by Etienne Fontaine
MILAN (AFP) – Italian furniture has never stopped reinventing itself, as is clear from the classy,
innovative models on display at this year’s International Furniture Salon in Milan.
Great names in fashion have teamed up with up-market furniture designers such as Kartell, the Milanese maker of chic plastic chairs, which unveiled its transparent “Mademoiselle” model by Philippe Starck, with the seat and seat back upholstered with a leopard pattern by Dolce and Gabbana.
Other pieces sport features by Missoni and Armani in an expo that reflects massive investment as well as invention.
The input by fashion designers adds “a touch of freshness and novelty to our products,” said Kartell president Claudio Luti, the former right-hand man to Gianni Versace.
“But we are still industrialists. When we design a model with Philippe Starck, we expect to keep it in our catalogues for at least 10 years, which distinguishes us from the fashion world,” he told AFP.
Kartell, which claims to enjoy the “strongest growth” in Italian designer furniture, is banking on the familiarity of the brand, innovation and the fact that its product line is “100 percent Made in Italy”.
“We need to stick to the Italian mentality, control quality and respond rapidly to customers’ demands,” Luti said.
As for Ycami, its up-market furniture such as futuristic aluminium chairs and tables is both 100 percent aluminium and 100 percent made in Italy.
The family company is brimming with creativity, investing in research to maintain its edge.
“We invest 30 percent of our turnover,” said managing director Adele Caimi. “I would rather forgo an advertising campaign than a new machine. It’s also how to avoid being copied.”
Ycami’s expensive, high-tech and chic lines translated into a 15 percent growth in sales compared with three percent for the Italian furniture industry overall last year.
“The success of certain innovative companies that are capable of adapting to change contrasts with the difficulties of many others,” said Italian furniture federation president Roberto Snaidero.
In the face of Chinese copies and heavy downward pressure on prices, successful companies have focussed on creativity and targeting the high end of the market.
The Incanto group, for example, has unveiled a recyclable armchair that they say was manufactured according to strict eco-friendly rules.
All suppliers of the Milanese company Tre-P are located within a 30-kilometer (20-mile) radius, which its director general, Franco Mauri, said was “indispensable for creation and quality control.”
Tre Piu explicitly targets its teak and tempered glass furniture to the high end of the market, investing 10 percent of its turnover into research into colours, light filtration and even noise.
As a result, the group exports half its production and has enjoyed continuous growth since it launched its luxury subsidiary Tre Piu 20 years ago.
The salon, which opened Wednesday, runs until Monday.
