EXHIBITOR INTERVIEW: DND
60 seconds with Vilma Martinelli, General Director
Dnd will be exhibiting its latest products at The Big 5 in Dubai this November. We spoke to the General Director, Vilma Martinelli; here's what she told us as she prepares to participate to the the largest construction event in the Middle East.
According to you, what are today’s top trends in the construction industry?
“Green” design that plays close attention to sustainability, the so-called “design-build process” (to consider and plan implementation timing), as well as modular and prefabricated construction projects.
How do you think the construction industry will evolve in the next years?
The available data and information indicate a positive inversion of the trend when it comes to investment in infrastructures and residential projects in the Gulf area. Various countries are launching ambitious economic conversion projects that will undoubtedly lead to important developments in the world of construction. The movement of the oil price, which is sensitive to regional and international tensions, however, will determine the acceleration or slow-down of both large and small projects.
Are there any innovative Products/Solutions your company has developed? Please provide details.
In 2018 we have conducted an important research and development operation called “Handling Architecture”: under the guidance of our artistic director Giulio Iacchetti, we have involved 5 international renown architecture studios in the design of one handle each. This operation was presented with success at the Salone del Mobile in Milan in April, and we are now bringing it to Dubai: the results are 5 innovative handles which make us very proud. The handle is an object that always, tirelessly requires placement in space with new aesthetic canons, new geometric lines, new balances of forms. Stefano Boeri Architetti, Alfonso Femia, Maurizio Varratta, Cino Zucchi and the studio 967 Arch have achieved this objective perfectly.
Why are they innovative?
Every handle accomplishes this in its own way: for example, the handle by Alfonso Femia completely revises the relationship between the door and the handle itself, which conquers an unprecedented physical space not considered in the past. The handle by Stefano Boeri Architetti, on the other hand, totally reinvents the relationship with the plate. This is research, for us, and it is innovation in terms of the good design we are developing and spreading.
What products will you present at The Big 5 Show this year?
We will be showing our best items: the handles of the “Handling Architecture” operation, the new products for 2018 (by outstanding designers like Odo Fioravanti, Inga Sempé, Jaime Hayon), and our bestselling products, in new finishes, with different options for customization.
About Dnd -
The history of Dnd stems from the ancient and strong dedication of craftsmanship and industry spread in Val Sabbia, in the province of Brescia. A territory with a centenary material knowledge, especially in the steel industry - among the major European poles of the sector: here, in Nozza, the company Fmn Martinelli was born in 1968 under the guidance of Angelo Martinelli, a capable man and passionate manufacturer of handles, knobs and high quality doors.
Today, under the name Dnd, the company is run by Vilma Martinelli together with her children Pietro and Simona, who for years have been important figures of reference and support: their ambitious commitment is to create a forge of ideas, combining the long production experience gained with the creativity of valuable architects and designers who are promptly involved in product design. Designers, artisans and suppliers are an active and precious part of Dnd's soul, which from a historical production forge looks to the present and to the future with confidence: a solid business vocation - and territorial - at the service of contemporary, Italian and international projects.