Pittella sponsors the IDEA 2021 Emerging Designer of the Year award

IDEA 2021 entries close at midnight AEST on 11 June 2021. Enter now.

From its 1970s-era store in Victoria Street, Footscray, Pittella was the first of its kind to import and sell architecturally designed door fittings made from solid brass in Australia.

The first Pittella store in Victoria Street, Footscray in the 1970s.

The family business built on Ferramenta Fedeli – a hardware shop started by Ottavia Pittella’s father in Italy, which sourced brass from foundries in the country’s northern Brianza and Como regions.

Long considered the cornerstone of brass and steelworks in Italy, these foundries are still part of the Pittella Australia story, with the company continuing to work with Italian artisans to design and produce its products.

Ferramenta Fedeli started by Ottavia Pittella’s father Adelio Fedeli in Italy in the 1950s.

Pittella today is a multifaceted business that produces and retails luxury Italian-designed door and bathroom fittings, collaborating with the best-in-class Australian architects and interior designers.

Like its products, Pittella is constantly innovating, updating and growing, combining generations of artisan Italian manufacturing knowledge with leading-edge technology.

Managing director Simone Pittella (right) with wife and fellow director Charlotte Pittella.

It’s this spirit of evolution that inspired the manufacturer to come on board as the sponsor of IDEA 2021’s Emerging Designer of the Year award.

“At Pittella, we believe in the beauty of design, the discipline it involves and the enhancement it brings to everyday life,” managing director Simone Pittella tells ADR.

“We’re also keen supporters of Australian design, having worked with many of IDEA’s past Emerging Designer of the Year nominees.”

The Glenferrie Road master showroom. Photo: Shannon McGrath.

Pittella adds that the sponsorship is a chance for his family’s business to give back to the design community it has witnessed grow, first from its Footscray store and now from its master showroom on Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn, which it recently redesigned in collaboration with Hamish Guthrie and Paul Hecker of Hecker Guthrie.

“In our small way, we have been part of the Australian design industry’s growth, witnessing, but also supporting the design community, sharing our love of architecture and art along with our craftsmanship, generational knowledge and pursuit of perfection,” he says.

“Even today, our collaboration with the best Australian architects and interior designers is driven by a desire to produce products that are as finely studied and as beautifully executed as the projects in which they are placed.”

Pittella’s 20th Century Door Handle in Antique Brass.

The 2020 IDEA Emerging Designer finalists included Noise Noise Noise, Nina Maya, Ricci Bloch, Esoteriko, OLSK, Todd Hammond, Winter Architecture, Lawless & Meyerson and Adam Kane, with the prize at November’s star-studded gala being awarded to Sydney-based interior designer Anna Trefely of Esoteriko.

Trefely had submitted three striking projects to IDEA 2020, also taking home the night’s Workplace Under 1000sqm award for her innovative and beautifully executed Real Estate Agency as Luxury Brand- The Rubinstein Group project.

IDEA 2020 Emerging Designer of the Year Anna Trefely of Esoteriko. Photo: Dave Wheeler.

Pittella says he’s looking forward to seeing how innovative the 2021 finalists will be.

“It’s Australia’s emerging designers that are energising the industry,” he says.

“Their ideas are fresh and different. They’re innovators, game changers and solution finders.

“Awards like IDEA go such a long way to supporting these innovators and encouraging them to keep pushing the boat of Australian design, which is why we couldn’t be more thrilled to be sponsoring this award.”