Fontane Bianche Salvatori + Fantini

Salvatori and Fantini are two companies which epitomize the spirit of Italian entrepreneurship and design. Both family businesses which at first glance are typical of the myriad of firms which form the back bone of the Italian economy. But on closer inspection, they share characteristics which perhaps set them apart from many of their counterparts.

The cornerstone of both companies has always been innovation, right from 1946 when Guido Salvatori started a small business near the Tuscan coast, just a year before Giovanni and Ersilio Fantini began their own enterprise producing tapware on the shores of Lake Orta in the mountains of Piedmont.

A desire to blend creativity with technology and a mutual passion for excellence, where the foundations for a joint collaboration. Salvatori’s renowned ability to transform stone into beautiful textures for surfaces and objects melds perfectly with Fantini’s experience and masterful craftsmanship in this project – Fontane Bianche – that is a stunning, natural fusion of stone and water.

The project came about from research into archetypal forms translated into pure geometry and reinterpreted in a contemporary way. A metaphor for the relationship between psyche and material, the dialogue between circle and square runs through the entire collection: the washbasin is a square marble block from which a hemisphere is extracted; the hemisphere becomes a bowl on a rectangular plane, slim as a sheet, the radii of the sphere become the taps. The richness of the materials, marble and stone for the washbasins and Matt Gun Metal PVD finish for the taps, embellishes the purity of the forms.

Known for her light approach with striking personality, Elisa Ossino, the director of a team of creative people working in different areas of visual arts, oversees projects regarding art direction, image, set design, interior design and concept, retail projects, exhibition booths, site-specific exhibitions and installations, events, styling for photo spreads, advertising campaigns, catalogs, furniture and product design. She has designed projects for Salvatori, Porro, and Kerakol, among others.