Designer /Inventor/ Entrepreneur

 

Aquilino Cosani (1924-2016), was born in Romania to Italian emigrants. On the family’s return to Italy, he grew up  in Osoppo ( UD ), later studying at the Istituto Malignani in Udine.  In 1947 he moved to Milan finding employment with a molded rubber factory. His time with the company was to be brief however as within the space of a couple of months he had come up with the idea  that one could  produce rubber objects without needing to fuse the two separate parts together, prompting him to return to Osoppo to set  up his own workshop at home to put his theory into practice. Using a mold, he  produced his first object, a baby elephant.

The elephant produced during his early experiments is replicated in the brand logo embossed on one of the dwarf’s hats.

Domenico Dondé(1924-2003, originally from Romagna, came to Friuli when his father, a railway worker, was assigned responsibility for the rail track between Cividale - Kobarid. Like his contemporary, Aquilino Cosani, he studied at the Istituto Malignani in Udine, where he obtained a diploma in aviation engineering. On obtaining his license after the war, Dondé invested his organizational skills and passion for new materials in the innovative idea of ??rotational molding and in 1950, together with his old classmate - and initially a third partner - founded the Ledragomma company.

In 1971, Aquilino Cosani registered the patent in America for the world-famous exerciser with handles which, depending on the licencee, was marketed under different trade names: Pon-Pon in the case of Ledragomma, Space Hopper in the USA.

Source: Carlo Cosani, L’INTERNAZIONALIZZAZIONE DELLA PMI: UN CASO DI SUCCESSO, tesi di laurea in Economia aziendale, management e professioni, Università di Ferrara, 2009

Pon Pon on the cover page of a catalogue, 1969. (courtesy Ledragomma)