1920-2020: 100 years of FILA – Italian Lapis and related factories
A stamp celebrates the Centenary and places the Company among the excellence of the Italian production and economic system. A milestone enhanced by important projects that look to the future.
Milan, 21 May 2020 – 1920 represents a special year, marked by events that have entered history: the inauguration of the Panama Canal, the baptism of the first assembly of the League of Nations in Geneva, the first edition of the Trade Fair in Milan. Enzo Biagi, Federico Fellini and Franca Valeri were born, to name just a few of the personalities who are today real icons.
In that year, precisely on 23 June, the Fabbrica Italiana Lapis and Affini was established in Florence on the initiative of a group of entrepreneurs (first president, Count Giuseppe della Gherardesca). Born with the ambition to manufacture and trade lapis, objects and stationery and to last for 50 years, it has gone far beyond the expectations of its founders, reaching the important milestone of 100 years in 2020.
A path that has seen her enter millions of homes, schools, offices and ateliers with more than 25 iconic brands including Giotto, Tratto, Das, Didò, Pongo, Lyra, Maimeri, the Canson and Arches papers, and thousands of products to write, draw, color, model, paint.
An important anniversary, the Centenary, enhanced today by the stamp issued by the Ministry of Economic Development and distributed by Poste Italiane, which officially places FILA among the “Excellencies of the productive and economic system”. A company that, while remaining proudly Italian, has taken on a global dimension, with its presence in 150 countries and 5 continents. A company that participates in the history of society and the people who have found in a tool the means to express their creativity and emotions.
The visual chosen for the stamp – worth € 1.10 and a print run of 500,000 copies – is a historical image of the company in which two schoolchildren walk together carrying a FILA in “extra large” format and GIOTTO colored pencils in the iconic package with the illustration of the young painter in the presence of Maestro Cimabue. A meaningful image that fully represents the company’s heritage, its commitment to the “color” growth of children (and not only), but also the inseparable bond with the school and the new generations. A creative bridge between past and future.
“The stamp for the Centenary of FILA it is a source of satisfaction and pride. These first hundred years are an important milestone that rewards the work and passion of all the people who made the creative dream of children, teens and adults possible every day. An anniversary that belongs to everyone, especially in this particularly complex and difficult period in which we realized how emotions and creativity still unite and create value. Celebrate what has been done, thinking that tomorrow is being built today. The future, however uncertain it may appear in these months of difficulty, will continue to need our colors to give voice to the essentiality of the creative gesture “- comments Massimo Candela, CEO of F.I.L.A. Group.
Centennial projects: a choral look to the future
The stamp is now part of a wider business plan designed for the Centennial. A project that, due to the health emergency, has slowed down and has been redesigned, but not affected by its proactive strength, determined to return special thanks to all those who have been and are at the Company’s side, to all the hands that through its products have shaped the creative expression, hands that have written, designed, drawn, colored, shaped and that will continue to do so.
Among the scheduled activities, a book – published by Corraini Editore – which, in a narration with several voices, will share stories and experiences of those who, through the company’s products, took part in its history; school competitions – suspended and postponed to the school year 2020-21 – which (today more than ever) want to be alongside a single institution for the educational, cultural and creative development of all students.
Coming then, starting from the back to school, some products dedicated to the Centenary such as the new Giotto Cento and LapisCento pencils gathered in a special metal package that recalls the historical ones in every detail, and then the competition for consumers that is giving away hundreds of prestigious collector’s cases with 100 pencils, a special prize not available for sale.
Many initiatives to celebrate a 100-year long journey ready to continue with attentive eyes to the quality and safety of products, on a road that travels alongside innovation and sustainability, to always be in step with the new generations, but faithful to a timeless language, that of the hands that through color give life to a special world.
The future has our colors. For 100 years.
FILA. (Fabbrica Italiana Lapis ed Affini), born in Florence in 1920 and managed since 1956 by the Candela family, is an Italian company and one of the most solid, dynamic, innovative and growing industrial and commercial companies on the market. Since November 2015, FILA. it is listed on the Milan stock exchange, STAR segment. The company, with a turnover of 687.4 million euros at 31 December 2019, has recorded significant growth in the last twenty years and has pursued a series of strategic acquisitions, including the Italian Adica Pongo, the US Dixon Ticonderoga Company and the Pacon Group, the German LYRA, the Mexican Lapiceria Mexicana, the English Daler-Rowney Lukas and the French Canson founded by the Montgolfier family in 1557.
FILA. is the icon of Italian creativity in the world with its products for coloring, drawing, modeling, writing and painting thanks to brands such as Giotto, Tratto, Das, Didò, Pongo, Lyra, Doms, Maimeri, Daler-Rowney, Canson, Princeton , Strathmore and Arches.
Since its origins, FILA has chosen to develop its growth on the basis of continuous innovation, both in technologies and products, with the aim of giving people the opportunity to express their ideas and talent with qualitatively excellent tools. Furthermore, FILA and the Group’s companies collaborate with the institutions supporting educational and cultural projects to enhance the creativity and expressive ability of individuals and to make culture an opportunity accessible to all.
To date, FILA it is active with 22 production plants (two of which in Italy) and 35 branches worldwide and employs over 9,500 people.
