The acquisition of its long-time distributor is central to the company’s strategy to expand in the U.S.
CARTONI, the Rome-based designer and manufacturer of the widest range of professional camera support products, for the film, television, and broadcast industries, has acquired STE-MAN Inc/Manios Digital & Film, the North Hollywood-based supplier of premium camera equipment. Manios Digital & Film has represented Cartoni products across the United States since 1989.
The move broadens Cartoni’s sales reach and enables the company to personally serve its diverse client base in the United States. “In acquiring our US distributor, we will be more directly involved with our number one market and improve our response to the industry’s evolving needs,” said Elisabetta Cartoni, President and CEO. “The close cooperation we’ve had with Steve Manios, and his great team will continue for many more years. This merger will also allow us to further expand and better serve the rest of the Americas with a dedicated warehouse and service center.”
Steve Manios assumes the position of Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “This is the natural step in a wonderful relationship spanning more than three decades,” Manios said. “I’m looking forward to working closely with the Cartoni team in Italy and growing markets for their unique products.” Other senior members of the Manios Digital & Film staff will continue in their current roles, including Western Regional Sales Manager David Butler, Eastern Regional Sales Manager Gus Harilaou, Inside Sales Manager Chris Lobos and Accounting Director Selma Top.
Cartoni’s diverse range of fluid heads, tripods, pedestals and accessories, are renowned for their engineering, craftsmanship and functionality, and used worldwide by leading cinematographers, camera operators and television cameramen. Founded in 1935, it is the only support company that designs, manufactures and assembles its products in Europe. The company owns over three dozen patents for its fluid action and counterbalance technology. Cartoni innovation has received international recognition, including a Scientific and Technical Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1992 for the technology behind the company’s fluid heads, and two Society of Operating Cameramen (SOC) Technical Awards for the invention of the first Fluid Modular Camera Control Head System in 1999 and, in 2016, for outstanding contributions to cinematography through the design and development of the Lambda Head.
