The architects Gianemilio Monti, Pietro Monti and Anna Bertarini, highly professional and kind people, intrigued our father with their proposal to make the first plastic handle produced in Italy. Of course Boma turned out to be the most widely used and appreciated. Dad was always particularly keen on specifying that they were made using Durethan resin by the Bayer company from Leverkusen, Germany. He liked to mention that for two reasons.
One is that the plastic was an excellent material, and the other was because the technicians at Bayer were so forthcoming and generous with advice. For a company like Olivari, used to making its handles in metal, plastic had seemed risky. Would the market appreciate it? It was a wager, and it was won
— Residential housee in via A. Moro a San Donato Milanese - 1991
Besides being a good calling card in the design world, year after year the Boma was a best-seller.
— Residential house in via Calco 2 (con Enrico Freyrie), Milano 1954-1956
The novelty of shape and colour combined with the inexpensiveness of the material and production process made for long-lasting success, and this has continued to be so over time. — Antonio Olivari
— Coat hook in multilayer plywood, de Padova ICF 1955