Lechler is an Italian paints and coatings manufacturer. 1858: the German origin Lechler originated from the German company Christian Lechler und Sohn Nachfolger established in 1858 in Stuttgart by the chemist-pharmacist Christian Lechler. Christian's son, Paul Lechler, expanded the business and in 1878 sold it to his main collaborators to focus on other undertakings in the chemical field and spraying technology. The company's longevity bears two hallmarks: continuity in the ownership succession model and management teams made up of people grown within the organisation with discontinuous presence at the helm of members of the owners’ families, who were present in early years, then absent for decades to make a comeback as the company became a well-established name in the industry. 1889: opening of the Italian subsidiary In 1889, the German company opened a subsidiary in Ponte Chiasso, Como. The Italian subsidiary was run by a German engineer, Ermanno Spindler. In the early years customers were small-sized non-specialist retailers, professional private users and businesses that employed Lechler products largely on iron and wood, e.g. coaches, railway wagons and carriages, tramway cars and furnishings. 1910: the Italian subsidiary becomes independent of the German parent In 1910, as the German parent had decided to shut down the Italian subsidiary, three employees, Messrs. Brizzolara, La Regina and Rizzi asked a local bank Banco Edoardo Clerici, later renamed Banca Amadeo, to bring together a pool of financiers willing to invest in the business in which they too would buy a stake and also manage. The bank was quick to find enough investors interested in the venture and in February 1910 the partnership Chr. Lechler & Figlio Successori was formed in Como and it took over ownership and management of the Italian business. Under the new management the industrialisation of the production process got started: electricity and the first machines began to be used, a specialised graduate was hired at the lab. The company's logo too was redesigned. As was the wont with other paints and coatings makers, the symbol of an animal – an eagle with spread out wings – was added to the Lechler company's name. The 1920s: synthetic coatings In the second half of the 1920s production gradually shifted from being almost entirely based on natural raw materials (linseed oil, natural resins and pigments obtained from metals) to increasingly using synthetic raw materials. Largely employed to make explosives during World War I, nitrocellulose