Batistella celebrates 30 years

Guerrino Batistella set up his own one-man business making ironing boards in 1975. He worked at home to develop the products, helped by his wife Amabile who sewed the cloth to fit the boards, and his schoolboy son, Daniele who went with him on deliveries.

The products have always been marked by their unusual names. The first board was called Eve. Since then, the products have included Sagittarius after Guerrino's zodiac sign and a whole family of lines named from mythology or astrology.

The business started expanding in the 1980s. Daniele started working full time, and his brother Paolo joined in 1984, taking care of machine assembly and testing. The company bought a small warehouse.

It also began to sell to the knitwear factories and clothing businesses that were being set up and widened its range with its first boards with blowing function and larger steam generators.

In 1992, the company became Battistella Guerrin EC snc. It started looking beyond Italy and made its first international sales to Germany and Egypt.

It set up departments for sales and for administration departments, acquired a second warehouse and it introduced more product categories including spotting tables.

Today, the company trades as Batistella BG srl and occupies an 8,000m² site, and has not only extended its finishing equipment range, but diversified into other industries.

Daniele now leads the company, managing its sales and marketing. Guerrino heads the technical office, Amabile works in administration and Paolo in production. The team also includes Denis, technical office, Lorena foreign office, Monica, administration, Fabio, boiler testing, Michele, logistics and warehouse, and Giancarlo, quality control.

This team is committed to the developing the company and its range and promises to reveal more in Milan.