Fontini: Heritage Series
Electrical hardware should be a multi-sensory experience
Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of The Bell!
Today’s Heritage Series is a big old ‘Easter egg’ for tomorrow’s Renovation Diary.
Fontini is a Spanish (or perhaps they would consider themselves Catalan, being based in Barcelona) manufacturer of fine porcelain electrical hardware.
Since 1950, Font Design Group, a family-run local manufacturer of award-winning electrical products, has been incorporating the virtues of craftsmanship and innovative design into the production of its high-end switches and plugs, creating pieces of art that make each architectural project unique.
The electrical mechanisms Fontini manufactures showcase raw materials in their purest state: porcelain, wood, and brass. The company uses, promotes, and supports local, traditional manufacturing and focuses on limited production of the highest quality products. Their process is high-human-touch every step of the way.
Fontini features only seven lines of hardware, and within each line, the products work together in a modular way that enhances the architecture and the design of the room they’re in.
The “Do” (as in do-re-mi) and “Do Low” lines are hyper contemporary, even futuristic. The “Garby” and “Garby Colonial” lines feel retro and friendly, the “Dimbler” line feels industrial; at home in a New York loft, the “1950” line feels glamorous and sophisticated; hardware you might have seen in a luxury hotel at the time, and the “Venezia” line transports you straight to—there’s really no better way to put it—an apartment in Venice, with its carved wooden switch plates.
There’s truly something in their limited offering for everyone. And I love a curated selection—there’s nothing worse than the paralysis of choice.
More Heritage Series articles
Fontini combines technical expertise with a sensorial experience that covers not only sight but also touch and hearing, always using the best possible materials for every electrical series.
I want to put a fine point on the touch and hearing parts of the light switch experience. If you’re over 30, you know how hanging up the phone used to make a satisfying click, and even momentary vibration. Long gone are the days of phones that have any form of tactile satisfaction, but I want that from a light switch.
That’s what Fontini prioritizes.
It feels so good to handle porcelain, wood, and brass—there’s no argument that it’s a different experience than plastic. And it’s so satisfying when you push a light switch and there’s a tiny bit of resistance, then a CLICK when it flips.
Come back for my Renovation Diary tomorrow to experience the tactility of Fontini switches in action. ;-)
Let me know what you think—did you know this brand before? Will you be replacing all your electrical hardware now that you do?
Talk to you Friday with this week’s recs. And if you want to get access to tomorrow’s Renovation Diary, please consider upgrading to paid!
xx Jane
Your comment about the tactile experience of wood/metal versus plastic reminds me of the passage in "Beautiful World, Where are You?" where the characters question whether beauty disappeared from the world when plastic became the most common material. While I see plenty of beauty still (and even in plastic sometimes), I appreciate being mindful of how little details of our homes might connect us to non-plastic touches and sounds!