Before doing so, they’d mastered the art of mosaic while students. They learnt it from those very few people that were doing it in Italy after the First World War, in remote workshops.
Driven and talented, entrepreneurs at heart, they figured they’d found their purpose.
The De Filippi brothers opened the first establishment in Lecce with only 15 employees.
Those were the years where Italian economy was thriving and brilliant minds had the opportunities to make their talent flourish.
Only a few years after, the demand for their product was rising and they had to relocate to a bigger place, where Antonio’s children – Concetta, Ugo and Osvaldo started to contribute to the family business.
After having mastered their own arts and crafts in the family business, the no longer kids start to find their own way of expressing their talents, branching out in multiple other healthy businesses, nevertheless somehow related to the priceless learnings they gathered from their parents.
Osvaldo moves on creating his first floor design artisanal lab near Lecce, in the small town of Surbo.
It’s the 1965 when he opened the new workshop, without knowing that this is the one that would last over 50 years, until now.
He refines the technique, year after year, specialises in producing outdoor flooring.
He finally creates his perfect product, a hexagonal tile thinner than the normal product available in those years, yet unknown to the rest of the world.
This was the beginning of a new era for how tiles are made and floor designed — these guys were producing hand drawn motifs, with highly researched materials, and as one would expect, people all over the world started to source their product to decorate their rooms, their palaces, their villas. Hard work paid off. A few decades after, they are now leaders.
In 2003 – when Ugo the painter passes away, De Filippi & Co. reunites under one flag, merging all products and design library under the family name.
It’s their name front and centre, years and years of sacrifices, entrepreneurial bravery and pure talent.
I’ve known Marco all my life. And every time I get back home to Salento, to this day, we hang out and catch up as you’d expect from friends who’ve always been by each other’s side. Along with the rest of his family, he’s trying to bring a whole new perspective to his family business.
With the ambition of a man who’s gathered professional and personal experience all over the world, Marco and his brother Andrea are the future of a business that keeps design, culture and tradition at its core.