Egypt Edition 2 Bticino
MARKET Bticino is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of lowvoltage electrical equipment for installations in residential, industrial and commercial environments. Present in over 60 countries, Bticino is a witness to Italian values of quality, technology and design culture.
ACHIEVEMENTS When it comes to the Italian electrical supplies market, Bticino is the brand that springs instantly to mind: the most widely-used, best-known and most instantly recognisable name of them all. Bticino is an ambassador of Italian design, quality and technology abroad and the one that was first to introduce aesthetic appeal and ease of use on products that had, until then, been designed only with functional efficiency and installation in mind. It is precisely this approach that makes the company what it is, this special feature it is remembered for in the wider history of design. The central concept around which everything revolves, it is a detail which is normally neutral in shape – the cover plate – but which is, in fact, the main element that defines the switch or socket around which it fits and relates it to the architectural surroundings. This conceptual development is part of a precise strategy that enabled Bticino to take a new key role not only among other companies in the same field but for designers in general. Nowadays Bticino is a market leader for wiring devices for residential and commercial use not only in Italy but also in Central and South America (specifically in Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru, Chile) and, in the luxury market segment, in Belgium, Spain and Thailand. Concerning Egypt, Bticino is by far the market leader for wiring devices for residential and commercial use with more than 50% market share and for fused switches. A prominent position has also been recently achieved with the locally assembled miniature circuit breakers thus signing its local entry in this highly qualified field. 18
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HISTORY “I know that there is a room for innovation in the residential and industrial electrical installation materials’ sector and we must get in there first”. These words sum up the corporate philosophy of Bticino from the very outset and it was the Bassani brothers who said it 60 years ago when they set up a small production plant for low voltage appliances. Ever since the years immediately following the second world war the company has been one of the main players in Italian growth, making great contributions to the modernisation of buildings with innovative products which have often anticipated the market’s evolution and choices. We owe Bticino the introduction of modular sockets, and by consequence an easier work for project designers and builders, as well as the success of the differential switch, the ear th leakage circuit breaker “salvavita” (life-saver), a device whose name has become in Italy a synonym of safety. In the 1980s it was again Bticino, through the Living series, which transformed the simple light switch into a basic furnishing element. The presence of Bticino in Egypt dates back to the 1970s when Mr. Michel Ahad started his import and trade activity. The success of the products and the related brand awareness pushed Bticino to invest in a local production facility and so EMB Electrical Industries SAE, a joint stock company, started its manufacturing activities in 1986 in Sadat City. Since that time several further investments have been made to extend the number of locally produced items.
PRODUCT In 1962 the Magic plate came into being: clean, technical and simple it was a product of the aesthetic experimentation work being done in the first half of the 1960s. Its designer Giuseppe Zecca – who had just arrived at the company and went on to become its official designer – used aluminium for the cover plates. A surprising choice that ran counter to the ideas of the day (metal is one of the best conductors of electricity) but one that demonstrated how this product contained a sophisticated and innovative safety system, guaranteed by the separation of the individual sockets which were completely isolated from the support structure into which they fit. Based on values of simplicity, modularity and versatility of installation (the housing and plate remaining the same, the function changes: switch, socket, push-button etc.). Magic did indeed acquire archetypal status. It was
subsequently produced also in resin and bronze and became a true system. Magic has been produced to the present day in more than one and a half billion units. In 1985 Bticino presented its Living range, again designed by Giuseppe Zecca; no longer an electrical fixture but a fully-fledged design item, multi-purpose and available in an almost infinite number of colours to suit any interior design scheme. Once again the geometry was clear cut, but with a slight curve which added an extra touch of refinement. It was a sign that consumers had evolved, attuned to design, as the sheer quantity of colours showed. In the 1990s the switch was made even more decorative. Among the various cultural transformations Bticino had picked up from consumers was the increased interest in having a wide range of designs to choose from. After careful studies of colours, materials and finish in Clino Trini Castelli’s CMF (Cromature Materiali Finiture) programme, the company came up with two alternative shapes for a product which was basically unchanged from a formal point of view. In 1996 two new ranges appeared, Living International and Light (design Giuseppe Zecca), which marked a great aesthetic leap forward: the materials were no longer just functional or decorative features but communicative elements that corresponded to “lifestyles”. Living has clear-cut forms that call to mind mechanical archetypes, such as car’s bodywork, with strong colours which combine with all-black switches. The two ranges are dominated by colour. On Living International the metallic finish predominates with twenty-five colours which are contrasting or tonal but always deliberately artificial. Light responds to the more reflective, minimalist lifestyle: synthetic resins with rubbery or mica-like finishes, with slight hints of lightweight metals, in a range of nineteen highly evanescent opal or pastel colours. Finally, in 2000, in response to the very latest hightech interior design trends, dominated by industrial materials and components, Bticino presented Light Tech with an all metallic finish that highlighted the technological aspect of the electrical fixtures and enhanced the chromatic and tactile qualities of the metal. The range of finishes deserves to be dealt with separately. The unprecedented level of differentiation in the
