For CBA, talking about sustainability has always meant starting from the facts and working with brands to identify their concrete commitment. Acting as a brand activist is a serious matter because consumers have become increasingly aware and demand greater transparency.

So today, we are happy to tell you more about our journey with Fileni. A project focused on their Purpose, Vision and Mission, which has led the brand to be the first B Corp in the world in its sector.

News Fileni B Corp single

Thanks to the company’s firm belief in its choices in pursuing sustainable innovation for more than 20 years, we have reached this crucial goal. They have worked through tangible initiatives, taking all the steps necessary: organic farming, the production and purchase of electricity with a Guarantee of Origin, antibiotic-free breeding and a Sustainability Report covering the entire supply chain, with the final goal of Benefit Society certification.

News Fileni B Corp double1
News Fileni B Corp double2

Facts first, then. A brand must equip itself with a strategic plan for two fundamental reasons: to guide future choices coherently and to communicate (internally and externally) their long-term project. CBA enters here through a strategic project divided into five phases, involving the company board and the first line of Fileni management.

  1. We conducted a brand assessment to discover the ambitions and deep motivations of the board and the Fileni family;
  2. During a workshop with the owners and management, we co-designed the commitments and method the company wants to adopt in light of past successes and future objectives (The Future Backward Method). 
  3. We measured the current perception within the company, among local stakeholders, the supply chain and consumers of Fileni’s areas of commitment through KPI scoring.  
  4. We devised an action plan for the next 3 years so Fileni can concretely implement the commitments made while also reporting and improving the perception in all areas;
  5. Finally, we developed the first communication toolkit of the strategic plans to engage all stakeholders equipped with physical and digital materials and a visual identity of their own.

In this newly formulated Purpose, Fileni completely takes on and practices the concept of Regenerative Culture as a common good for all and the new generations in particular.

Today Fileni, with a well-grounded purpose shared by all employees and members of the supply chain, is the standard-bearer of an ethical approach to production and consumption. Their method gives life to a new business model, which enhances the territory sustainably and with profit.

We are continuing our collaboration with the independent bookshop Mutty. Respecting nature is more than an environmental sustainability matter. The human spirit has always felt nature’s pull: we have always been inspired by it, fascinated by it and represented by it. So, here are three books, from classics to newer titles, showing how the natural world has been a constant source of inspiration through the decades.

Drawing a tree

Bruno Munari
Edizioni Corraini

Nature as an elementary sign.

Munari has always played with children and images. In this book, originally part of a series, the famous designer uses nature as a creative object and subject of depiction. The modularity of trees suggests various intuitive techniques to represent them easily. This practice lets emerge an analysis, a method and an aesthetic result pleasant for children and adults who can still marvel.

CBA Insight CbaMutti Books about nature 02 Munari Disegnare un Albero
CBA Insight CbaMutti Books about nature 01 Munari Disegnare un Albero
CBA Insight CbaMutti Books about nature 03 Munari Disegnare un Albero

Little tree

Katsumi Komagata 
Les Cosmographe / One Stroke

Nature as metaphor

Katsumi Komagata is a Japanese designer and illustrator considered the new Munari. “Little tree” has become his bestseller, a tactile book that can only be described through experience. When you hold it in your hands, all your senses are pleasantly attracted by this pop-up book, where the life cycle of a tree serves as a metaphor for human life. Sheets of ever-changing colours and textures follow the tree’s growth, subtle backgrounds for simple, poetic words capturing the traditional Japanese cyclical conception of life. This hand-bound gem has been published by One Stroke (Komagata’s own publishing house) since 2002.

CBA Insight CbaMutti Books about nature 05 Komagata Little Tree
CBA Insight CbaMutti Books about nature 04 Komagata Little Tree
CBA Insight CbaMutti Books about nature 06 Komagata Little Tree

Herbarium

Ugo la Pietra 
Marinoni Books

Nature as autobiographical meditation

In this very personal herbarium, the historian, architect and designer Ugo La Pietra uses his pen and pencil illustrations of plants, essences, trees to tell us anecdotes, intimate stories, as well as authentic notions about botany, cooking and aesthetics. After all, many things share a deep bond with plants and herbs: memories, ancient knowledge, history and culture. The book is designed in the usual delicate but impactful style of Marinoni Books’.

CBA Insight CbaMutti Books about nature 08 La Pietra Erbario
CBA Insight CbaMutti Books about nature 07 La Pietra Erbario
CBA Insight CbaMutti Books about nature 09 La Pietra Erbario

 Mutty è uno spazio culturale con una libreria indipendente, attivo dal 2013 a Castiglione d/S (MN), a pochi passi dal Lago di Garda.