Technical Aspects

Product Characteristics
70 year of family tradition and experience in the manufacturing, engineering, and construction of Italian technology, allows Fontana de Trevi to produce caskets of the highest quality for each of its markets. The company offers an elaborated wide variety of designs with the best raw materials, cutting-edge technology, and highly specialized labor.

Production Flexibility
Fontana manufactures custom made products; from the selection of the design and wood, to the selection of fabrics for its interiors and finishes.

Its experience in this sector and technological capacity allows them to produce handcrafted high quality caskets for three important markets served over decades such as Italy, Northern Europe, and Latin America. Currently, the company is making important and strategic plans to cover the United States market.

The products manufactured by Fontana de Trevi meet and exceed the yield, quality, and durability of the industry´s highest standards worldwide.

Italian Technology Developed and perfected over 70 years of experience

Technical Specifications
For the proper elaboration of each casket, Fontana carefully selects the best woods grown in Central America and the United States.

The company uses a kiln drying process in specialized ovens to guarantee that the selected wood will maintain its natural firmness, desired moisture content, and stability in its final form; avoiding future possible deformations.

A unique construction and assembly process is conducted that has been carefully designed and perfected over decades, to guarantee that the original product will last over the passing of time; maintaining a beautiful and detailed casket.

Perfect Corners

• Perfect cuts are made with high speed and precision machinery to assure that the surfaces will match to perfection.
• Two channels in “T” form are produced to guarantee better resistance, when compared to straight channels used by competitors.
• The corners are fixed with plastic accessory inserts specifically designed for Fontana to perfectly fit in the “T” channels.

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Precise Assembly and Resistant Joints

• All joints in the casket production are made with a high performance technical system that guarantees a stronger bond and mechanical resistance.
• The technology and quality standards used by Fontana are able to perform in a complex assembly, even in the dome curved part of the casket, especially for the US market; this is one of the most critical aspects of the engineering providing the best stability.
• In caskets of other manufacturers there are often splits and cracks in critical areas of the casket as they only join the sections with metal attachments that fail over time.

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The difference between Fontana de Trevi and others manufacturers, is that our caskets have a solid wood bottom made with Yellow Pine with a final minimum thickness of 1 inch; guaranteeing a higher resistance to humidity and carrying capacity.

Additionally, the company uses a unique system to join the bottom of the casket embedded at the time of assembly and tightening it to the molding in all its perimeter; providing a high stability and durability.

Depending on the model, the moldings are 1.6” or 2.4” thick; strengthening the general structure of the casket. Other manufacturers use much thinner compounded pieces.

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The bridges that hold the tops, are joined to the lid before they are divided into two parts or halves, obtaining a much better esthetic and structural result.

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Rubber Gasket Fontana de Trevi uses rubber on the entire surface supporting the top, securing a smoother closing, and protecting the varnish film in an elegant manner.

Excellence in the Finishing
Fontana de Trevi is particularly an expert in the surface treatment of the wood finishes of the highest quality worldwide. The wood is carefully and delicately polished in each corner of its beautiful caskets perfecting its appearance, keeping their smoothness intact and providing a high resistance and durability.

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The last 20 years of Research, Development, and innovation (R&D + i) on coatings and films have reached a significant impact on the products used today. Fontana de Trevi imports and uses only products manufactured by the Italian company ILVA of IVM Chemicals Group. Their varnishes and dyes are of the highest quality manufactured with European norms that are friendly to the environment, health and safety to the users. For more information on this company and their products please visit www.ilva.it and/or www.ivmchemicals.com.

To apply these varnishes, the company uses cutting-edge equipment of Italian technology such as pressurized rooms in clean states, with absence of dust and pulverization windless systems, to assure the absence of air bubbles and a perfect finished film.

Fine Interior
The interior is finished with high quality satins, trilobal silk and velvet fabrics that enfold all the interior of the casket. The designs are clean, elegant, and hand stitched by experienced hands that carefully look after every detail; finishing with a soft and comfortable sensation. For more information on its fabric suppliers visit www.isertessuti.com and www.lacetex.com.

Accessories
Each accessory has been carefully chosen and used to embellish each casket guaranteeing functionality, reliability, accessibility, and durability. For more information regarding the accessories visit www.caskethardware.com, www.langenau.com and www.spaf.it.

Geographical Position
Guatemala is located in a strategic geographical position very favorable for shipping to the entire American Continent. Ocean transport transit times vary between 5 to 15 days to any destination in the US depending on carrier, shipping ports, and selected route.

Upon approval of Purchase Orders, the manufacturing process and delivery time is 8 to 10 weeks for the first order. The company offers storage services as per customer requests for just-in-time inventories and immediate deliveries. This option offers the customer reduction of inventories and storage space to minimum levels; resulting in financial advantages.

Available Woods

American Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)
This species is well known for its durability, similar to oak, with a substantial reduction in weight and cost. It has flexibility and its close pores provide a balance that has made it, for generations, highly desirable for a number of applications.

It is considered a common species between the quality hardwoods and is usually softer than pine. The Poplar trees grow in humid areas with natural water drainage systems.

The supplier of this lumber is Lawrence Lumber Company and more information can be attained at www.lawrencelumberinc.com.

American Red Oak (Quercus rubra)
The sap of Red Oak varies from white to light brown and the heart is reddish pink to reddish brown. The wood grain is similar in appearance to white oak. Mostly the wood has a straight grain with a texture that is slightly rough that is used in interiors, doors, cabinets, floors, and furniture.

Oaks belong to a large group of species that grow in the hardwood forests of the East Coast of the United States. The majority of the oaks grow in humid low lands and some species grow in higher and dryer sites.

The supplier of this lumber is Lawrence Lumber Company and more information can be attained at www.lawrencelumberinc.com.

American Yellow Pine (Pinnus palustris)
This species grows in a wide geographical area from the East of Texas to Virginia. The denomination of Yellow Pine includes four main species: large leave, short leave, loglolly, and slash. The sawn wood of these four species are traded together under the same name.

One main characteristic that distinguishes Yellow Pine is as the most versatile and durable construction material, their values being among the highest of coniferous trees. It has earned a reputation worldwide as the best wood for structural use with a high durability for resistance.

The US supplier for this lumber is McShan Lumber and more information can be attained at www.mcshanlumber.com.

Guatemalan Santa María (Calophyllum brasilense)
This species grows East of the Indies and from Mexico through Central and South America. Some common names are: Barí, Leche de Maria in Mexico, Calaba in Panama, Aceite María in Colombia, Edaballi and Kurahara in Guyana, Balsamaría in Bolivia and Guanandi and Jacareuba in Brasil. It is located in all kind of soils: wet, humid, and dry.

Also Mahogany, Cedar and Santa Maria are wood widely used in the tropics for the manufacturing of furniture, boats, and high end constructions. It is recommended as a substitute of Mahogany (Echenique).

It is used for structural purposes, interior and exterior construction, wood shops in general, doors, windows, floors, cabinets, fine furniture, ship masts’, and columns. It is also used for veneer and was used by the Mayans for construction.

The color of its heartwood varies from pink to yellowish and pink to brick red or brown reddish. It poses a shiny color and its texture is medium and completely uniform.

The supplier of this material is Gibor, S.A. located in Guatemala. More information can be seen at www.gibor.com.