ALDO’S STORY
Aldo Bernardi has invested 30 years of passion and research in the pursuit of creating a unique and personal style: a style that “just feels right” but distinctly stands apart in the lighting market. His company, established in the early 70’s is located northwest of Venice, Italy, in an area renowned for its traditional artisan cottage industries, based on the availability of rich natural resources. This local craftsmanship is strongly reflected in Aldo’s lighting lines. Even today, in spite of the ever increasing demand for his light fixtures, the complexity of his designs and the implementation of an advanced quality control system, his production still relies on handcrafted manufacturing.
He continues to create top quality products that blend the past with today’s need for practicality, resulting in a wide range of interior and exterior fixtures in sophisticated combinations of porcelain, stoneware, brass, copper and glass. They show to full advantage in a variety of settings: residential and commercial, traditional and contemporary.
Aldo’s long term commitment is to keep elaborating and developing his own individual style: unique, timeless, balanced…. following neither fashion nor convention but embracing both tradition and technological innovation.
Although Aldo won wide international acclaim for the design and quality of his light fixtures, his moderate size family business maintains a strong local flavor.
His wife Patrizia is in charge of quality control and a staff of skilled and devoted employees living in close vicinity help guarantee quality and continuity.
ABOUT THE COLLECTIONS
The oldest product line is “I Classici In Ceramica” (EE CLAS-SEE-CHEE IN CHAE-RA-MEE-KA): a collection of interior ceramic light fixtures: pendants, pendants with counter weights, sconces, spotlights and ceiling mounts, in combination with aged brass elements. All models are hand-made, hand-decorated, hand-finished and hand-assembled.
The next product line is “Gli Ottoni” (LJEE OT-TO-NEE) or The Brass Collection. Gli Ottoni is a line of interior pendants, interior or exterior sconces and street lamps in predominantly brass and copper combined with glass.
This line is exceptional because of the unique, well proportioned designs and the superior quality of the materials, construction and finish.
Derived from Gli Ottoni is the surface mounted wiring system l’Impianto (LEEM-PIAN-TO), that is reminiscent of the time when electricity was first brought to already existing homes. It is made of solid brass and consists of junction boxes, conduit, couplers, connectors, switches and outlets to allow for installation of the wiring on the outside of the wall. l’Impianto can be designed into any configuration and is an aesthetic element in itself because of its size and proportions, the richness of the components and the attention to detail. It is extremely well suited for historic buildings where lighting and electricity need to be retrofitted or for buildings designed to have a flavor of the past.
Most of the “Gli Ottoni” fixtures can be used in conjunction with the l‘Impianto system.
The last collection is “Le Alte Vie” (LE AL-TE VEE-EH), named after the high roads and mountain passes in the Dolomiti, the south-eastern promontory of the Alps. It represents the most contemporary interior models, combining engobe-finished stoneware, brass, copper and glass.
The core-element of this product line is the “multi-ap”, which stands for multi application. The multi-ap is essentially a brass coupler with 1, 2 or 3 lateral openings that connect the various diameter conduits of the l’Impianto system. It allows for the custom design of a closed surface mounted system that can include many different combinations of pendants and spotlights and can be adapted to specific spatial requirements. If well designed, such a system is a truly good looking alternative to the traditional open track lighting.
ABOUT THE FINISH
A common denominator in all three collections is the finish of the brass and copper components. Natural oxidation makes brass and copper turn either a beautiful burnished brown or a turquoise green, depending on the prevailing elements in the surrounding atmosphere. To give the Aldo Bernardi products this “aged” finish, the brass and copper components are subjected to a manual process in which the natural oxidation is accelerated. Once this has been accomplished, the surface is covered with a protective coat of beeswax that stabilizes the process. Over time this protective coat wears off and exposes the product to further natural oxidation.
If so desired, a reapplication of bees wax can slow this natural process down.
