Brushing up on Acca Kappa history
August 16, 2006 | 12:00am
When Oprah Winfrey endorsed the Acca Kappa toothbrush and toothpaste brand on her TV show a few years ago, the Acca Kappa owners were shocked. Product sales tripled. In two weeks, all supplies in the United States were sold out.
Not used to being endorsed by celebrities in this manner, the company was unprepared and had to rush delivery of goods, which the US outlets were demanding. Surely, before Oprah recommended Acca Kappa’s products for their excellence, she must have done her research. She must have discovered that Acca Kappa started manufacturing brushes in 1869, with the Queen of England as one of its faithful customers. And more importantly, she must have tried Acca Kappa’s products herself, for Oprah was indeed seen shopping at Acca Kappa stores in the US.
If it’s good enough for Oprah Winfrey and the Queen of England, then there must be something special about Acca Kappa. What is the magic and mystique behind this brand? I wondered as I surfed the Net. I had also heard that Acca Kappa’s best-selling product at Rustan’s Essenses is White Moss cologne, which friends swear is today’s hottest scent.
Then this summer, I got an invitation I simply could not brush aside: Would I like to visit Acca Kappa country and meet Elisa Gera, the heiress who runs this 137-year-old institution that produces the best brushes in the world?
As I packed my bags, I thought it was going to be another vanity trip to try out the most high-tech brushes ("Using an Acca Kappa hairbrush is like giving your scalp a massage," read one intriguing comment on the Internet) and to sniff the latest colognes ("Acca Kappa is the fave of Queen Elizabeth as well as young royalty," said another). It turned out to be an elegant journey back into history, into a refined and genteel era in Treviso, Italy.
Treviso is a charming town in the Veneto region of Italy with piazzas dating back to the 14th century B.C. Remnants of a civilization rich in art and culture include ruins of stone walls, churches rich in Gothic paintings and castles with faded statues. I felt its aura of courtly poetry enveloping a place suffused with pride in its past. There are sidewalks covered with cobblestones, coolly shaded by trees that must be as old as the town’s majestic palaces.
A respect for history is written all over this place that takes pains to preserve every single pillar or tower that was once part of citadels of culture made more storied by Celtic, Gothic and Byzantine invasions, as well as Austrian and French takeovers. The place has a charming soul. It possesses a sure serenity that will perhaps be broken only by an aria from a concert hall. Exactly the setting of many a Lina Wertmuller film, except that her characters usually break such hallowed silences with cinematic shrills.
This passion to preserve is so clearly seen in Acca Kappa which still operates out of its original l904 building in Treviso. This historic building is now classified as a part of Italy’s industrial archeology.
At the back of this building is a cluster of factories where Acca Kappa’s line of personal care products – from hair brushes to colognes to shampoos – are produced and packaged.
"This is the factory where I used to work during summers when I was young," says the beauteous Elisa Gera, fourth-generation heiress to the Acca Kappa institution. "Acca Kappa stands for the initials of the company founder, my great grandfather Hermann Krull. From Germany, he went to Venice (which is right beside Treviso) as a student. Acca Kappa was at first producing only brushes – all types of brushes, including brushes for horses’ hair as well as human hair. At that time, Acca Kappa was importing raw materials from China. Now, we are exporting to China. It’s nice to buy from China and sell back to China."
It is remarkable how a 137-year-old manufacturing empire was built on one simple item – the hairbrush – that has remained fashionable and useful all these years. Originally made in classic wood, Acca Kappa brushes have undergone different design modes using, chrome, gold, and now the more affordable plastic as well. The brush has become the cornerstone of this company, which now produces soaps, colognes, shower gels, moisturizers, shaving creams and handwash gels. Toiletries now comprise 80 percent of Acca Kappa’s products. The top sellers include Elisa’s favorite creations – the White Moss line, which is a hit in Paris, and the Calychantus scent which is a favorite in Hong Kong.
The brushes are made following the traditional methods handed down by Hermann Krull and the rest of the Hermann Krulls after him. See, the passion for continuity is evident even in the naming of descendants after their revered founder.
"Even the techniques have been preserved and passed on to the current generation of workers, many of whom are children and grandchildren of our pioneer workers who have remained loyal to us," explains Eliza as we tour the factory and meet the staff. "While many of these techniques still involve expertise requiring the use of the hands, we have made use of modern technology where it is needed."
Elisa proudly says she started formally working 15 years ago in the production department of the Acca Kappa factory after college, when she was 24. Inside the Acca Kappa offices, she shows us walls covered with vintage black-and-white photos of the original Acca Kappa employees. In glass cabinets are samples of early products lovingly produced by hand. One wooden hairbrush even had the engraving, "Her Royal Highness, the Queen of England." Books and product catalogues with pages yellowed by time show assorted shapes and sizes of brushes and combs, many of these looking more like smoothly contoured artworks. More photographs showing milestones in the company’s history – with the founders posing with their workers – add a touch of warmth and nostalgia.
On the second floor, the atmosphere is young and very now. There is an assembly of computers manned by employees in blue jeans. On the walls are colorful, modern artworks. This is where past meets present.
Looking at the vintage brushes and combs encased in glass, I saw simplicity and elegance. No wonder the Design Museum of London has selected some Acca Kappa products in its showcase of design icons. "The purity and functional efficiency of its individual forms and the care taken in manufacturing and packaging our products encourage people to use the term ‘design’ in describing our results... with their quiet and sensible qualities," explains an Acca Kappa catalogue. Such products bring us to "a leap back into history, a marked homage to the best of Acca Kappa traditions," as they were designed "for an upscale clientele well-versed in the importance of small joys and the true value of things… a treasured value that has survived all the mercurial fashions that have sprung up in this century."
No wonder Acca Kappa is considered "the Italian legacy of luxury." Did Oprah Winfrey see in Acca Kappa the importance of such small joys and the true value of things?
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