What has a bee to do with magnetism? But above all, what has this to do with Ronda Design? Just a moment and you’ll find out.

The history of Ronda Design begins with Ronda – not the Spanish city – but Ronda Spa, an Italian company based in Vicenza, with more than 45 years of experience in steel processing. Like many other Venetian and Italian companies, Ronda bears the surname of the founding family.

It’s a cold winter afternoon roughly ten years ago, Mr Giacomo is working intensely in his office inside a hard-working factory full of machineries and metal pieces. Ronda is becoming an international landmark in steel processing, and Giacomo is focused on meeting the expectations of its customers.

Surrounded by technical drawings, gauges and molds, Giacomo cannot even afford to take a break. But when he’s done with his job, there’s a “bee” in his bonnet. And it’s not something to do with navigation – his favorite hobby – or his beloved Sardinia, but an idea that has been teasing him for some time.

Giacomo is fascinated by magnetism.

Certainly not by magnetism intended as the paranormal ability to influence others, but the physical properties of magnets to attract metallic elements.

In particular, his entrepreneurial spirit leads him to seek a solution which, through magnetism, can solve some typical issues of the industrial design field. “Is it possible to make kitchen doors without handles?” he wonders “Can we mass-produce such a product using magnetism?”.

Despite Giacomo’s keen efforts, after several months of study this idea did not lead to any marketable result.

Too complex and costly: he definitely needed a different approach. Shortly thereafter, Giacomo decided to use magnetism to fasten a metal cover to the kitchen doors, with a decorative purpose. This idea seemed more interesting and feasible. The product was developed, but the market responded half-heartedly to this innovation: it was necessary to start again from scratch.

Giacomo did not give up. The magnetism “bee” was taking his sleep away. Every morning he would wake up with a new potential innovation in mind, and thanks to his artisan skills, he would immediately realize a full-scale prototype to check its feasibility.

Soon, Giacomo’s office began to be flooded with drawings and prototypes. While tidying up, he decided to use some of his magnets to install rudimentary shelves to the metal walls that separated his office from the rest of the department. In that moment he had a flash of inspiration: the magnetic shelf was the solution he was looking for.

Full of enthusiasm, Giacomo called his wife Marida to show her such a clever idea. She was impressed and animated by the magnetic shelf idea, therefore they decided to invest together in this new project. From being a binding element, the metal wall had become the main stimulus to develop the new magnetic fastening system.

It was 2010: Giacomo and Marida decided to seize the opportunity of the forthcoming Milan Design Week and booked a last minute booth space on Tortona Street, Fuori Salone, to present the magnetic shelf to the world and see how it would react.

To be honest, the product was still not perfectly functioning and, moreover, the range was limited to a single type of shelf.

But the great enthusiasm demonstrated by the audience and the press, convinced Giacomo and Marida to persist in the project, perfecting the product both on the technical side and the aesthetic one.

For several months Giacomo’s first thought in the morning was to go and check whether the magnetic shelf had supported the load overnight.

With extreme dismay, he found out that the shelf was sliding down a millimeter per night. The product was not yet perfect, and therefore it was not yet marketable.

Once again Giacomo did not give up.

Trying again and again, he finally found and introduced a technical solution that gave the shelf a perfect grip, day after day. This is one of the “secrets” that make Magnetika the set of magnetic shelves par excellence.

After years of hard working, the Magnetika system had finally become reality.

Thanks to the persistence of its inventor, the support of his family – but also the aid of its “bee” – the Magnetika system has become a complete product range, which amazes every design lover both for its aesthetics, both for its functionality.