Scarabeo Ceramiche

It all started in 2014...

As designers we tend to forget, busy with our design world, that we are first and foremost enterpreneurs. It takes another entrepreneur to remind us what pushed us to create what we have today and to inspire us to push even further. This could be the summary of our encounter with Giampaolo and Fabrizio, the Scarabeo brothers.

The encounter

They called us in at a pivotal moment for their sector and as a consequence their company. They saw our interview for a bathroom magazine and they decided to get in touch. The chemistry was immediate, we shared the same hunger, curiosity and fast pace.

At that time the ceramic sector was under siege, assaulted by emerging very performing and high tech materials with their minimalistic and laconic design. Scarabeo had to respond or they would have lost market shares.

Challenges are always opportunities and great occasions in disguise. The result was in fact a series of products that changed the face of Scarabeo and positioned the company in the bathroom design arena the way they deserved.

At that time the ceramic sector was under siege, assaulted by emerging very performing and high tech materials with their minimalistic and laconic design.

The first dot on the path that lead to the company we all appreciate today was a bathroom sink: Fuji.

Fuji was launched during Salone del Mobile 2014. The design stretches the material to the point of innovation. Ceramic needed to leave behind its thickness and venture in new territories to be able to compete with all the other materials that were entering the bathroom world.

2015 is the year of the most important fair for the sector: ISH in Frankfurt. And the second dot was placed, another sink: Mizu.

Mizu won all the existing international awards, throwing Scarabeo onto the design scene and taking the competitors by surprise. Sales were rocketing and still are.

The reasons for success

We thought a lot at the reasons why in such a short amount of time we were able to hit the target so precisely and we believe the answer is that the property with the generosity that characterises them opened the door of their factory, gave us access to their distributors, their sales network, in a nutshell we were part of the family, not the designers called to do their bit.

Being granted access to such wealth of information, getting to know in depth context, process, dynamics, prospects, gave us the chance to create something unique and effective and at the same time to be always ahead of the game with the next proposals.

Travel as a source of inspiration

So Mizu didn't remain an isolated success, we all strived to build on it and not only a wide range, but fill the gaps in the ceramic sector with other ideas. We still remember as one of the most memorable experiences a trip to Japan with the Calisti brothers that gave us the idea for a mini-sink series for hospitality or tiny spaces.

Visiting the many showrooms hosting Scarabeo products gave us an invaluable amount of information the then design all the accessories that complete a bathroom collection and are capable of opening new markets themselves.

2018, the Glam range is born.

Last but not least – actually the cherry on the pie – in 2018 the Glam range, probably the largest ever produced by the company, was launched and instantly became a best seller with its steady one million euros sales per year.

As designers we don't sit behind our screens playing with shapes, well sometimes we do, but more often we get involved and our approach, our way of seeing things differently affects the companies we work with to the point of changing the course of their history.

Stories have usually an happy ending. Luckily enough this is a happy story but the ending hasn't been written yet, our collaboration continues and we still have many aces up our sleeves.