Exploring the rich history of Calligaris, the family-run design brand at the heart of Italy’s chair-making heritage
Nearly a century on, the family-run design brand at the heart of Italy’s chair-making heritage is not just surviving but thriving
On a roundabout on the outskirts of the tiny town of Manzano, north-east Italy, is a rather unusual sort of monument. Standing at 20 metres high, a giant chair – the world’s largest, no less – symbolises the fundamental role chair production has played in the region over the last century. Manzano, in the province of Udine, close to the Slovenian border, lies in the heart of what’s been coined as the country’s ‘Chair Triangle’, a district that, in its heyday, was the chair-manufacturing capital of the world. And it’s here that, in 1923, Antonio Calligaris established his eponymous workshop.
To begin with, Antonio focused on manufacturing one type of chair – the ‘Marocca’. A typical design of the area, it was characterised by a simple wooden frame and a seat woven using straw from the nearby Friuli Lagoon. But as the demand for a wider variety increased, so did Calligaris’ range and ambition. Antonio’s entrepreneurial spirit pushed his business firmly ahead of the others – while the smaller workshops concentrated on making chair parts, he focussed on the bigger picture, taking control of his own supply chain by bringing in timber from the surrounding mountains.
Steady growth ensued over the next few decades as the business passed to Antonio’s son Romeo, who took over the reins in the 1950s, and then to his sons Alessandro and Walter. Their agenda was to develop more industrial processes and the latest technologies in order to boost capacity and conquer the export market, giving the firm an edge over neighbouring manufacturers once again. This step change heralded other types of expansion – no longer solely working with wood, they experimented with plastic, leather, metal and glass. But as the 1990s rolled on and China began to dominate furniture manufacturing, the future of smaller family-run firms in and around Manzano looked less secure. Calligaris was not about to be left behind, so implemented a new strategy that saw it branch out into producing other furniture. It also switched to selling products under its own brand, rather than manufacturing for other companies, cultivating a reputation for design prowess to match its renown for quality. The industry may bear no resemblance to how it looked nearly 100 years ago, but Calligaris is a shining example of how a family business can adapt while staying true to its values. calligaris.com