Marco Fantoni Biography
Marco Fantoni (1930 - 2021), born in 1930, son of the entrepreneur Giovanni Fantoni from Gemona, at the end of the 1940s, still very young, took over from his father in the management of the Fantoni company, due to his premature death which forced him to interrupt attending the Academy of Architecture in Venice. The economic boom of the 1950s and the first supplies will allow an evolutionary leap in technological maturation for the mass production of furniture. Of those years we must remember the many supplies for the Eni Village in Borca di Cadore, for the countless Agip Motels, and for the Agip and Eni headquarters in Rome and Milan, with the simultaneous attendance of Enrico Mattei. In 1954 the Gemona factory was expanded with a factory designed by the architect Carlo Lucci from Reggio Emilia. The consequent saturation of the building area of Gemona led Marco Fantoni, in the 1960s, to commit himself to the construction of the Industrial Zone in the Osoppo ZIRO plain. This period saw the huge efforts in technological innovation and investments that guarantee the continuation of the company lines that are more design-oriented. The “45°” collection was born with the architects Gino Valle and Herbert Ohl, exhibited at the permanent exhibition of the MOMA in New York. Starting from the 1960s Marco Fantoni undertook a new development policy by establishing Plaxil with Piero Fantoni, Federico Aita and Giacomo Candido, with plants dedicated to the production of chipboard panels. Marco Fantoni remains the protagonist of the post-1976 earthquake reconstruction having represented not only a barrier to the social emergency, but having interpreted the best example of the entrepreneurial class attached to its territory and aimed at valorising its potential. In October 1984, the President of the Republic Sandro Pertini awarded him the coveted honor of Cavaliere del Lavoro. On the occasion of the 18th edition held at the Milan Triennale in 1998, the Association for Industrial Design ADI awarded him the "Compasso d'Oro Lifetime Achievement" award, crowning his continuous research in the development of innovative solutions and products. In January 2002 the University of Udine awarded him an honorary degree in Management Engineering, while in 2009 the President of the Republic Giorgio Napoletano awarded him the National Innovation Award for the Climacustic, a radiant and sound-absorbing system developed by the Fantoni group.
