Page 10 - Ratti Group - Sustainability report

CH. 1 | THE CULTURE OF BEAUTY, FROM ITS ORIGINS TO A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
The culture of beauty,
from its origins to a sustainable future
The Company: the Group, its history, mission, values and activities
1.1 A love of beauty becomes a business enterprise
Ratti’s history and the company today
In 1945 Antonio Ratti laid the foundations of his handicraft business specialising in the man- ufacture and marketing of fabrics for ties and scarves in Como, the world capital of silk. An area of expertise and professionalism rooted in the local region which, in the decades to follow, attracted entrepreneurs, designers and workers, becoming a point of reference in the
“Experiencing silk
fledgling “Made in Italy”. Starting from these foundations, Ratti has never stopped growing, and has maintained an unchanging link with the region and its traditional expertise in hand- icrafts. The main aim, as always, is to create a product that interweaves skilful dexterity and technological innovation, and is synonymous with quality, luxury and refinement.
Over the years, Ratti has been notable for its attention to detail and an international outlook, to the point where it became one of the largest Italian fabric manufacturers and was listed, in 1989, on the Italian stock market (Mercato Telematico Azionario, MTA). Towards the end of the 1990s, the industrialist and philanthropist, Antonio Ratti, decided to pass the baton to the next generation. His daughter Donatella took the helm of the company, while also con- firming her prowess in the art of printing, and adding to the sensory, artistic and aesthetic value that underpins each piece of work.
Ratti fabrics, with their elegance and artistic refinement are, more than anything else, the perfect embodiment of the spirit of this journey: a tribute to the tradition as the starting
is an art, today as it was yesterday” ANTONIO RATTI
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From Ludovico il Moro
(the “Moor”) to the industrial revolution, to Made in Italy
The history of the Ratti Group
is symbiotic with the centuries-old history of Como, city of silk.
In the Como area the development of artistry in silk dates back to the XV century, a golden age when Italian manufacturing became oriented toward luxury, something for which our country is still famous throughout the world, and the expression ouvrage de Lombardie became synonymous with an object of precious craftsmanship. The manufacture of silk had been brought to Europe from the Orient
a short time before that, with anyone betraying the secret techniques used to