A CARTONI Tripods Factory Tour – Family Tradition at its Best

by Johnnie BehiriMay 28^th, 2018

We continue our series of “factory tour” short documentaries, aiming to explore manufacturers from the filmmaking industry and the personal stories behind them. This time I headed to Rome to meet Elisabetta and Beatrice Cartoni, who are currently managing the CARTONI tripods family business.  

Elisabetta and Beatrice Cartoni

There is just as much joy in traveling and meeting the key people that are part of our industry as there is pleasure in conveying their personal story and putting a face on a company, which for many outsiders is consider just another name.  We did it before – when we were allowed to exclusively film at the SIGMA lenses factory in Japan, and even before that our FUJINON factory tour in Japan – and we are doing it again, this time visiting the CARTONI tripods factory in Rome, Italy.

Renato CARTONI (Elisabetta and Beatrice’s grandfather) was a documentary filmmaker at the Istituto Nazionale Luce. Back then, he was already looking for ways to move the camera and invented the Gyro head. His new creation was shared with colleagues at the film institute, but it was not until his son Guido, founder of the current structure, took over in 1962 and made CARTONI a fully commercial company. One of the first to notice the quality and innovation of CARTONI’s tripod heads were Arnold and Robert Richter, the founders of ARRI. The first heads were made under the ARRI brand name and sold internationally. Guido CARTONI was awarded numerous times for his inventions and I truly recommend watching the documentary film the family made about this special person, just before he passed away.

Today the company is being led by Elisabetta and Beatrice Cartoni, and together with their loyal employees they continue to innovate and search for ways to make the life of filmmakers a bit easier.

Music for the above video is licensed from Art-list: Dough by Gran Torino  and Me and You by One moment

I’ll leave you with the images I took, but would like to mention again that my respect goes to the people behind manufacturing the equipment we use! Many thanks to Elisabetta, Beatrice, Jacques and the employees at CARTONI factory in Rome, Italy.

Please share with us, if you are interested in seeing more “Behind the Scenes” of companies that are part of our filming industry. We will approach these companies and do our best to get more insights behind the scenes of how the things we use every day are made!