Diasen, cork paints and mortars for large projects
The Marche company's natural products are also used in design objects. Managing Director Mingarelli: we must go beyond sustainability
by Lello Naso
3' min read
Key points
- From chemistry to the combination of natural products
- An encounter with great architects: the Paris Metro and the Royal Palace of Evora
- 7% of turnover invested in research and open Academy
3' min read
"We discovered we were a sustainable company long after we were. Now the goal is to go beyond sustainability by taking care of people's health and well-being. Helping to build homes and spaces that give complete comfort to those who inhabit and live in them". Diego Mingarelli, 46, CEO of Diasen, the family business founded in 2000 in Sassoferrato, in the province of Ancona, is a third-generation entrepreneur who is a 'sustainable native', as he says with a smile. Diasen has been producing biomalts based on cork and neighbouring materials since 2000, the year when, fresh out of university, Diego joined his father in the company. "My grandfather made soaps and my father made solvents," he recounts. "Diasen was born as a spin-off of Italsolventi, the family business, and then took over permanently".
Diego's father, Floriano Mingarelli, despite working in a highly impactful sector - or perhaps because of this - had a special sensitivity for the environment and the territory. "He experimented with new products starting from the elements of nature and our ecosystem, the Apennine territory. I used to call him the alchemist. He would look for materials and work on them, empirically. Combining elements, mixing opposites. He had a great sensitivity for ecology'.
The turning point was the encounter with cork. "We discovered a product with important characteristics for building," explains Diego, who at that time was still involved in product marketing. "We were at the dawn of thermal insulation, new construction techniques and the use of alternative products. We realised that cork was a perfect material".
With the waste of wine bottle corks from Sardinia, and thanks to collaboration with the Universities of Camerino and Ancona, the products that will become Diasen's identity are born. "The path always started from internal empirical experimentation. We would do practical tests. Then we would involve the universities. Over the years we have extended our collaboration to the Milan and Turin polytechnics, to Fraunhofer. Today we are an open research centre. Our Green Future Academy last year hosted over 500 professionals, academics and researchers, in groups of 10-15 people. An open space for discussion'.
The company's growth has been progressive. In 2010, Diasen had 15 employees and a turnover of 5 million on the domestic market alone. The second phase began when Manuel Caleiro, a Portuguese owner of an architectural design company came across Diasen products. Caleiro, now general manager of Diasen, introduced the Marche-based company's mortars and paints to the Portuguese design world. "Again," says Mingarelli, "it was a discovery. The Portuguese school of architecture, one of the most important in the world, became enthusiastic about our cork-based products, of which, paradoxically, Portugal is a large producer'. Architects appreciated all the bio-building qualities of Diasen mortars and paints: insulation, sound absorption, waterproofing. But also ductility and malleability, suitability for use in design.
