In 1986, Denis Bocquet and his wife Roseline took on the challenge of setting up their company DBI VITRUVE SPRL in their family home of Celles (Belgium). At the time, the company focused on the decorative treatment of plate glass using traditional acid etching techniques.
Master craftsmen in various techniques refined over nearly 30 years of practice, the members of the DBI team can leverage their unique know-how for your projects.
Over the years, DBI VITRUVE has refined and adapted new processing methods to meet the highest quality and creativity requirements. Traditional and specialist sandblasting and conventional and special lacquering techniques were later added to DBI VITRUVE’s range of high-end treatments.
In 1990, on the strength of the company’s success, the founders were able to invest in a purpose-built plant which, above all, offered scalable expansion opportunities in the new industrial zone of Tournai Ouest, at the strategic crossroads of Wallonia, Flanders and France.
Thanks to the company’s unique structure, the high quality of the treatments performed and the professionalism shown by its craftsmen, DBI VITRUVE became the preferred partner of major glaziers dealing with high-end decorative and architectural glass. Experience also allowed the company to refine these processes and invent new ones, some of which in close collaboration with its customers.
In 1998, the Saint-Gobain Group took a keen interest in the “Charme” product created and developed by Denis Bocquet. The technique consists in using exceptionally large screen-printing frames with standard patterns to screen print glass panels using an acid paste replacing screen printing ink.
DBI then became a subsidiary of the Saint-Gobain Glass Group for 6 years. Even though this time under the group’s wing gave DBI the opportunity to implement stricter work practices and procedures, the founders had to fight to maintain the company’s mission to produce hand-crafted objects. Eventually, these discussions prompted Saint-Gobain to offer the company the choice to take back its independence in 2005.
Having finalised the buyout, the new generation conveyed a message of rejuvenation at the time the company was celebrating its 20th anniversary (article in Courrier de l’Escaut).
In 2020, Catherine Bocquet, daughter of the founders and manager of the company, decided that the company’s branding (DBI) should be enhanced with a new corporate identity closer to its roots. It entrusted the communication platform Combora with the challenge of developing a new communication with the primary objective of participating in the Paris International Heritage Fair in October 2020.
Ultimately, the goal was to improve communication and create a network bringing together the various players in the contemporary architecture and heritage sector in order to advertise the use of its know-how and processes to the end customer.
More than ever, DBI artisan glass makers are intent on providing our end customers with advice when making decorative or artistic choices and on answering their technical questions.
