At the end of World War II, Francesco Favagrossa, a resourceful and brilliant young man, begins to produce two-wheeled means of transport, by recycling old military vehicles. Attentive to the needs of time, the “recovery” motorbikes are highly sought after and so he acquires a garage to expand his production.
Soon, his love for inventions in the mechanical field leads him to a new challenge: the creation of folding seats specifically designed for free time.
We are in the 70s and the houses are beginning to equip themselves with new furnishing elements to experience free time in a new and unconventional way.
Favagrossa buys a small company and thus begins to design outdoor seating, interpreting the atmosphere of freedom of the time: no longer formal seats, but armchairs where you can lie down, abandoning yourself in the sun to read, sip a drink, chat.
His design intuitions lead to the creation of hundreds of sketches and prototypes. The chair is experienced as a living, moving object: it must move, close, thus becoming a dynamic element, capable of relating to the body to offer maximum comfort.
In 1975, together with his son Ennio, he founds FIAM, giving life to a a collection of outdoor chairs. Production continues at a fast pace, having in mind the need to supply products of the highest mechanical level: Favagrossa studies every detail, animated by the desire to create beautiful, resistant, functional objects.
The catalog grows and the Spaghetti Chair makes its appearance: having taken over the production by a small craftsman from Pavia, Favagrossa makes improvements, giving life to the relaxation chair par excellence.
Cheerful and bright, the Spaghetti chair makes its appearance in the garden, at the sea and in the mountains, becoming synonymous of outdoor living. The iconic colors – yellow, red, orange – contribute to the construction of the visual universe of the 70s.
FIAM uses aluminum or steel for the frame and PVC rods for the seat which, still today, are hand-woven by specialized craftsmen. By opening up to foreign markets, the company produces millions of pieces all over the world, developing numerous successes, such as the Fiesta armchair and the Amigo sunbed, and attracting the attention of customers such as IKEA, which over the 80s, begins to market the Bitter stool, selling millions of pieces all over the world.
Today the company, continues its process of opening up to new markets, while maintaining “the desire to go to the essence of things and to design focusing on function and aesthetic cleanliness”.