Martino Giuseppe Morellini, born in 1866, starts from Lesa (in Piedmont, province of Novara) with the sole patrimony of the "lusciat" profession to make his fortune.
Probably in the company of Romerio, a tinsmith from the Carpugnino area, they arrive in Brianza where on 1892 Martino marries Amalia Manzoni.
With the marriage and a finally fixed location, the first small homemade production start to integrate the trade of repairing umbrella.
A couple of years later, on April 13, 1894, the eldest sibling Ettore, who will be the continuer of the paternal craft, was born.
Show more...
Martino Giuseppe Morellini, born in 1866, starts from Lesa (in Piedmont, province of Novara) with the sole patrimony of the "lusciat" profession to make his fortune.
Probably in the company of Romerio, a tinsmith from the Carpugnino area, they arrive in Brianza where on 1892 Martino marries Amalia Manzoni.
With the marriage and a finally fixed location, the first small homemade production start to integrate the trade of repairing umbrella.
A couple of years later, on April 13, 1894, the eldest sibling Ettore, who will be the continuer of the paternal craft, was born.
It is 1910 when a shop where trunks and men's hats are also sold flank the manufacturing, mostly sold in the streets and in some villages open-air markets, .
Ettore must leave for the Great War from which he will return Sergeant Major. It runs the year 1921 when, always side by side of his father Martino, got married to Angela Besana.
The family begins to grow and with it the production of umbrellas.
A horse in the stable near the shop and a cart are the tools necessary to bring trade into the municipal markets.
Destined to walk in the footsteps of his grandfather and father, his sons Augusto (born in 1926) and Mario ('29) are busy just after the professional start-up schools.
The artisan workshop is enlarged and behind it there is room for the firsts workmen and workwp.
The "sciur" Ettore is now one of the reference points of the village and supplier of the best hats (Barbisio and Borsalino) trunks and umbrellas of the area gentlemen, including The parson, the pharmacist and so on.
Time passes slowly in the countryside of upper Brianza until the Second World War, which, however, does not bring much turmoil.
The clientele widens and reaches the borders of Milan and Bergamo - to be reached at the beginning strictly by bicycle.
The turning point towards industrial production will only come in the early 60s.
In 1957 both Augusto and Mario set up family.
Both Carla (wife of Augusto) and Rosa called Rosetta (wife of Mario) are in the company and motivate more and more the Morellini families to enlarge and expand the business.
The original site obtained in the warehouses at the back of thr shop and subsequently enlarged by renting an adjacent warehouse is now too small. On the top floor one of the apartments has already had to be downsized to make room for the necessary finished goods warehouse.
It is time to move the activity out of the town. The first span of the new plant ("ul capanon") was inaugurated in 1965, which was later joined by a new span, finally inaugurated in early 1972
The workforce reaches 30 people between workers and employees, supported by all the family members and immediately integrated by numerous external work groups.
A detached seat dedicated to the seam and manufacturing of the umbrella, without a handle, was set up in Boario (BS) but it will be closed at the end of the '70s after internal industrial reorganization and production increase.
We are now in the 80s and the fourth generation faces the limelight.
It is from the first years of life that Alessandro - son of Augusto - and the younger cousin Ettore - son of Mario - play among the sewing machines, camp under the mountains of umbrellas left open to dry after steaming, listen to the chatter about the workers and learn the malice of the trade.
Summers of school holidays spent as apprentice in the factory under the command of the workers.
Once the high schools are finished, it is unfortunately necessary for Alessandro to definitively enter the factory after the untimely death of Augustus.
A few years later Ettore also began his stable path in the company, alongside his father Mario.
Towards the end of the 1980s, Ombrellificio Morellini s.a.s is among the first in Italy and expands on foreign markets, selling permanently in Spain and Germany with some sporadic results on other markets - Greece, Australia, France, etc.
The need to increase turnover and market penetration implies the integration of domestic production with the first imports of semi-finished products from Asia.
1991 is the year of deliveries and Alessandro and Ettore are the new owners of the Ombrellificio Morellini s.n.c. of Alessandro Morellini and C.
It is now the beginning of the run-up to lower and lower prices and the increase in quantities, which leads to work again with third parties and increasing imports.
One by one the employees - in the company almost all from a lifetime - waning, somone going through new jobs, someone retiring.
The trips to China to develop the collections, which began in 1993 after a few years of indirect purchases, must be made more frequent.
Here we are today. The initial artisan and then industrial activities has now given way to trade.
The research and development, the study of collections and marketing are still carried out in Besana, where the factory has now given way to offices and warehouse.
The production is entirely delegated to third parties, both directly with custom production in Chinese factories, where an office has been established for the use of Alessandro and indirectly distributing products from a Spanish partner in Barcelona.
The sale, once carried out solely by Ettore and consequently by Augusto and sometimes by Mario, is now entrusted to a number of sales agents that cover the Country both by wholesale and retail.
Special attention to foreign markets is given by the participation in international fairs several times a year, such as Mipel in Milan (fair of leather goods and clothing accessories), ILM in Offenbach in Germany (same kind) sometimes at Macef in Milan now become HoMi and recently at Fashion Fair in Poznan, Poland.
... and the story is still to be written!
Cordial greetings
Alessandro ed Ettore Morellini
...Hide
History- Umbrella, past and present
The umbrella was at the origin, among various peoples of antiquity, an attribute of power and dignity , especially priestly, or even an element of worship: in this sense is testified in Chinese, Egyptian, Mesopotamian paintings and reliefs, etc.
Show more...
The umbrella was at the origin, among various peoples of antiquity, an attribute of
power and
dignity , especially priestly, or even an element of worship: in this sense is testified in Chinese, Egyptian, Mesopotamian paintings and reliefs, etc.
Already in ancient Greece of the fifth century BC, however, it is attested by the authors its use as an object of common use but reserved for the most noble castes and considered a sign of extreme refinement. At the Roman matrons then took forms of great elegance, as reported by Marziale and Juvenal.
In the early days of Christianity, the umbrella was to be used in processions as a portable canopy: this would confirm the typical umbrella decoration we see in many times or mosaic apses.
In the frescoes of San Silvestro at the Santi Quattro Coronati in Rome (around 1250) one sees the umbrella, decorated and colorful, used only to cover the pontiff and not the sovereigns, cardinals and dignitaries present in the stories.
The use of the umbrella intended as a screen from the sun and rain, however, only extended from the sixteenth century.
It was then built on a heavy skeleton, probably covered with leather or sturdy fabrics and worn by a person different from the one who used it, that is a valet or servant.
In the eighteenth century the use of more light and individual umbrellas, nicely designed, covered with light fabrics with lace, ribbons, etc .; it seems that the inspiration came from the East, where umbrellas of the kind were used for a long time.
In the nineteenth century the umbrella took the form that still retains: larger and more robust for men, covered with dark cloth ("gloria" silk, canvas or synthetic fabrics), lighter, smaller and more elegant for women, and generally colored and decorated with drawings.
The evolution of various types of umbrella can be seen in the curious
Umbrella Museum and the Gignese parasol, near Lake Maggiore.
...Hide