Ever since I was a child I have loved the smell of the forge and the soot, the sparks of incandescent iron and the metal heart that pulsated during the forging process under the never-ending blows of my father’s hammer, delivered with patience and decision.

When a client arrived he would make a leaf, a flower or some other detail for them while they looked on. His aim was to amaze, and he was always successful.

I remember as if it were yesterday that I wanted to grow up quickly in order to be able to do the same job and dedicate my life to iron and fire, two extraordinarily strong elements that, once united, become greater, indestructible and wonderful.

My father began each project with chalk drawings on the floor but these wore out and it was my task to redo them. What was essentially a game allowed me to acquire the skill and dexterity that would mark my life forever.

The Villi Zanini workshop has not undergone a simple generational change but a total epochal transformation, playing a key role in what has been a genuine revolution in the iron working sector.

“At school, while studying to be a surveyor, a computer arrived; one for the whole school. It had an old AutoCAD system, which was a revelation to me given that it allowed me to draw digitally. Our workshop got its first PC in 1991 and I remember that my father was hesitant given that a digital drawing took much longer to produce than a drawing done by hand.

To start with this innovation was complex and far from cheap but with time and practice and in particular thanks to the huge database of parts and details that I built up over the years I was able to optimize the design and production processes.”