Fifty years of Agape in ten images

1973 - 2023. Half a century of history for a company that reflects the family and personal values of those who gave it shape and continue to make it grow: brothers Emanuele and Giampaolo Benedini. From the bond with Mantua and its territory, to a design ethic that is a constant search for uniqueness and consistency, a way of being and living that both yesterday and today translates into an anticipatory vision of the bathroom. We tell you about it in ten images.

Mantus - 1974

It was 1973 when Emanuele and Giampaolo's parents invested in their sons, providing the resources to participate in the founding of Agape. Initial partners were cousins Gianfranco and Luigi Benedini, entrepreneurs in the hydro-thermo-sanitary sector, and Giampaolo who had recently started freelancing as an architect. The first customer is the department store chain 'El Corte Ingles', and the best-selling product is the Mantus series, with a design that adapts to the demands of Spanish customers.

Erion, modular furniture - design Benedini Associati, 1975

Photography by Bruno Giovetti

Giampaolo designs Erion, a modular system that outlines a new design approach, with a more architectural imprint. A leap in scale and complexity, a design in direct relationship with the space that hosts it. In Bruno Giovetti's photograph, Erion, with her bags at the door, is ready to leave behind the concept of the bathroom as a purely functional space. Two years later, in 1977, 21 years old, Emanuele also joins Agape.

Makerio, modular furniture - design Benedini Associati, 1980

Photography by Bruno Giovetti

Camilla Benedini, Giampaolo's daughter, is featured in Makerio's 1980 advertising campaign at the age of just 7. In Giovetti's shot, the bathroom sink area dissolves into a free composition of two- and three-dimensional elements on the wall. Accessories from the Golf series also appear in the photograph, again in the bright colours, so characteristic of those years.

Le nuvole, shelf - design Benedini Associati, 1982

Photography by Studio Azzurro

The design of "Le Nuvole" (Clouds) unequivocally underlines Giampaolo's painful decision to discontinue the production of wooden containers. The system becomes symbiotic to the architectural space: it needs the two vertical walls in order to work. The "clouds" fly light, exploiting a usually unused space with wit.

Memory, container and washbasin - design Benedini Associati, 1990

Photography by Aldo Ballo

In 1990 Emanuele became chief executive of Agape. His involvement is not limited to managerial activities, he actively participates in designing the set of Aldo Ballo's photographs that organise products into 'piles', decontextualising them into more abstract compositions.

Calvino, accessories - Design Enzo Mari, 1992

Photography by Leo Torri

While in the beginning Giampaolo was the only designer, in 1992 the decision was made to expand to other creatives, an indispensable impulse for an ever more complete vision full of multiple creative energies. The first collaborations are with Enzo Mari and Pino Pasquali, which will be followed by many others always through a first-person confrontation with Emanuele and the Agape Research and Development Centre. Unmistakable and iconic is the poetic Calvino series of accessories designed by Mari for a 'small publisher of bathroom products'.

Spoon, bathtub - Design Benedini Associati, 1998

Photo by Josè Rodriguez

A pivotal point in Agape's history and catalogue, Spoon is positioned centrally on the timeline of our story. Emanuele's management allows Giampaolo to devote himself full-time to projects and creative direction. In a stimulating synergy of roles, the history of Agape is a succession of happy intuitions. Spoon debuted in 1998 to complement an intense commercial drive aimed at becoming international. Commercial success is immediate and the bathtub will remain in the catalogue until 2023, only to be replaced by its evolutions Spoon XL and Spoon M also by Benedini Associati.

Vieques, bathtub - Design Patricia Urquiola, 2008

Photo by Andrea Ferrari

Marking an important milestone in the company's growth was the collaboration with Patricia Urquiola that began back in 2003 with the Pear washbasins and sanitary ware. In 2008, the Vieques bathtub, designed for W Vieques on the island of the same name, also entered the catalogue. An icon of great commercial and critical success, today the Vieques family includes numerous variants from washbasins to bathtubs, both for indoor and outdoor.

Sen, taps and accessories - Design Gwenael Nicolas, 2008

Photo by Andrea Ferrari

In the same year, Gwenael Nicolas designed the Sen collection of accessories and taps. The gesture is personal, intimate: the designer creates the line for his home studio in Tokyo. It is a precise, site-specific gesture that becomes a universal success that has been honoured with numerous imitations. Over the past 15 years, the series has seen several updates and expansions, always loyal to the minimal and very graphic spirit of the original design gesture.

Bjhon 1, washbasin - Design Angelo Mangiarotti, 2011

Photo by Andrea Ferrari

In 2002, a lectio magistralis by Angelo Mangiarotti at the Festivaletteratura in Mantua marked the beginning of the collaboration with Angelo Mangiarotti: the Lito series of washbasins in marble, the Maestro's favourite material, was born. In 2008, Agape proceeded to acquire the production rights to the objects in the Mangiarotti Archive. Giampaolo Benedini and the Benedini Associati studio started reengineering the projects, bringing Agapecasa and the Mangiarotti Collection to light in 2010. In 2011, the brothers proposed to the Maestro to reinterpret the design of a series of 1971 vases into a family of pedestal washbasins: Bjhon 1 and Bjhon 2 were born from Mangiarotti's pencil.

Ell a colonna, washbasin - Design Benedini Associati, 2022

Image edited by Agape

The object becomes architecture, in 2022 it debuts a collection of projects that become micro monuments in the contemporary domestic landscape. At only 4 cm thick, Ell reduces the pedestal washbasin to its essence by focusing on details with its striking ground connection and the rhythmic precision of its grid.

We are looking forward to seeing you at Agape Bosco in the heart of the Mantuan countryside with an exhibition entitled "Actually, we wanted to do something else. A History of Agape - 1973/2023," dedicated to these 50 years. A unique opportunity to visit our completely renovated showroom and immerse yourself in the new exhibition spaces including those dedicated to Agapecasa's Mangiarotti Collection and all the latest additions to our catalog.