Italian Kitchen Maker Snaidero Turns 80, Honored With a National Postage Stamp

Italian kitchen maker Snaidero is marking 80 years in business, as first reported by Interior Design. The Italian Ministry of Enterprise issued a special commemorative postage stamp this year to recognize the anniversary, depicting stylized renditions of the company's headquarters and its sinuous Ola kitchen.

The company traces its origins to 1946, when Rino Snaidero founded a workshop in the northeastern Italian city of Majano. In 1968 it introduced Spazio Vivo, designed by Virgilio Forchiassin and among the first truly modular kitchens in the world, which later earned a place in the permanent collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art.

A decade later, architect Angelo Mangiarotti completed the company's Majano headquarters, a futuristic building punctuated by rows of porthole windows. Ola followed in 1990, Snaidero's first collaboration with automotive design house Pininfarina, defined by mica lacquering and a fluid island supported by a swooping carbon fiber leg. It remains a favorite of the brand today.

The anniversary is one of several celebrated across the design industry this year, with the same Interior Design series also marking landmark birthdays at manufacturers including ClassiCon, Kriskadecor and Iittala. More on the company is available through Snaidero.