Moroso

If you’re in design and you don’t know Moroso, well, we have no words. Every furniture designer who is anyone has worked with Moroso, from Tom Dixon and Ron Arad to Mark Newson and Javier Mariscal. At this year’s Salone, the company won the Milano Design Award for best exhibition project for its showroom installation by Patricia Urquiola. Moroso alone is enough to get us into our Prada gear, and there’s still six more…

Gervasoni

Like many an Italian furniture producer, Gervasoni is a third-generation family business that excels at high production values. Keeping it fresh and on the edge is artistic director Paola Navone – one of the most legendary women in Italian design.

Tonon

With its creative craftsmanship dating back to the 1920s, Tonon’s quality standard wasn’t compromised in the least by industrialisation in the 1950s. This explains why, although absolutely modern, the aesthetic is more classical than innovative or trendy.

Potocco

Potocco produces quality Italian chairs in classical forms, with just a subtle twist to make you look again. Functionality, great design and affordability are its priorities, not to mention a love of wood – and who doesn’t love wood at the moment?

Domitalia

A thoroughly Italian furniture producer, Domitalia’s stable of designers is all, well, Italian. Specialising in chairs, tables and occasionals, its signature style is modern with an emphasis on distinctive practicality and large orders.

Frag

When it comes to leather, nobody does it like Frag. The company specialises in transforming traditional hides into versatile, modern pieces. And while cutting-edge production methods are used, each piece is hand-finished.  

Fornasarig

The only company that wasn’t present at this year’s Salone, Fornasarig focuses solely on the contract sector – hotels, restaurants, theatres, schools, libraries, conference rooms and ships. We could do with a dose of their chic minimalism any day!

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The Italian Chair District is presenting a temporary showroom featuring seven of their leading brands, in Cape Town at the Beautifull Life Building from Tuesday 28 to Friday 31 May. We have one double ticket to the VIP opening party to give away.

The Italian Chair District sits in the very heart of Friuli Venezia Giulia, a region on the Adriatic Sea that borders Slovenia and Austria. The original industrial core – known as the “Chair Triangle” – has progressively expanded to include 11 municipalities of the province of Udine. The range of products manufactured by the Italian Chair District companies is vast: from sought-after design and modern chairs to leather armchairs and office furniture; all produced with guaranteed know-how based on a unique mix of tradition and the latest technology.

The Italian Chair District is synonymous with a collective, flexible and efficient system that absorbs contemporary sources of inspiration without betraying its roots, creates a dialogue with international trends, features cultural input by designers from a wide range of backgrounds and training, and grafts them onto well-established techniques and knowledge.

Domitalia, www.domitalia.it

Domitalia specialises in the manufacture of chairs, tables and furniture accessories for the home and contracts. As a result of the depth of its range and the breadth of its collections, it has represented a dynamic and flexible reality able to fulfil diversified demands, for more than 20 years. Besides its customer wellbeing, expressed by its “comfort living” slogan, a great deal of attention is given to research of new technologies, to strengthening the development of its designs and to the use of new eco-compatible materials.

Fornasarig, www.fornasarig.it

The history of Fornasarig Sedie Friuli begins in 1878, when the Fornasarig brothers founded their own company. It is a company that has been uninterruptedly managed by the Fornasarig family with their heritage of knowledge, know-how and passion. The 1980s marked a decisive milestone, as the fourth Fornasarig generation joined the company. New strategies have made Fornasarig what it is today: the leading Italian manufacturer of chairs for the contract market.

Frag, www.frag.it

Born from a passion for leather, Frag boasts a century of family tradition, rich with experience and professional expertise. Frag is a leading specialist in leather chairs. Carefully selected natural hides, available in a wide range of finishing and colours, are created using the most modern production methods and then finished by hand with the skill, passion and care of a tradition that makes every Frag product both unique and perfect at the same time.

Gervasoni, www.gervasoni1882.com

Gervasoni was established in 1882 and is now managed by Giovanni and Michele, the third generation of the Gervasoni family. Gervasoni produces high-level furniture for both indoor and outdoor use, supplying the residential and contract market, such as luxury hotels, restaurants and cruise ships.

Moroso, www.moroso.it

A leading company in upholstered-furniture manufacturing, nearly 60 years after its founding, Moroso is among the haute couture of international design. Through the creative input of designers such as Ron Arad, Patricia Urquiola, Ross Lovegrove, Konstantin Grcic, Toshiyuki Kita, Marcel Wanders, Tokujin Yoshioka, Tord Boontje, Nendo, Front and others, Moroso has over the years created a collection of iconic designs; all with an unmistakable Moroso style, yet each exuding the essence of different latitudes and cultures. Its international outlook has introduced Moroso to some of the most beautiful design settings in the world, including MoMA in New York, Le Palais de Tokyo and the Grand Palais in Paris, and the Venice Biennale. Significant partnerships have allowed Moroso to create a vast and varied product range equally suited to residential and contract use.

Potocco Spa, www.potoccospa.com

Accademia, a brand of Potocco Spa (Manzano, Udine), was born in 1989 and embodies the evolution of this chair-making company from Friuli and its effort to continuously meet market requirements and trends. Hence, not only wood but also metals, resins and high-quality laminates are now employed in Potocco’s production process, which uses advanced technologies such as die-casting for metals and numerical control machine tools, guaranteeing high standards in terms of quality and precision. Accademia’s product selection is suitable for outdoors as well as for indoors, and stands out for both quality and design.

Tonon, www.tononitalia.com

Tonon is synonymous for design and quality “made in Italy”. Boasting many years of careful and creative craftsmanship, its origins date back to the 1920s. Tonon today bases itself on research and experience, cultural and marketing factors, and new materials and technologies. Tonon products are always original proposals, characterised by a contemporary idea and by a developed technology. Products are conceived and destined for international markets and cultures, and are appropriate for very different ways of life and daily living.

The exhibition takes place from 28 to 31 May at the Beautifull Life Building, 70 to 72 Bree Street, Cape Town. Opening hours: 10am to 5pm. For more info, www.italian-chair-district.it/en/cape-town or call 083 682 1999.

The winner of the double ticket to attend the VIP opening party on Tuesday 28 May 2013, to the value of R200, is Rudolph Jordaan – see you there!

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