A Door That Opened When I Least Expected It
While DOROMA was slowly finding its first customers, a second door opened in my life at almost the same time. It was a door that led neither to coffee nor to espresso machines, but to ceramic tiles and Italian design. After spending so many years in the world of coffee, I had been convinced that my future would always remain connected to that industry. I knew the products. I knew the technology. I knew the customers. It was a world in which I felt completely at home.
And yet, without realizing it at the time, I was beginning an entirely different journey. As so often happened in my life, it did not begin with a grand plan. It began with a family conversation. My cousin Leonardo stayed with us for a while. He was an experienced tile setter who knew every detail of his trade. Our entire family, including my brothers and me, helped him start his own business in Liège.
At first, he worked as a tile setter. He knew how to lay tiles. He knew the materials. And he understood what customers expected from a craftsman. But Leonardo had an entrepreneurial spirit. He did not want to limit himself to laying tiles. He began looking further ahead, established contacts with Italian manufacturers, and eventually became an importer of Italian ceramic tiles.
At that time, this world was still almost completely unknown to me. My experience was in coffee. In machines. In sales. I still knew very little about ceramic tiles. Leonardo spoke to me more and more often about his business and the exclusive Italian products he imported. His company was based in Liège and primarily served French-speaking customers.
But he also saw opportunities in Limburg and throughout the rest of Flanders. One day he asked me:
"Why don't you open a store in Limburg where you can offer my exclusive products to the Flemish public?"
That question stayed in my mind. I did not yet know enough about the world of tiles. But I knew Flanders. I spoke Dutch. I knew the mentality of the people. And I had experience in sales and prospecting. Perhaps I could use what I had learned in the coffee business in this new field. The product was completely different.
But the customers' desire for quality and good guidance remained the same. Little by little, the idea took shape. In 1977, ITALIA IN was born. Beneath the name ITALIA IN also appeared the word BELGIUM. That addition was a deliberate choice. The purpose of my company went beyond simply selling ceramic tiles. ITALIA IN - BELGIUM was meant to express what I wanted to accomplish: bringing Italian design to Belgium. Ceramic tiles formed an important part of the offering.
But I did not want to stop there. I also offered modern Italian bathroom furniture. Products that combined beauty, practicality, and Italian craftsmanship. ITALIA IN thus became a company through which I wanted to introduce the Flemish public to different products of Italian design. Products that, at that time, were not yet widely available in Belgium. That is how I took my first real steps into the world of ceramics and interior design. Meanwhile, DOROMA continued to exist. For several years, I combined the two businesses.
Coffee and Italian design. Two completely different product worlds. Two different kinds of customers. And, for me, two ways to rebuild an income for my family after the uncertainty caused by FAEMA. My collaboration with Leonardo did not last long. We realized that our ideas about the company's future development did not entirely coincide. Leonardo's strength lay in his experience as a craftsman and in the products and working methods he knew well.
I was looking more and more toward new developments. I saw tastes changing. I noticed that customers were becoming interested in new colors, modern designs, and different ways of furnishing their homes. I wanted to follow those changes. More than that: I wanted to try to stay ahead of them. That did not mean one of our visions was better than the other. We simply looked at the future differently. I retained great respect for Leonardo's experience.
It was thanks to him that I had found the door to this new world. But I understood that I had to choose my own direction. Beginning in 1978, I therefore continued developing ITALIA IN entirely on my own and independently of Leonardo. I began establishing contacts with other Belgian importers and wholesalers. That gave me access to a wider selection and enabled me to offer my customers more choices. At the same time, I cautiously began importing products directly from Italy myself.
In the beginning, this was still on a small scale. I mainly looked for exclusive ceramic tiles and modern bathroom furniture that could not be found everywhere. I did not want to create a store that offered the same things as every other store. I wanted to show products that surprised people. Products with a character of their own. Products that reflected the Italian sense of beauty, design, and craftsmanship. Working independently meant freedom.
But that freedom also brought responsibility. From then on, I had to find suppliers myself. Negotiate for myself. Decide for myself which collections I wanted to offer. And accept the risk myself when a choice proved to be wrong. Yet that freedom suited me. I wanted to be able to respond quickly to new developments. I wanted to make my own decisions. And I wanted to follow my own ideas.
But before I could do that credibly, I first had to learn. I had an enormous amount to learn. I wanted to understand how tiles were made. What raw materials were used. What distinguished the different levels of quality. Why some tiles were stronger than others. How important proper installation was. And how colors, sizes, and surfaces could transform the atmosphere of a home. I listened to Leonardo and other experienced craftspeople. I studied the products.
I spoke with suppliers. I observed what customers found beautiful and tried to understand why they made certain choices. Every encounter taught me something new. At first, I mainly saw a tile as a product that had to be sold and installed. But little by little, I began to look at it differently. A ceramic tile is much more than a simple building material. It often becomes part of a home for decades.
People walk on it every day. Children grow up on it. It is where people live. Where they play. Where they laugh. And sometimes where they cry. Tiles help determine the atmosphere of a home. For many people, choosing them was therefore far more important than I had first understood. I was discovering a world where quality, craftsmanship, and beauty came together. Values in which I recognized myself completely. The more I learned, the more my interest grew. I began paying attention to the design of the collections.
To the way tiles and bathroom furniture were presented. To combinations of colors, sizes, and materials. And to the question of how to help a customer imagine what a product would ultimately look like in his or her own home. That was precisely where my curiosity came alive again. The same desire that had once driven me to seek better solutions in the coffee business was now turning toward ceramics and interior design. Only the product had changed.
My need to discover and improve had remained the same. Perhaps that is why I felt at home so quickly in a world that had initially been completely unfamiliar to me. I did not begin as an expert. I began as a student. I was never ashamed of that. Quite the opposite. Those who think they already know everything stop learning. Those who dare to admit that much remains to be discovered can continue to grow.
When I founded ITALIA IN - BELGIUM in 1977 and began following my own independent path in 1978, I could never have imagined how profoundly this new world would influence the rest of my life. I did not know that I would later visit countless Italian factories. That I would meet architects, distributors, importers, and entrepreneurs from across Europe. That I would devise new ways to present ceramic tiles and other design products.
That my son Marco would eventually become part of this story. Or that together we would dream of projects far greater than anything I could imagine at the time. All of that still belonged to the future. At that moment, I was simply standing before a new door. Leonardo had shown me where it was. I will always remain grateful to him for that.
But after helping me find that door, it was up to me to decide which path I would follow on the other side. As I had already done so often in my life, I chose my own direction. Not because I knew exactly where it would lead me.
But because my curiosity was greater than my fear. Behind that door, I found more than new products to sell. I took my first steps into a world of Italian design that would shape a large part of my life.