In the Bologna area,
over forty years ago, a printing atelier dedicated to the design, production
and finishing of luxury products, such as catalogues, packaging and special
projects, was born. Here, innovation is linked to tradition, with particular
attention to environmental protection. Giampaolo Colletti interviews Mattia
Trentini, CEO of Tipografia Altedo, for FARE INSIEME
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
Photocredit: Giacomo Maestri e Francesca Aufiero
There are stories that
arise from the balance between creativity and technology, between craftsmanship
and innovation, between head and heart. And it is precisely in these
intersections of knowledge that a work of art is born. And there is a Bolognese
typography where this balance has been sought since the very beginning. A
distinctive trait put literally in black and white, where the contamination
between ancient knowledge, tradition and craftsmanship merges with innovation,
research and new methods of communication. The story we are about to tell you
was born in Altedo, a small hamlet inhabited by less than five thousand souls
eight kilometres from Malalbergo and about twenty from Bologna. We are in the
metropolitan area of Bologna, in a lively slice of land in the Po Valley.
Tipografia Altedo was born in this corner of the Emilia-Romagna region, a real
creative printing atelier. Here tailor-made projects for luxury brands take
shape, true icons of taste. Because this Bolognese company, which was born as a
traditional typography and grew up with a focus on niche processes, where
communication on paper became a distinctive element and an instrument of
immortality, is now the proponent of special and unique projects (packaging,
catalogues, art books) and also manages to best express the human touch in the
print. Not just technology, but a product that takes shape thanks to the
skilful use of hands. Hands that can perform. Hands that get dirty working that
ancient and always precious material that is paper, which in order to find
space in the digital-dominated world must necessarily marry the concepts of innovation
and quality. Here is the revenge of the printed paper, declined in these terms
according to the vision of the young managing director Mattia Trentini and his
team. We are in the second generation of this entrepreneurial family story that
has its roots in the artisan art. «Our work has changed a lot over the years,
but our spirit and values remain unchanged: to communicate with the press. The
challenge that led us to make a leap in positioning was that idea of applying
innovation to our business and targeting niche sectors, creating top-level
products. We concentrated on the design, production and finishing of
catalogues, packaging and special projects», says Trentini.
Between tradition and contemporaneity. In the studio, which
has been active for over forty years, the most visionary aesthetics of the
concept has married the most avant-garde ethics of production. «Ours is a
cultural revolution, which is also the result of a deep technical evolution.
While, on the one hand, we have dedicated ourselves to creating a broad and
multidisciplinary network of knowledge and skills through collaborations with
universities and experts, not only in Italy but also abroad (France is one of
our most important markets), on the other we have invested to acquire technological
tools in line with the times that run, such as machines for the development of
projects in augmented reality and laser cutting», says Trentini, who continues:
“The use of AR technology [ndr "augmented reality"] allows us to
develop our design ideas in the best possible way and create 3D prototypes to
show to customers, avoiding unnecessary initial waste of raw material and the
exaggerated use of means of transport".
Today, the company is
one of the three Italian companies that are part of the Academy of Certified
Printers, established by the French paper mill Arjowiggins, which certifies the
excellence of the print quality and enhancements on their papers, with defined
and constantly optimised criteria.
“Our customers are in
good hands. Expert hands that carry on the tradition of ancient typography
techniques, strengthened by latest generation equipment and methodologies”:
this is how we read on the company website. And then you get the sense of that
balance between tradition and innovation, between craftsmanship and technology.
Art that looks at contemporary challenges, which are linked to the
environmental impact and to our footprint on the world: in this way all waste
material is recycled. «We adopt macerated or sieved paper. Innovation also lies
in re-generating, and therefore in being able to print less but with more
quality, creating new value in the production with paper waste», says Trentini.
Design books and high-level packaging are born in the atelier; something that
is immortal and eternal that is achieved thanks to that indissoluble link
between generations at work. «In the company there is space for historical
figures who work together with young twenty-year-olds hired on permanent
contracts. Perhaps we are atypical in this too. We live in constant contact
with the world of fashion and luxury, but with an informal approach. We accept
challenges on projects that make sense to us, which allow us to stimulate the
creativity of our team, identify ever new solutions to satisfy our customers
and push us to raise the bar of technical precision ever higher», says
Trentini. And typography really does experiment: as a tribute to the city of
Bologna, The Blind Line was born. It
is an interactive project, created with the superimposition of laser-cut layers
of various materials (paper, Plexiglas, ...), within which NFC [ed "Near
Field Communication"] technology has been inserted. In this work, paper
joins digital, creating multimedia contents.
And there are many other hi-tech solutions
proposed, projected towards the future, with the awareness that - when
innovating - we always start from the origins, from the community, from the
experiences of that past, which becomes an engine for the future.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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