When in 1952, the 29-year-old Giuseppe Edoardo Signorelli with his wife Teresa Maria Manenti founded his small button factory at Grumello del Monte - one of the 13 municipalities in Val Calepio near Bergamo - he did not know anything about buttons. He was just back from Belgium where he had emigrated and worked as a coal miner. His father, who had started making buttons long before WWII broke out, spoke to him straight from the shoulder: “If you want to set up a business, you must be ready to do it on your own”. Before getting married, Teresa Maria had worked as a seamstress, sewing raincoats all around the clock. The Mabo company was founded in the Mid- Fifties; hard times but full of hope for a better future, trust and determination to rebuild. Day after day, Mabo, which was more than a simple button factory, became a “workshop” unleashing new ideas, and talents holding onto tradition and eager to get their life back on track; all this led to amazing results: perfect, beautiful and original products which were also innovative. In short, the button Made in Italy showed the world its versatility. So after getting married the Signorellis, nurtured by the values of a world still rural, with its strong family ties and dedication to work, decided to embark on a new adventure, and 60 years later their three sons, Adriano, Agostino and Luigi can boast not only of a solid business but also of a patrimony of human values. At first the Signorellis wavered between two choices: “Buttons or Rain coats?” This was the question that flashed across Giuseppe Edoardo’s and Teresa Maria Signorelli’s minds in 1952. Buttons, which were already taking centre stage in the fashion world, was their firm answer. This is how Mabo, which is the acronym of Moda Artigiana Bottoni Orobica (Italian words meaning, more or less, “Fashion made by artisans with buttons from the area around Bergamo), was founded by the Signorellis at Grumello del Monte in what used to be an old outhouse where workmen and servants used to keep their tools. Back then the small factory employed only a small number of workers and with the help of an uncle who worked as a foreman in one of the most important button factories in the area, they acquired the technical knowledge they needed to start industrial production.
When in 1952, the 29-year-old Giuseppe Edoardo Signorelli with his wife Teresa Maria Manenti founded his small button factory at Grumello del Monte - one of the 13 municipalities in Val Calepio near Bergamo - he did not know anything about buttons. He was just back from Belgium where he had emigrated and worked as a coal miner. His father, who had started making buttons long before WWII broke out, spoke to him straight from the shoulder: “If you want to set up a business, you must be ready to do it on your own”. Before getting married, Teresa Maria had worked as a seamstress, sewing raincoats all around the clock. The Mabo company was founded in the Mid- Fifties; hard times but full of hope for a better future, trust and determination to rebuild. Day after day, Mabo, which was more than a simple button factory, became a “workshop” unleashing new ideas, and talents holding onto tradition and eager to get their life back on track; all this led to amazing results: perfect, beautiful and original products which were also innovative. In short, the button Made in Italy showed the world its versatility. So after getting married the Signorellis, nurtured by the values of a world still rural, with its strong family ties and dedication to work, decided to embark on a new adventure, and 60 years later their three sons, Adriano, Agostino and Luigi can boast not only of a solid business but also of a patrimony of human values.
The dramatic event which brought about a change at the top of Mabo, but did not stops its momentum, was the death of its founder in 1972; it was then that Adriano, the eldest son, took over the company. Some time later, Mrs Teresa Maria Signorelli decided to retire from the business. It was a difficult time for this family of artisans turned entrepreneurs. A new question popped up: “Should we give it up or keep trying?” Without losing time, the three Signorelli brothers decided to accept the responsibility of running the family business. Adriano was the first to step in, followed by his two younger brothers Agostino and Luigi. To boys still going to school, this meant that they had to grow up fast and become real businessmen; they had to learn quickly how to cope with a tough market: “The clients gave us wary looks; we were so inexperienced, but the fact that our father had founded a successful and solid business, respected throughout the region - the brothers say - gave us strength and determination”. So Mabo continued to grow when the second generation took over. Each brother was happy to put his skills into good use at the factory and responsibilities were thus divided according to each brother’s experiences. This is the secret behind the success and solidity of the Mabo group. Agostino and Luigi were good at going out in the field, analysing and finding out about the market’s evolutions and trends, while Adriano at the factory was able to turn the information he received into an excellent product and first-rate service.
