Defined by the weekly newsmagazine Espresso as “the most surprising project” illustrated in the ADI Design Index 2006, the double-channel roller kiln FBP designed by Isao Hosoe for Sacmi Forni is a great achievement in Italian industrial design. One of the features that particularly appeals to the specialists of the Industrial Design Association is the role, that is not merely esthetic but also functional, played by color: the coloring of the panels, from yellow to blue, also represents the different temperatures in each section of the kiln.
Thanks to this feature, the Sacmi kiln was shortlisted among the 140 projects chosen as the best products Made in Italy and distributed in 2005, published in the Design Index 2006. This is the first step towards the conquest of the 21st Compasso d’oro – the maximum award in the field of industrial design, established in 1954 by the ADI – that will be assigned in the fall of 2007. The other competitors come from the widest variety of sectors, from footwear to knives, from chairs to lamps, actually five main sectors ranging from design for the home, for the environment, for work, services and people.
It would not be the first time for Sacmi: in 1998 the jury of the Compasso d’oro – a committee of experts consisting of critics, historians, designers and journalists in the design field – had assigned the important award to the single-layer kiln FMP, which was also the result of cooperation between the company's Technical Office and the designer Isao Hosoe; and four years ago the tunnel kiln for sanitary fixtures XLNt was shortlisted in the ADI Design Index 2003. Moreover, the new FBP kiln was one of the centers of attraction at Tecnargilla 2006, drawing crowds of clients and visitors and the praise of the most prestigious design associations that awarded the machine a number of significant prizes, including the prestigious Good Design, assigned to the FBP kiln by the “Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and design”, already won by the XLNt in 2003.
These awards are the demonstration of Sacmi's ability to combine the functional performance of its machines with skilled, original design. Important innovations characterize the new FBP kiln from the technical point of view as well: the two independent firing channels make it possible to fire different products at the same time, and a safety device signals breakage of a roller in real time, so as to prevent serious difficulties in production.