Company history

The MORELLI workshop started up in Bologna during 1966
in Via dè Carracci 81, on the ground floor of a turn of the century building. Production at that time was dedicated exclusively to the manual construction of doorbells and door entry panels from sheets of watchmaker quality brass.

Therefore the output of Luciano Morelli's workshop was totally made up of individually handcrafted items from the initial drawing throug to final polishing.

Ever since it's establishment, every single MORELLI product bore the special mark of its maker. The company started making a name for itself outside their small local market and understanding the importance of what would later be called marketing. New products were gradually introduced and, by 1975, MORELLI was selling 3 traditional models of cast iron fountains and Italian Royal Mail boxes, which gave birth to a new market previously exclusive to the local planning authorities.

At that time research was carried out in European art and crafts museums which resulted in the manufacture of classical style products from the Padana Valley and Mitteleuropean cultures.

MORELLI becomes increasingly aware of the importance of promotion and, at the beginning of the eighties, MORELLI starts advertising in gardening and furnishing magazines and presenting products at specialized trade fairs thus acquiring national standing.
Consequent to the company's increasing success, at the beginning of the nineties a number of competitors start offering products very similar to those illustrated in the MORELLI catalogue, thus posing the problem of protecting the trademark which is deposited in Italy and in Europe.

The MORELLI brand name is further distinguished by the addition of a logo representing the heads of two horses, (Morello is a breed of horse and Morelli is its plural) which appear next to the MORELLI signature on a number of products. By this time MORELLI has become market leader in the brass and cast iron architectural hardware sector and, alongside the traditional products, a new series of wrought iron items make their appearance the MORELLI catalogue.

Exhibitions in various European cities and the creation in 1997 of the website "www.morellistyle.com" represents a further contribution towards making MORELLI the modern company it is today, with an international flavour.

In 1998 MORELLI opens its first retail outlet in Bologna next door to the original headquarters in Via De' Carracci, which is closed down in the year 2000 and transferred to Zola Predosa in a refurbished building with very distinct architectural characteristics: in fact it was once the home of an old flour mill built at the beginning of the 19th Century. This move also coincides with the generational change within the company which is now being run by brothers Emiliano and Paco J. in partnership with their father Luciano.

Morelli's history is the foundation upon which rests the awareness of the company's capabilities.

ORIGINAL MORELLI
HEADQUARTERS







THE TRADEMARK







SHOP IN VIA DE' CARRACCI
(BOLOGNA - ITALY)







CURRENT ZOLA PREDOSA OFFICES
(BOLOGNA - ITALY)







CURRENT ZOLA PREDOSA LABORATORY (BOLOGNA - ITALY)







CURRENT ZOLA PREDOSA LABORATORY (BOLOGNA - ITALY)