Sferoflex

"In Italy, Del Vecchio also expands into production by acquiring Sferoflex of Rovereto, a historic competitor, the first components he had worked on as an engraver at Johnson in the late 1940s. Sferoflex, grappling with a lack of succession, owns one of the most important patents of the sector, that of the elastic hinge for temples. At the beginning of 1981, Del Vecchio buys the Trentino company – which allows him to also overcome accusations of copying their patents – discovering how much his Luxottica is more advanced than competitors."

"The acquisition of Sferoflex in 1981 brings a Milanese pied-à-terre to a company that still doesn't know glamour but is becoming a world leader. Subsequently, in the peripheral Lotto square, near the San Siro stadium, Leonardo has his first Milanese office as an established industrialist, a bourgeois building from the early 20th century."

"Learning to draw is essential for him, to become a skilled engraver. It is engraving that first puts him in contact with eyeglass frames. He is handed some aluminum ones on whose temples he has to engrave decorations. The young Del Vecchio handles for the first time that delicate object that will change his life. The commission comes from a company in Rovereto, Sferoflex, which, by a twist of fate, will be one of his first acquisitions as an industrialist thirty years later."