Pirelli across the Channel
Pirelli has long had an interest in the United Kingdom. It all started with the founder Giovanni Battista Pirelli, who bought rubber mixers from the top manufacturer – Joseph Robinson & Co in Manchester – for his factory in Via Ponte Seveso in Milan. There has been a constant flow of information and ideas ever since between Italy and Britain – between Milan and, later, Bicocca and London.
The Pirellis’ trips, and then those of their closest collaborators, came one after the other. As a report now in our Historical Archive shows, one of the first was by Alberto Pirelli, who spent time from 29 November to 5 December 1909 going round factories and exploring technologies, also documenting his travels in letters and telegrams. Many other trips followed, all meticulously described by Alberto. The idea was clear: the plan was to set up a series of production sites in Britain. “We have decided”, said Giovanni Battista Pirelli in 1912, “to build a plant in England for the production of underground cables and electrical conductors in general.” After its exploratory work, the company established itself in the country. It started with an agreement with General Electric, which led to Pirelli General Cable Works Ltd being set up in Southampton. But it was not just a matter of studying technologies and building factories.
Pirelli soon began exporting its products. And not just tyres. This had already been the case in the late nineteenth century with elastic rubber mats for platforms, carriages and entrances which were advertised in the company’s first general catalogue of 1886. These products enjoyed great success in Britain. In 1912, the first catalogue for floors and tiles stated: “The rubber floor has some unique characteristics: it is extremely resistant and durable, and its smooth surface makes it is easy to wash. It does not collect dust and it is soft and elastic and it muffles noise. The variety of colours and decorations that are available makes it ideal to accompany every style and meet all furnishing needs”.
In 1929 a plant was opened in Burton upon Trent, both for production and for experimentation. The Historical Archive contains a detailed technical report on “tests carried out on plasticised rubber”. Dated 17 June 1938, it was sent by the “Pirelli Ltd sister company in Burton upon Trent”.
Tyres, of course, were by no means neglected. Also in terms of communication, for the Archive also contains two photographs from 1930 that proudly show a semi-pneumatic Pirelli tyre mounted on a 26-seater Leyland bus owned by Bishopston & Muston Motor Services Ltd of Swansea (Wales), after it has travelled 100,000 miles.
But the United Kingdom has also played another extremely significant role in the history of communication and in that of the Pirelli brand. This was when, in 1964, Pirelli UK Ltd created “The Cal”TM – the Pirelli Calendar. Now an icon of corporate communication, it was originally a marketing tool to beat the local competition. “The Cal”TM soon became a symbol of the Pirelli style, combining innovation and modernity, beauty and defiance. And it has been with the company around the world ever since.
In 1965, just one year after “The Cal”TM was launched, construction work started on a factory in Eastleigh for the production of high voltage cables using the most modern techniques. Three years later, radial-only tyres began to be made in Carlisle.
British institutions began to pay attention to these developments, starting with the Royal Family. In 1929 the Prince of Wales visited the Burton upon Trent plants: an event that was caught on film, now conserved in the Archive, showing how the Prince took an interest in the work carried out inside the factory. Ninety years later, Prince Charles, the future King Charles III, accompanied by Marco Tronchetti Provera, made a similar visit, this time in Carlisle, where he appreciated the hi-tech systems and the particular focus on aspects related to the environment and sustainability.
Technical excellence and research, innovation and diversification have thus always been a prime feature of the relationship between Pirelli and Britain: more than a century of history that continues today as never before.
Pirelli has long had an interest in the United Kingdom. It all started with the founder Giovanni Battista Pirelli, who bought rubber mixers from the top manufacturer – Joseph Robinson & Co in Manchester – for his factory in Via Ponte Seveso in Milan. There has been a constant flow of information and ideas ever since between Italy and Britain – between Milan and, later, Bicocca and London.
The Pirellis’ trips, and then those of their closest collaborators, came one after the other. As a report now in our Historical Archive shows, one of the first was by Alberto Pirelli, who spent time from 29 November to 5 December 1909 going round factories and exploring technologies, also documenting his travels in letters and telegrams. Many other trips followed, all meticulously described by Alberto. The idea was clear: the plan was to set up a series of production sites in Britain. “We have decided”, said Giovanni Battista Pirelli in 1912, “to build a plant in England for the production of underground cables and electrical conductors in general.” After its exploratory work, the company established itself in the country. It started with an agreement with General Electric, which led to Pirelli General Cable Works Ltd being set up in Southampton. But it was not just a matter of studying technologies and building factories.
Pirelli soon began exporting its products. And not just tyres. This had already been the case in the late nineteenth century with elastic rubber mats for platforms, carriages and entrances which were advertised in the company’s first general catalogue of 1886. These products enjoyed great success in Britain. In 1912, the first catalogue for floors and tiles stated: “The rubber floor has some unique characteristics: it is extremely resistant and durable, and its smooth surface makes it is easy to wash. It does not collect dust and it is soft and elastic and it muffles noise. The variety of colours and decorations that are available makes it ideal to accompany every style and meet all furnishing needs”.
In 1929 a plant was opened in Burton upon Trent, both for production and for experimentation. The Historical Archive contains a detailed technical report on “tests carried out on plasticised rubber”. Dated 17 June 1938, it was sent by the “Pirelli Ltd sister company in Burton upon Trent”.
Tyres, of course, were by no means neglected. Also in terms of communication, for the Archive also contains two photographs from 1930 that proudly show a semi-pneumatic Pirelli tyre mounted on a 26-seater Leyland bus owned by Bishopston & Muston Motor Services Ltd of Swansea (Wales), after it has travelled 100,000 miles.
But the United Kingdom has also played another extremely significant role in the history of communication and in that of the Pirelli brand. This was when, in 1964, Pirelli UK Ltd created “The Cal”TM – the Pirelli Calendar. Now an icon of corporate communication, it was originally a marketing tool to beat the local competition. “The Cal”TM soon became a symbol of the Pirelli style, combining innovation and modernity, beauty and defiance. And it has been with the company around the world ever since.
In 1965, just one year after “The Cal”TM was launched, construction work started on a factory in Eastleigh for the production of high voltage cables using the most modern techniques. Three years later, radial-only tyres began to be made in Carlisle.
British institutions began to pay attention to these developments, starting with the Royal Family. In 1929 the Prince of Wales visited the Burton upon Trent plants: an event that was caught on film, now conserved in the Archive, showing how the Prince took an interest in the work carried out inside the factory. Ninety years later, Prince Charles, the future King Charles III, accompanied by Marco Tronchetti Provera, made a similar visit, this time in Carlisle, where he appreciated the hi-tech systems and the particular focus on aspects related to the environment and sustainability.
Technical excellence and research, innovation and diversification have thus always been a prime feature of the relationship between Pirelli and Britain: more than a century of history that continues today as never before.