SUPERBRANDS
12/17/06 1:33:38 PM
ACHIEVEMENTS When it comes to the Italian electrical supplies market, Bticino is the brand that springs instantly to mind: the most widely-used, best-known and most instantly recognisable name of them all. Bticino is an ambassador of Italian design, quality and technology abroad and the one that was first to introduce aesthetic appeal and ease of use on products that had, until then, been designed only with functional efficiency and installation in mind. It is precisely this approach that makes the company what it is, this special feature it is remembered for in the wider history of design. The central concept around which everything revolves, it is a detail which is normally neutral in shape – the cover plate – but which is, in fact, the main element that defines the switch or socket around which it fits and relates it to the architectural surroundings. This conceptual development is part of a precise strategy that enabled Bticino to take a new key role not only among other companies in the same field but for designers in general. Nowadays Bticino is a market leader for wiring devices for residential and commercial use not only in Italy but also in Central and South America (specifically in Mexico, Costa Rica, Peru, Chile) and, in the luxury market segment, in Belgium, Spain and Thailand. Concerning Egypt, Bticino is by far the market leader for wiring devices for residential and commercial use with more than 50% market share and for fused switches. A prominent position has also been recently achieved with the locally assembled miniature circuit breakers thus signing its local entry in this highly qualified field. 18
eg_18-19.indd 2
HISTORY “I know that there is a room for innovation in the residential and industrial electrical installation materials’ sector and we must get in there first”. These words sum up the corporate philosophy of Bticino from the very outset and it was the Bassani brothers who said it 60 years ago when they set up a small production plant for low voltage appliances. Ever since the years immediately following the second world war the company has been one of the main players in Italian growth, making great contributions to the modernisation of buildings with innovative products which have often anticipated the market’s evolution and choices. We owe Bticino the introduction of modular sockets, and by consequence an easier work for project designers and builders, as well as the success of the differential switch, the ear th leakage circuit breaker “salvavita” (life-saver), a device whose name has become in Italy a synonym of safety. In the 1980s it was again Bticino, through the Living series, which transformed the simple light switch into a basic furnishing element. The presence of Bticino in Egypt dates back to the 1970s when Mr. Michel Ahad started his import and trade activity. The success of the products and the related brand awareness pushed Bticino to invest in a local production facility and so EMB Electrical Industries SAE, a joint stock company, started its manufacturing activities in 1986 in Sadat City. Since that time several further investments have been made to extend the number of locally produced items.
PRODUCT In 1962 the Magic plate came into being: clean, technical and simple it was a product of the aesthetic experimentation work being done in the first half of the 1960s. Its designer Giuseppe Zecca – who had just arrived at the company and went on to become its official designer – used aluminium for the cover plates. A surprising choice that ran counter to the ideas of the day (metal is one of the best conductors of electricity) but one that demonstrated how this product contained a sophisticated and innovative safety system, guaranteed by the separation of the individual sockets which were completely isolated from the support structure into which they fit. Based on values of simplicity, modularity and versatility of installation (the housing and plate remaining the same, the function changes: switch, socket, push-button etc.). Magic did indeed acquire archetypal status. It was
subsequently produced also in resin and bronze and became a true system. Magic has been produced to the present day in more than one and a half billion units. In 1985 Bticino presented its Living range, again designed by Giuseppe Zecca; no longer an electrical fixture but a fully-fledged design item, multi-purpose and available in an almost infinite number of colours to suit any interior design scheme. Once again the geometry was clear cut, but with a slight curve which added an extra touch of refinement. It was a sign that consumers had evolved, attuned to design, as the sheer quantity of colours showed. In the 1990s the switch was made even more decorative. Among the various cultural transformations Bticino had picked up from consumers was the increased interest in having a wide range of designs to choose from. After careful studies of colours, materials and finish in Clino Trini Castelli’s CMF (Cromature Materiali Finiture) programme, the company came up with two alternative shapes for a product which was basically unchanged from a formal point of view. In 1996 two new ranges appeared, Living International and Light (design Giuseppe Zecca), which marked a great aesthetic leap forward: the materials were no longer just functional or decorative features but communicative elements that corresponded to “lifestyles”. Living has clear-cut forms that call to mind mechanical archetypes, such as car’s bodywork, with strong colours which combine with all-black switches. The two ranges are dominated by colour. On Living International the metallic finish predominates with twenty-five colours which are contrasting or tonal but always deliberately artificial. Light responds to the more reflective, minimalist lifestyle: synthetic resins with rubbery or mica-like finishes, with slight hints of lightweight metals, in a range of nineteen highly evanescent opal or pastel colours. Finally, in 2000, in response to the very latest hightech interior design trends, dominated by industrial materials and components, Bticino presented Light Tech with an all metallic finish that highlighted the technological aspect of the electrical fixtures and enhanced the chromatic and tactile qualities of the metal. The range of finishes deserves to be dealt with separately. The unprecedented level of differentiation in the
SUPERBRANDS
12/17/06 1:33:38 PM
