The Italian Smart Office The Story of Estel

This is the first book of its kind devoted to the history of Estel, celebrating eighty years of the furniture manufacturer's activity.

This book takes the reader through Estel's history from the future to the past, working backward in five major phases of the company's progress. These phases are related through various illustrations, best called "dioramas," covering double spreads that fold out, making four full-size pages.

Especially created for the book by Pierluigi Longo, these "dioramas" emerge like modern-day frescoes in which the leading figures of the business world can be observed, along with the production panorama and market environment around them. They represent a sort of visualized concept that not only illustrates and tracks a path through the book, but also lends it concept and structure.

The texts that follow each theme-diorama pivot successively on the company philosophy, the protagonists, the products, and a brief text classifying the furniture-manufacturing sector itself. Hence, the tale unfolds on two fronts simultaneously, interweaving the company's history with the ongoing developments in the sector and in methods of production.

Mario Piazza is one of Italy's leading graphic designers. Maria Giulia Zunino is a journalist who writes on questions of production and design. Pierluigi Longo is an illustrator whose work is featured in leading Italian publications.