This article on Paola Bernardotto is part of the special reportage with some virtuous examples of young entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs, published in the number 28/29 of Vanity Fair, on newsstands until July 15th.
«I was looking for beautiful, solid, sustainable furniture. I didn’t find them, so I started to plan them ». And this is how Etomio was born in 2018, the brand of children’s furnishings founded by Paola Bernardotto. Everything starts from a first cot in Casetta, then Ettomio became an ethical and awarded entrepreneurial project, raised with the strength of Montessorian thought, Italian crafts and an all -female vision. “We want to meet the needs of contemporary families who choose to adhere to new and unconventional educational philosophies such as the sweet discipline, the Steinerian method and the school of Bruno Munari and who at the same time do not want to give up the aesthetic aspect and ecological aspect, feeling a strong social responsibility for the generations that will come”. And so, with a local short chain production, certified materials and a concrete commitment to the “Zero Waste”, Ettomio offers evolutionary and functional furnishings, from the bed to the library, from chair to cushions. Today Paola, three children and a degree in Sociology, leads a streamlined team from Creazzo, in the province of Vicenza. 2024 ended with a turnover of 430 thousand euros. Awarded with the Gammadonna 2024, Paola looks forward: «I would like to create an ecosystem with similar realities. The impact must not be only environmental, but cultural ».
The interview with Paola Bernardotto, founder of Hettomio
When did you start? What funds were they needed to leave?
“I started using the Naspi advance received with the dismissal within the year of life of my second child.”
Can you tell us what exactly does he do with hectomium?
“After qualitative and quantitative market analysis, I try to conceive furnishing objects for children and modern families who put aesthetics, functionality, quality and durability common. I started alone with a pilot project, in 2018, creating an e-commerce site at home that proposed the rpimo object of the project: a bed. From there the skills of many people who shared a part of the path with me have been added: designers, craftsmen, marketing professionals and a beautiful community. The catalog grew following the requests of people who gradually came into contact with the brand. In 2019 I opened an individual company and in 2022 the Benefit company, which requires a balance between the income statement and social /ecological impact ».
What formation does it have?
«I studied sociology and professionally I have worked for more than 15 years in digital (marketing and advertising). In general I am curious and I try to stay with the accommodation mind on many àmbiti ».
How is the structure of your company? How many people work with her?
«Currently we are two: Veronica and I follow the operations (in addition to really being my right shoulder on everything). We work with a slender team and seek vertical external skills with which we create lasting and deep relationships ».
What turnover does today?
“2024 we closed it with 430 thousand euros”.
What were the greatest difficulties?
«I will be trivial but for me the greatest difficulty remains reconciling the needs and times of my family to the requests of company-market-reception and training. An example: in 2022 my third child was born, at that time I had to accelerate but I could not and, indeed, I had to slow down. And so it happened that I left the growth space to other brands and I came late to some opportunities ».
What would you like for the future?
“I would like to create an ecosystem between my company and other similar realities, with common objectives to carry out the values and proposals of hectomium in a more structured, compact and solid way”.
Something personal on her: do you have hobbies? How is his family? Where do you live?
«When I need to take some time for me, to free my head, I go to run in the woods or on the hills near where I live, in the province of Vicenza, in Creazzo. I like them and make me feel simple things well: to collect the vegetables from our mini-vegetable, take a walk at sunset, eat in the shade of the tree outside the house. We live immersed in nature and this is something that I would not know how to give up, even if it involves greater inconvenience in moving. Mine is a large family, or rather those who raise the average: 3 children, all males, of 9.7 and 3 years ».
Source: Vanity Fair
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