In 1983, when muscle-building equipment hardly existed at all, Romagna-born Nerio Alessandri, aged 22, a mechanics enthusiast, built, with the help of a carpenter and a painter, his first handcrafted machine in his garage, where he had installed a small workshop. It was a hit and the start of a 100-square-meter warehouse for the production of a line of innovative equipment. Nerio Alessandri, convinced of the importance of the well-being of the mind and the body, was actually the inventor of the word "wellness," and the one who brought exercise equipment out of the gym and into our homes. Always one step ahead he brought good design into the sector, designing equipment as objects to be exhibited. In 1990 he added electronics, in 1995 the computer, in 2000 a TV monitor, combining physical activity with entertainment. In 2005 Kinesis was born, an absolutely revolutionary object: a wavy wooden wall from which two handles jut out allowing the user to do countless exercises, while the resistance of the weight remains invisible. The company's success is all due to the brilliant mind of its inventor, who at 40 is the youngest "Cavaliere del Lavoro" in the history of the Italian Republic. Today Technogym counts about 2,000 workers—or "collaborators" as the chairman calls them, half of whom work in the main plant in Cesena. It has 14 branches in Europe, the United States, Asia, the Middle East, Australia and South America, and it exports 90% of its own production.