Abet Laminati is an Italian company, founded in Bra in the late 1950s, which today can be defined as one of the world's largest producers of
decorative laminates. The company has not limited itself to production, but has created virtuous collaborations with great international designers, leading laminate to become a real material, capable of always creatively inserting itself in different design contexts. Historical designers such as Giorgetto Giugiaro, Ettore Sottsass, Alessandro Mendini, Mario Bellini, Enzo Mari, Joe Colombo, or more contemporary ones such as Paola Navone, Karim Rashid, Konstantin Grcic, Giulio Iacchetti and many others, have given free rein to their creativity by using Abet Laminati's products in ever new and original ways, exploiting the versatility of what Gio Ponti defined as "an extraordinary material for architecture elaborated by man."
Abet laminate: features, design and finishes
Able to interpret the evolution of contemporary style,
Abet's laminate comes in endless products, with different characteristics, properties and applications. Abet laminate is also very durable and resistant, and therefore very sustainable, since it requires neither excessive maintenance nor frequent replacement. From a technical point of view, the laminate is composed of 70 percent paper, or rather cellulose fiber, certified according to international chain of custody schemes, which guarantee the care of forests, and resins, which comply with the safety requirements imposed by international laws. Abet's commitment is to increase the use of recycled cellulose and reduce the fossil component in resins. The layers of paper that make up the laminate, end with a final layer of decorative paper, on which the chosen finish, color or graphic is printed. To the touch, the surface of laminates can be smooth, rough, velvety or porous, and can reproduce materials such as wood, metal or stone, or create completely new tactile sensations. The graphic experiments are virtually endless, such as those achieved in the Design Edition, a collection that brings together the graphic proposals of established designers and artists. In addition to the company's proposals, laminate graphics can also be customized, thanks to the
Abet Digital service, an ultra-high-definition print that makes it possible to create surfaces with any image, even in the case of outdoor surfaces, for example for facades or street furniture.
Abet's history, collaborations, the birth of the Abet Laminates Museum
The company was founded in 1946 under the name A.B.E.T. Anonima Braidese Estratti Tannici, as a producer of tannins extracted from chestnut. In 1957, production of decorative high-pressure laminates began. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Abet supports the birth of avant-garde art movements such as Alchimia, and then Memphis, thus coming into close contact with personalities such as Ettore Sottsass and Alessandro Mendini. The first Italian company to decide to participate in the exhibition on Italian design "Italy: the new domestic landscape," held at MoMa in New York in 1972, Abet received its first Compasso d'Oro in 1987 for
Diafos, a translucent laminate, later reproposed in 2020 in a contemporary key by
Giulio Iacchetti and
Matteo Ragni. In 2013, the Abet Laminati Museum was created at the company's historic headquarters in Bra, housing the collection of objects collected over the years by Cesara Garbarini Mazzola, president until 2011, and her husband Bruno Mazzola, current president of Abet Laminati. The furnishings, complements and objects on display are evidence of what designers and planners have created over the years with Abet's material, tracing some important historical periods. Among the outstanding collections is one of the most comprehensive collections of furniture made by the Memphis Group.
