Fernando and Maddalena De Padova begin their business activities by importing Scandinavian furniture and objects, sold at the store on via Montenapoleone in Milan. This marks the debut of design from Northern Europe in Italy: a revolution that has had a permanent impact on our way of living. “…I chose what I liked, I was blown away by certain pieces of furniture, by those lines, by the diversity. I think I had an instinctive sense of aesthetics… let’s just say I understood perfectly when something was ugly”. (Maddalena De Padova).

On a trip to Basel Maddalena De Padova happens to discover the Wire Chair by Charles Eames. The encounter changes her life. A few months later, in fact, through Willi Fehlbaum, the founder of Vitra, Maddalena meets with the American company Herman Miller and acquires a license to produce the products designed by Charles Eames and George Nelson in Italy. Founding of ICF De Padova, with headquarters in Vimodrone, near Milan, for the production in Italy of the office furnishings of Herman Miller.

From her encounters with that company ’s American designers, Maddalena De Padova absorbs the secrets that would become the core of her philosophy: the importance of the environmental context, from George Nelson, of “connections” from Charles Eames, the role of objects, from Alexander Girard, a métissage of technology and everyday useful things, often produced by the folk tradition.

The large showroom is opened at corso Venezia in Milan, for the display and sale of collections of furnishings and accessories for the home and office, produced by ICF De Padova. The shop becomes a launching pad for emerging young designers like Ingo Maurer, whose first lamps and objects are introduced by De Padova.

After Fernando’s death, Maddalena De Padova runs the company herself, supervising production and distribution. Besides the Herman Miller products, for several years De Padova has already been making pieces that would become icons of the era, like the Sofabank by Rolf Heide, the PLR chair by Ross Littel and, under license, the Interparete by Herbert Hirche: an aesthetic and functional revolution whose force was immediately understood by De Padova. Vico Magistretti begins his long collaboration with the company in this period, designing a collection of office furniture.

De Padova cedes the ICF brand with the license to make Herman Miller products, and launches a line of furniture and objects under the De Padova trademark. “Edizioni De Padova” is founded, which would later become “è De Padova”, with the collaboration of great designers like Achille Castiglioni and Dieter Rams, and above all Vico Magistretti. Technologically advanced products are mixed with traditional and ethnic objects chosen by Maddalena De Padova.

The store on corso Venezia is like an eye, open to distant worlds: that of the Shakers represents the high point.

“It was an epoch-making event. We discovered an unknown people, the Shakers, and it brought heightened credibility to De Padova”. This is how Pierluigi Cerri, who did the graphic design for the exhibition on the Shakers, recalls the evening of 27 February 1984, when the De Padova shop windows introduced Italy, for the first time, to the furniture of a previously unfamiliar community from Maine.

De Padova introduces a new collection of office furniture (home/office) that completely overthrows the traditional concept of furnishings and spaces for work.

Achille Castiglioni designs a series of displays for the De Padova shop windows, adding another unique aspect to the company ’s style.

Important steps are also taken in the contract sector. At the end of the Nineties the company begins to work with Renzo Piano on the furnishings of the cafe of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. This collaboration would continue in the future, with the furnishings for the Morgan Library’s restaurant in New York and the headquarters of Il Sole 24Ore daily newspaper in Milan.

When Gaetano Pesce and De Padova join forces in September 1999, it is the meeting of two unique entities: the uniqueness of the works of Pesce, and that of the De Padova showroom, a crossroads of ideas and stimuli.

“A store ought to move, to produce sensations, to offer visitors a meeting place for cultural initiatives that generate interest, curiosity, emotion.”(Maddalena De Padova).

Maddalena De Padova wins the Compasso d’Oro for her career, in the 20th edition of the prestigious award. The jury ’s reasoning: “The great commitment of Maddalena De Padova in the production and spread of design, as a shared culture and field of interaction for different international spheres, represents a unique case of consistency and quality in our country.”

The area of the ex-factory I.C.F. in Vimodrone, near Milan, is reopened, totally renewed and enlarged: there resides the headquarter's company.

The 50th anniversary of the founding of the company is celebrated with a book and an exhibition, retracing its history through encounters, interviews, comments and images.

Patricia Urquiola, who was manager of the R&D division of De Padova from ’91 to ’96, begins to work with the company as a designer: she creates the Ola chair, soon to be follone by other successful pieces that have become part of the collection. The Japanese design studio Nendo creates several new products for De Padova, combining functional quality and oriental delicacy.

De Padova, in collaboration with Designboom.com, holds a design competition to commemorate Vico Magistretti.

Maddalena De Padova completes the phase of transition in the company, passing the helm to her children Valeria and Luca, who further develop its managerial structure.

De Padova showing for the first time, the models of Achille Castiglioni’s architecture and exhibits. " Effetto Castiglioni" A tribute to an unfamiliar side of Achille Castiglioni. The De Padova showroom, presents for the first time the models of exhibit designs and architectural projects by this great master. Twenty-three models stored until today at the Studio Museo Achille Castiglioni leave their cardboard boxes to narrate the expertise of Castiglioni, in a path that extends from the 1950s to 2000.

On 18 January 2010 Luca De Padova has been appointed as the new CEO of De Padova. Together with his sister Valeria, a member of the board and director of the

Milan showroom, Luca De Padova initiates relationships of collaboration with new emerging and renowned designers, investing resources in the development of new products, while consolidating the brand and increasing its effectiveness on traditional and emerging foreign markets.

“Our parents, with all the talented individuals who have worked with the firm,” Luca De Padova explains, “created and developed this outstanding business venture; my sister Valeria and I, having been fortunate enough to start with an already successful company, want to contribute to make it grow and to further enhance its image.”