Franco Ottolenghi

FOUNDING Partner

Franco Ottolenghi

Franco Ottolenghi is a founding partner of CSIL. He was born in Milan in 1929. Between 1939 and 1952 he lived in Argentina where he completed his studies.

In 1953 he began working with his father in the plywood and veneering industry, in the first particle-board panel factory in Italy to use the Swiss patent, Novopan (it was actually the second, but the first – Fibrosil – burned down and was never rebuilt).

In 1962 he developed a new panel plant using the hard core of the hemp plant, which was subsequently converted for use with wood when the cultivation of hemp was outlawed.

From 1966 he managed Saffincisa, a merger between the family firms and Saffa Industrie Legno.

In 1984 he left the wood industry and joined Alberto Zevi at Elmag in Monza (Milano), a manufacturer of machinery for wood finishing and graphic arts. On Dr. Zevi’s death he was appointed president of the company.

He retired in 2002, on his 73rd birthday.

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