Manifattura Caprotti and continuity: fabrics from the 19th century to the 1980s

As in the past, the factory has continued to produce its fabrics in the present, updating to the fashions of the times some of its classics such as the checked or fancy fabrics, produced at least since the 1840s in the bright colours that were so popular and kept in production, updated in fabric and colour preferences, for more than a century more.

Manifattura Caprotti: safety at work in a textile company

Caprotti, like Marelli (to whom they would later be related), were undoubtedly forerunners, and in many ways can be counted among the ‘unexpected entrepreneurs’ because they present aspects of modernity, of planning, of ideas that we would not have suspected in people who have been producing textiles since the days of looms in peasant homes, and are therefore concerned with a cold and impersonal thing called ‘progress’

The Caprotti family and fabrics: the Manifattura logo, Max Huber, 1958

In the 1950s, Bernardo Caprotti family asked the great Swiss graphic designer Max Huber, who would later design the logo for Supermarkets then Esselunga, to create a new logo for his cotton mill as well. The concept of the design also started, as for Supermarkets, from the idea of the initial letter - the C - artfully elongated to contain the full name of the company; in another version, the name is moved to the body of the letter, and in the eye of the C jumps the new, stylised, ultra-modern little goat.

The Caprotti family, innovation and tradition in an Italian factory: workers from San Vittore prison

When, in the early post-unification years, the Caprottis built their first large factory in the true sense of the term, eventually finding themselves with thousands of square metres of space, they were initially not quite clear what to put in it. They probably envisaged a kind of ‘centralised manufacturing’, and to this end they purchased various machines by turning to various manufacturers, including the Milanese prison of San Vittore whose director, Eugenio Cicognani, was personally passionate about and invented a newly developed regulator loom, built by the inmates.

The Caprotti family, innovation and tradition in an Italian textile manufacturer: Alessandro Belgiojoso and the ‘La meccanica della Caprotti’ exhibition

Alessandro Belgiojoso is an internationally renowned photographer, husband of Albertina, daughter of Gianni Albertini D'Urso, in turn daughter of Gianni Albertini, an explorer and my great-uncle. Years ago, in 2008, I approached him to photograph a documentary collection kept in my archive, from which a panel exhibition was to be created in 2011. His uncle Giuseppe Barbiano di Belgiojoso (1924 - 2022) was a friend of my father Bernardo and probably also of my grandfather Peppino

The Caprotti family, innovation and tradition in an Italian manufacture: Albiate and Switzerland

Bernardo Caprotti, an agricultural owner, founded Giuseppe Caprotti’s Bernardo Caprotti cotton weaving company on his land in Ponte Albiate. Caprotti’s company was still based on an almost pre-industrial production system: few simple machines, many warehouses, worker-farmers weaving mainly at home. In 1866 there were about 1500 of them. However, the great industrial revolution that would transform Europe was underway…

A journey into the memory of the Caprotti family and Manifattura Caprotti

This project stems from the desire to preserve the historical memory of Manifattura Caprotti, which has represented much more than a company: it has been the beating heart of the entire Albiate community, a symbol of innovation and dedication, and has represented the family’s industrial roots, which later led to the acquisition of a majority stake in Esselunga