The strength of Delta Group, a company from Vicenza that designs and builds fountains and swimming pools with the most advanced technology and great visual impact, is their capacity to create networks and synergies. “In terms of size,” explains the company’s no. 1, Gianfranco Deganello, “we cannot compete with the world leaders in the sector, such as Wet Design from the USA, who designed the Dubai fountain for 280 million dollars. But with Crystal Fountains, the Canadian giant that also has offices in the Gulf, we reached a commercial agreement which brought us into the loop. And so we remain independent but we can have access to orders that would not be within our reach if we had stayed self-reliant.”

In practice, if Crystal Fountains receives an order in Italy, it is Delta Group that makes it, managing the production process from the beginning to the end. “The Canadians, “continues Deganello, “simply supply us with some electrical components.” Electronics are fundamental for Delta’s fountains; they are used to control the play of the lights. “Light,” explains Deganello, “has a role that is certainly not secondary in our fountains. And to offer our clients the best, we make use of the expertise of Space Cannon, which is Italian and a leading company in the lighting engineering sector. Another partner in this field is the German company Watershow, which is specialised in the production of equipment for temporary installations for occasions of events or fairs.”

Thanks to this network of skills at the highest level, Delta Group is able to obtain, through the opening and closing of electric valves at very high frequencies, extremely complex and impressive plays of water, creating for example “water screens” on which lights and lasers are projected. Their references are countless, not just in the traditional luxury markets, such as Russian and the Arab Emirates, where the company has exported its own name through association with world-renowned Italian design studios, but also in the lesser-known Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.

Delta has made fountains for the Turin Winter Olympics, for the futuristic Milan Rho-Pero Fair, for the Ara Pacis Complex in Rome, for the Valle theatre in Reggio Emilia and, abroad, for the Menelik Park in Addis Ababa, for the Federation Tower Business Centre in Moscow and for the presidential palace in Astana. “The new oil-producing countries like Kazakhstan,” explains Deganello, “are the most promising markets for us. To embellish the new capital, Astana, the Kazak government felt that fountains were an element of strong decorative impact and so water entered with full rights as one of the architectural features.”

But where do the skills that today Delta exports throughout the world come from? “Italy,” explains Deganello, “boasts an ancient tradition. We were, in bygone centuries, the 'fountaineers’, called to France from the time of the renaissance to create the water features at the court and aristocratic residences. And so, in 2002, we decided to take an ambitious step, which was something new for us, seeing that Delta at that time was working with irrigation, but nevertheless in keeping with tradition. Our ambition was to become the modern-day interpreters of an ancient tradition, accepting projects only at the very highest level. Basically, in terms of quality, we can match the biggest in this sector and we work with the major architects and contractors worldwide.

After only a few years, Delta Group has become a recognised brand, the only Italian exponent in an extremely specialised business. If Delta were to be judged only on their dimensions (a small firm that invoices 4 million Euros and employs around 20 people), it would be difficult to understand how this Italian company manages to win increasingly important orders throughout the world. The key word is Made in Italy. “If the Arabs or the Russians want a fountain of Italian design, they have to come to us, because we are the only ones considered able to offer Italian creativity together with very high reliability. These are the characteristics for which we are recognised by our clients. And it is not an indifferent achievement,” observes Deganello. Style, refinement and reliability are the fundamental elements for which we are appreciated in the world market, but other things are also needed. And so the company from Vicenza is equipping itself to create a research and development centre and at the same time to enhance its own solutions through the use of technology.

Only through an ever-increasing reliance on hi-tech were we able to make a fountain as complex as the one for the Court of honour of the Royal Palace of Venaria Reale (Torino), the crowning project of the Delta Group, and a true company showcase. “It was the very first time in the world,” observes Deganello, “in which jets of water as high as 9 metres were illuminated with coloured LED lights. The Venaria Royal Palace fountain, which is 120 metres in length, is truly a theatre of water. It is electronically controlled, and allows the creation of digitally memorised backdrops that can be repeated in an infinite array of suitable variations, if desired. We are even capable of making a fog effect, thanks to the nebulisation of the jets, which we then illuminate with bands of light. To express it through a slogan, in the Venaria Reale Palace, Delta Group has used all the most fascinating features currently available to enhance fountains.”