ROSSINiLLUMINA » MEMORABILIA

There is an amusing story behind Cristina’s name that we would like to tell you.

Elisa — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 14:28:29 +0000

Cristina is not Cristina’s real name, it’s actually Antonia; which is a very nice name, but in a situation where there are two people in the same office with the same name it can be confusing and the quick fix of just adding a number to the name such as Antonia1, Antonia2 or Antonia3 is not the ideal solution. So, you need to come up with another idea.
Antonia began working for Rossini Illuminazione at the age of 18 and all our workers wear nametags. When Antonia started the blank nametags were all used so she was given one with ‘Cristina’ on it and that is how Antonia became Cristina.
It began as a joke, then people got used to it and finally it stuck. If you start answering the phone and talking to new clients using the name Cristina and presenting yourself with that name then inevitably you become associated with it. For a certain period of time Antonia changed jobs but when she came back to work with us, everyone called her Cristina.
At home however this caused some problems, a group of colleagues once sent her flowers but Antonia’s mother sent them back saying that there was no Cristina at that address. Then of course her husband questioned that fact that she had two names – ‘could there be some suspicious reason behind it?’ he asked. Not at all, the nametag is to blame and anyhow Cristina is a nice name, with an interesting story. You know what happened in the end? Antonia gave birth to a little girl and guess what she called her?…..yes, that’s right!

Meanwhile, Antonia/Cristina keeps doing her job every day, calculating, tracking, organising and keeping everything under control. If that nametag was still around we would write on it; ‘Cristina, with a smile for everyone’.

Social? Already in the 60’s.

Laura — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 14:00:16 +0000

Rossini family, meant as the first company group active in the mythical period of the Italian economic boom, was already social-oriented in the 60’s. This is evidenced by the greeting cards, holiday bulletins, the choice of subjects for group photos or product photos, art subjects and graphics in the catalogues. In short, they resorted to a maximum creative freedom to keep a contact with customers and suppliers – who were also friends sometimes – and care about relationships, in a spontaneous and unconscious, far from the current marketing techniques that put everything in a mailbox, even a simple act of kindness.

photos of Laboratorio Foto Cine Riparazioni di Marco Compagnoni

From the catalogue to the magazine

Laura — Mon, 26 Oct 2015 14:00:08 +0000

Even back in the day, before the introduction of the first marketing theories from the USA, for Rossini’s company, communication was already a commercial imperative: it never skipped a catalogue, Christmas wishes to its customers every year, as well as sponsoring here and there and introducing the first advertisement on the sector magazines. Regardless of the general trend, year after year, the company took a budget for sales and promotion tools into account, invested in the purchase of advertising spaces on the press, since the first specialized newspapers devoted to the public or professionals, rather than being generalist, were arising. If the company was not satisfied with a single page, it used to agree an editorial space with the publisher (free of charge, but only in respect of a planning table for a fee) where it could tell about the company itself in addition to the products, maybe celebrating a 60^th anniversary, an important milestone even in the eighties.

If you do not show, you do not sell

Francesco — Wed, 22 Jul 2015 14:19:26 +0000

Before becoming RossiniGroup, Rossini Illuminazione was called “Ditta Rossini Otello di Rossini Eugenio & C.”, manufacturer of chandeliers and lighting articles. Eugenio, Paola, Angelo, Adriana… have always believed not only in the value of communication, but in advertising as well. That is why they used to update their catalog every year with photos, products, descriptions and even the date of summer closure that they managed to arrange in January, with peace of mind and without any guilty feelings towards customers and the market in general. Covers were changed in a single detail that was enough to recognize them, year after year: the colour and the background (shaded, divided into millimetres); the size was never changed, in order that pictures could be reused, avoiding waste. Today, looking at these prints makes us smile, because they evidence the reliability, commitment and continuity of a family business able to look into the future.
Today, the Rossini would be defined enlightened entrepreneurs, with a pun that has never been more appropriate.

Company archives

Elisa — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 08:19:32 +0000

We went rummaging into our company archives and found plenty of curios, such as old catalogues and historical lamps that are highly meaningful for us. All those pieces used to be photographed together, because back then it was important to convey the idea of having many products. It did not seem necessary to divide them according to design, materials and size: they were fine the way they were, all crammed together: glass, rattan, plastic and metal products. However, it would not take much to understand whether they were dedicated to kitchen use or the dining room, bedrooms or corridor.

Orders were simply made through codes and nobody enquired about additional colour options or different product sizes. It was a bit like coffee at the bar: back then, it was just coffee, customers would not order small or large cups, barley or decaffeinated coffee, foam or plain, white or raw cane sugar, long, short, etc.… a cup of coffee was simply a cup of coffee, just like a bedside table piece was a small lamp, ceiling-mounted lamps were placed in corridors, an elegant living room could not be complete without a chandelier, preferably with a latch.

Everything was much simpler then, maybe we were simpler too… and yet, later on we have welcomed systems and design, product types, ergonomics and lifestyle. Everything changes and working well is what matters most.