In 1916 Antonio Zanussi, the son of a blacksmith, founded the “Officina Fumisteria Antonio Zanussi” in Pordenone for the artisan production of wood-burning stoves and ovens; in 1933 he created a specialized line for the production of household appliances that he called “Rex”: it was for the transatlantic liner of the same name that he triumphantly entered the port of New York, establishing the speed record in crossing the Atlantic and winning the “Blue Ribbon” . From that glorious enterprise, a happy premonition of a success story, the household appliances were born that have marked the history of Italian families, concretely contributing to the growth of the quality of life. All this has been brilliantly summarized in the phrase “Made to be number 1” which since 1990 has signed, together with the logo, all Rex communication.
The first logo of 1933, designed by Vincenzo Giudice, depicted a black shield with the crown above it and the yellow “Rex” logo in high stick font. In the 1960s, the company invested heavily both in the evolution of production and in the design of its appliances, so much so that it was awarded the “Compasso d’Oro” in 1952 and 1967; in 1962 the logo lost the shield but not the crown that lived together with the three letters offset from each other.
In 1966 the logo alone was inscribed in a yellow diamond and, in some cases, in a yellow circle. In 1995 there was the restyling done by the English studio Minale & Tattersfield: the logo was developed and evolved in a strictly typographical way with a change in the leg of the letter “R” and a different overall spacing bringing the logo up to date. .
In 2004 Rex was incorporated into Electrolux, the world leader in household appliances: this merger combined the prestige of the Italian logo with Electrolux’s sensitivity to environmental and social issues. To preserve the heritage of Rex values towards consumers, the Electrolux logo appeared to be out of sight to seal the group identity; then, in 2007, due to the growing importance of the incorporating company in the logo, the weights were reversed. In the logic of the new identity of the Electrolux group, in 2010 the Rex logo saw a reduction in its presence in the composition. In 2015 the logo was completely absorbed by Electrolux.
