned out to museums all over the world. As Darwin is claimed to have said, those who survive are the ones who are able to adapt to and to adjust best to the changing environment in which they find themselves. And this is an apt way to understand the history of this Umbrian family, who have always remained united and ready to tackle crises and find a way out of them. Yet, as Andrea reflects, stroking a wall faced with oak cut in a trapezoid pattern (an idea of Michele De Lucchi’s to serve as a reminder of the history behind a simple piece of wood under our feet) “if it had not been for the oaks of Burgundy…”Andrea Margaritelli, brand manager of Listone Giordano.