5 questions for Taddeo Rossi: We continue our Behind the Scenes series with Taddeo Rossi, the head of manufacturing and production at Rossi.
Can you tell us a little bit about the craftsmanship that goes into your products?
Many are the steps in the production of our items, where the experienced manual “touch” is what determines an excellent final result. Maybe the secret is to combine technology with the experience gained by our family of printers for over three generations. Many teachings from my grandfather Antonio are still valid today and many times, that’s what makes the difference.
What does it mean to you to have your products still produced in Italy?
Manufacturing in Italy means manufacturing beauty… Unfortunately, for many companies producing in Italy is no longer cost-effective. Some have outsourced the production in Eastern Europe where costs are clearly lower than ours, others are even having almost everything produced in south-east Asia. But one sees the difference, you can touch it. For a company like ours, tied to the Italian tradition and with a very strong identity which stands for quality and design, this can never happen.
Can you reveal any insider manufacturing secrets on how you achieve some of the amazing effects in your print production, such as your brilliant colors and metallic inks?
There are many small and big devices in our multiple productions that one might call “secrets”. For sure every factory has its own and they are jealously guarded. In our case passed on from father to son. However a good lot of love for one’s work is always necessary.
What I can say (not really a secret because it’s under the eyes of all our customers) is that we use, in all cases (almost obsessively), first quality material and this inevitably evolves into superior products from every point of view. Only the best papers, the best inks, the best glues are used in our company. In our opinion the best components always make the difference and since quality is our strength and our pride, we couldn’t act differently.
What do you think is the most exciting development that’s happened in the Rossi 1931 history?
My grandfather Antonio started his small printing business in 1931. With great sacrifices he purchased the first typographic printing machines which unfortunately were partially destroyed during World War II. After the war he managed to restore some of them and he went back to his work with more determination than before (in Italy, we Tuscans are considered – in a positive sense – a bit stubborn). These same machines have arrived until today and, again restored, they are now working in our modern factory next to the most recent printing machines.
These old machines remind us every day what a long way we have come and are, as once my grandfather, tireless workers. Keeping alive a part of our history has been for us the exciting development or, so to say, the most exciting challenge.
What technology trends do you see with regards to printing and manufacturing?
We always keep an eye on the new technologies. A company like ours has to stay updated and must constantly make investments in new technologies. But in our case the new machines work integrated with the old ones, the limits of some are made up for by others. We work like this because often only with an old procedure (which at first glance may seem obsolete, outdated) can one obtain a product of real, different, refined “flavor”.
