by Stefano Belviolandi

The changeover from the lira to the euro was a turnaround that felt like a stroke of luck. In the early 2000s, thanks to a flash of genius by its CEO, Stefano Di Saverio, Silicon managed to intercept the need that, shortly afterwards, would have poured over our heads like a hurricane: how to convert the lira into euro? Euroconverters were born, a true cult object at the time and... what better items could make their entrance into the world of gadgets?

Di Saverio tells us that he had the good fortune to approach an important manager at Mitsubishi and to have been able to get his hands, some time in advance, on the microprocessors which, installed in the euro converters, would have helped the population to become familiar with the changeover from the lira to the euro.

How did this insight come about and where did the idea come from?

"In November 2001 we were fully prepared for the converters. Suddenly the market exploded and the Euroconverter was the milestone. We stocked up on neutral products and then made a proper catalogue. Silicon is a family business that has been operating in the B2B promotional market since 1984 and has agencies as its main client. With a showroom in Milan but an operative base in the province of Teramo, the company made a big leap forward thanks to the intuition of the euroconverters and twenty years later I still have an indelible memory of it. It was a real turning point for society! At the time we were importers of watches and bought the components from Citizen in Japan. Thanks to them, we got in touch with the manager of Mitsubishi. I told him about my project and he fell in love with it so much that he started making the microprocessors. It wasn't a walk in the park because we were a small importer at the time and being able to talk to Mitsubishi was a pipe dream".

From the idea to the actual project, what were the steps?

“The gadgets that were all the rage at the time were calculators, and I had the idea of attaching this new requirement to them. The project led to the creation of a product that remained in vogue for about four months and allowed the company to take a whole new turn. We invested what we had made in a new 10,000 square metre facility in the province of Teramo. In addition, in 2000 both digital and fibre optics had not yet taken hold as they have now, creating many difficulties. Today, digital is an advantage that makes the difference, at an interactive level, first of all by focusing on an effective website. You just need to find the right consultant, the one who can make your site responsive, fast, interactive with your smartphone”.

Why is the PTE Special Edition important to Silicon and the industry as a whole?

«Digital is key, but a company like Silicon also needs to meet people face to face! Our last participation in a public event was in January 2020 right at PTE. Several months passed during which only virtual meetings took place.

The PTE Special Edition represents for us a restart point where we hope to meet people and, at least, live an experience of “new normality”. For the occasion we will bring an ad hoc catalogue, a green collection made entirely of eco-sustainable wheat fibre, bamboo, Rpet, items made with used coffee pods, hemp and stone powder with which we have made diaries. Then, with the PTE edition in January 2022, a tradition should be revived that would allow us to leave a terrible period behind us».

Opening image: Objects made of wheat straw. Pen holder with wireless charger, extension unit with three USB ports, wireless charger (5W) suitable for latest generation smartphones