Close-Up The Way To Wellness

Technogym founder Nerio Alessandri started the global fitness and wellness equipment giant 40 years ago and has not stopped chasing his dream of using design to enable people to move for a better world

- Annabel Tan

If you ever worked out in a gym, whether in a fitness club, hotel, apartment building or even your own home, you would have most likely used a Technogym product. The Italian brand is recognised as one of the world’s leading fitness and wellness equipment companies, with a presence in more than 85,000 wellness centres and 500,000 private homes globally. Based in Cesena, Italy, Technogym is listed on the Milan Stock Exchange and has been the official supplier of eight Olympic Games since 2000, including the most recent Tokyo 2020.

The company was founded in 1983 by Nerio Alessandri, who was born into a farming family and has a background in industrial design. His story is a classic tale of rags to riches; at 22, Alessandri left his salaried job to build fitness equipment (starting with a hack squat machine) at home in his father’s garage. Today, his signature dark‑grey‑and‑yellow gym equipment is used by more than 55 million people across over 100 countries. But unlike other success stories, the Technogym founder and president has never rested on his laurels. Instead, 40 years on, his drive to spread the Technogym mission of “let’s move for a better world” only continues to grow, and he is just as hungry as when he first started.

In town this March for the opening of Technogym Singapore, a two‑storey, 570 square metre space on Mohamed Sultan Road, the animated 62‑year‑old sits down—on a Technogym Wellness Ball Active Sitting exercise ball, no less—with Tatler to share more about his vision and the new space.