The Man Behind the Cifra 3

Gino Valle is a world-renowned architect, designer and painter, who was born into a family of designers and artists, which probably explains why he University Institute of Architecture of Venice, and graduated in 1948 and in that same year, he followed his father’s footsteps, studying under him and his sister for some years. Interested in establishing relationships between people and simple objects, he later worked with major companies such as Zanussi, where he designed the plate refrigerator, which served as a breakthrough in consumer appliances at the time. In 1945, he began working with Solari lineadesign on their popularized flip clock, the Cifra 5. The electromechanical flip clock won the “Compasso d’Oro,” in 1956. With the help of John Myer, Valle elevated the clock with rollers and forty flaps, containing digits and letters and at the end of the sixties, he created the Cifra 3 – which is displayed in railway stations and airports around the world.

 

 

Solari Enters Restaurant Champeaux’s Kitchen A wall-menu in the new brasserie

 

Solari Lineadesign entered into the kitchen of Champeaux.

The “Restaurant Champeaux” is the new brasserie in Paris which, in just over a month after opening, is already a success and a staple destination. The Champeux name derives from that of an old Paris restaurant opened in the year 1800 in the Place de la Bourse, which Emile Zola, a French writer, wrote about at the beginning of his novel “L’Argent.” This restaurant is located in the first district under the canopy of the Forum des Halles, one of the trendiest regions in the French capital.

Like a metronome of the brasserie life, the scoreboard at Solari palette, which is 8.6 meters long and 1.5 meters high, flows and is in direct interaction with the kitchen. It also displays menu listings, provides timing for food and drink arrival, lists dish specials and it also showcases the Chef’s favorite food preferences. During the day, the board is constantly changing according to the times, while products are being created in the kitchen, thanks to the technology that has made the Solari company known worldwide, such as the vane roller system, which was patented in 1966.

Its unmistakable sound accompanies travelers in airports, stations and subways around the world. Those who want to take home a piece of this monumental atmosphere, can do so thanks to Solari Lineadesign, a company that revolutionized the notion of time from the sixties with the creation of the Cifra 3 and the Dator 60, which were designed by the late Gino Valle.

#savethesign 30th Street Station, The Solari Board will soon be replaced.

THE VIEWPOINT OF THE PASSENGERS

The famous Split-flap display that stands in the middle of the Philadelphia 30th Street Station, produced by Solari di Udine, will soon be replaced by a digital board. 

Many Journalists and Magazines wrote about this news, like Wired, SmithsonianMetro, Philly, Philly Blog, CityLab, CBS Philly,PhillyVoice, WITF, The Washington Times, PRI etc. 

The name and popularity of Solari comes from way back in 1725, the year in which the first document records the existence of the Fratelli Solari Company as an “Old and Prized Tower Clocking Industry”. From then on the company’s history is filled with many industrial successes. Believing in the power of an idea and transforming it into success: this is what the two brothers Fermo and Remigio Solari were able to achieve. They established their name worldwide in the fifties, bringing to prominence a company with great potential and bearer of innovative inventions, such as the split-flap system, which revolutionized standard methods of displaying time and information to the public, to the fore.

When the Solari brothers dynasty came to an end, the company management was in the hands of large industrial Groups. The the company property passed on to entrepreneur Dr. Massimo Paniccia who consequently made Solari today’s model of successful economics. 

The search for perfection, the desire to reach unique solutions, multi-year experience at the service of every requirement: Solari’s prestige has been founded on these values for almost three centuries. Solari installed over 3000 systems worldwide, by which they move over 5.5 billion people every year. 

When the CEO, Massimo Paniccia, had read all the articles and comments about the replacing of the flap board, was pleasantly surprised. “The best wish to the future of Our Company is that, in 40 or 50 years from now, someone in the world will be sad if one of the recently installed public information systems will be dismantled. This is our main focus and the reason of our choices; the search of perfection, both for the client and for the user. I recognize also the meaning and fascination of the displays and flip clocks, design icons throughout the world like the Cifra 3 (Ndr. part of the permanent collection of the London Science Museum, of the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York and, after November, of the Design Museum of London). Indeed, Solari re-launched in production his historical clocks, in order to enter the houses of every passenger.”