Producing 100% Italian household appliances means creating tangible values, inspired by the manufacturing tradition, the fruit of our culture, respecting the environment, human capital and the final customer
Scroll down the page to discover the most important stages of our history
The company was set up as Officine e Smalterie Vicentine by Enrico Dell’Orto. The early enamelling works quickly developed into a production operation that became the first Italian company to market built-in kitchen appliances.
Smalvic successfully introduced its built-in appliances in the “fitted kitchen” category at the Milan Sample Fair. In those days, the kitchens were pressed, enamelled and assembled entirely in-house.
The company built on its flair for market flexibility, specialising in producing ovens and hobs, some under the Smalvic brand and others on behalf of major Italian kitchen manufacturers (including Arclinea and Snaidero); Smalvic appliances began to be marketed in Italy through specialised distributors in Milan, Florence, Rome and Ancona, and also to appear in designer kitchens.
The company began a process of international expansion. During these years it developed and maintained relationships with business partners outside Europe. Most of these trading relationships are continuing with success.
The company began to design and build free-standing cookers, cooking ranges with an industrial flavour; it continued to produce hobs for homes and professional kitchens. During this decade, Smalvic was the first Italian company to produce a ventilated gas oven and it also started to build and market pyrolytic ovens.
The oven range (electric and gas) underwent a significant transformation, switching from standard built-in unit sizes to new extra-small or extra-large units catering for different kitchen space and international market needs. The marketing network also underwent a radical change during this decade.
Paola Gasparini, granddaughter of the founder, Enrico Dell’Orto, became CEO of Smalvic. Paola graduated in Business Economic at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. She leads the company with a strong team spirit, achieving a surprising proportion of female employees for an engineering company: nearly one third of the staff (management, managers and production) are women. “It isn’t a question of gender”, says Paola, “ but rather a question of professionalism and determination”.
Smalvic celebrated this important company milestone – 50 years of ideas, strict attention to detail and passion – with a peaceful revolution. It changed the technology of many products, redefining their identity through design and their positioning through advertising.
NEXT an innovative ceramic glass hob designed for Smalvic by brogliatotraverso design studio, won the iF Design Award 2015 in the Product Design category, and the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2015, a much-coveted award that rewards good design with an internationally recognised quality seal.
The firm’s collaboration with the brogliatotraverso design studio resulted in the NEXT oven; an outstanding product, with unmistakable capacitive intelligence touch-control handles that wed design, technology and usability. This marked an important step in Smalvic’s quest for innovation, towards an increasingly international, contemporary and sustainable kitchen.
60 years of Italian production, passion and care for well-made appliances and good customer care.
This is our Smalvic, set up in July 1958 by the clever and far-sighted Enrico Dell’Orto, founder of Officine e Smalterie Vicentine
Smalvic developed the technical area of OpenKitchen Signature, an appealing Milanese location with the emphasis on food and design (and much more), created by director and producer Simona Stoppa. The space features numerous built-in Smalvic products installed in the versatile kitchen (Eat & Love) of OpenKitchen Signature. It is located in Milan, at Via Goldoni 39. Visits are by appointment.
In October 2020 Smalvic Srl, a company 100% subsidiary of Tecnosuperiore Srl, acquires from Officine e Smalterie Vicentine Spa in concordance, the company brench “ built in “ containing the Smalvic Brand.
HISTORY
