Calligaris: Designing democratic furniture — the Italian way

I am looking at a six-seat dining table and in less than 15 seconds, this is turned into a table for 12 by an Italian man without using any tools but his hands.

Alessandro Calligaris is a third-generation furniture maker from Manzano, Italy. He is showing me tables that practically transform themselves into shorter or longer or taller versions. A coffee table, for instance, is raised quickly to become a dining table; bookshelves change their appearance when you move a few colorful boxes — every piece is a practical solution to a space or design problem.

“We are constantly imagining livable spaces with the ability to communicate the personality of those who live there,” Alessandro says. “Our task and what we have always loved to do is to design products that are intelligent as well as beautiful.”

Calligaris chairman Alessandro was in Manila to launch the new showroom of Calligaris at Clipp Center in Bonifacio Global City. Occupying the whole mezzanine of the building, the showroom carries furniture pieces and accessories for every room in the house.

It all started with wood — and a woodpecker — in Italy in 1923. The woodpecker stands as the logo of Calligaris and symbolizes “the tireless worker, with a passion for wood.”

Alessandro’s grandfather Antonio Calligaris was a craftsman and he founded the company in 1923 on the strength of a single wooden chair, called Marocca, the first ever produced by Calligaris. It had a seat made of seagrass and was entirely handcrafted.

“My grandfather, my grandmother and about five people made up the company,” he says. 

Today, Calligaris has over 600 employees and is sold in over 90 countries with more than 7,000 different products for living and dining rooms, kitchen, office and bedroom.

Florence Ko, managing director of Calligaris Philippines, the distributor of Calligaris in the country and also the parent company of luxury home store FurnItalia, brought the brand to Manila 10 years ago.

Florence by then already started FurnItalia several years before. And how did she get into distributing Italian furniture like Poltrona Frau and Cassina? It was simply because she was furnishing her new house and couldn’t find pieces that she liked here, and so she looked towards Italy for her own space. She thought that there must be other people like her who liked the brands that she liked — and there were! Lots of them, and her company has continued to expand since then.

So Florence brought into Manila super high-end brands — but she says Calligaris is different. While it has the stamp of Italian quality of design, it is priced affordably compared to others in FurnItalia’s portfolio. 

She and Alessandro describe Calligaris as “democratic furniture, which makes it perfect for young, upwardly mobile professionals looking to furnish their condos or houses with designer furniture at reasonable price points.”

“We’re always striking a balance between great design, functionality, quality and good prices,” says Alessandro.

Florence points out that some brands are strong only in certain pieces — like chairs or beds or tables — but Calligaris covers all, including accessories. “This brand is strong enough to stand alone because it can complete the look of your house,” she says of the new showroom. “From beds to dining tables, sofas and chairs, side tables, lamps, mirrors, vases and carpets. Everything.”

Alessandro says, “We are tenacious in finding advanced and functional technical solutions, uncompromising in the quality of materials and workmanship, creative in designing contemporary and elegant shapes and finishes, which are perfectly adaptable to any home around the world.

“At Calligaris, we continue to view the way we live as an ever evolving process in which function and emotion come together in perfect harmony and where we can live comfortably, surrounded by the people and things we love.”

For every collection, there are hundreds of choices in materials and colors “leaving you the possibility to free your imagination and create unique spaces.”

Florence says she doesn’t see specific trends in the past years as far as Filipino homes are concerned “except that most people prefer modern classic pieces, depending on the room. For a breakfast nook, they want playful; for living rooms, they want a bit more formal but with contemporary sofas that can be livened up with colorful pillows.”

Then there is Calligaris Contract. The company has furnished major hotel chains abroad, restaurants in Europe and New York, and retailers, too.

“All the Italian pavilions at the Expo Shanghai in 2010 were furnished by Calligaris,” says Giorgio Tomasino, Calligaris sales manager for Asia. “Recently, we made pieces for the Panerai convention in Hong Kong and we’ve done chairs for a major European hotel brand.”

“Calligaris is very flexible, they can do customization for hotels or condominiums,” says Florence. “These projects have their own architects and designers, and follow a certain style or look. What they can do is submit their requirements and Calligaris can customize their furniture and everything is made in Italy.”

For these projects, Calligaris uses materials that are designed for high-traffic and heavy use, and are fire-retardant and stain-proofed.

Locally, they have already done a major project in the Philippines — a five-star serviced residences/hotel in Makati.

Florence looks forward to working with dining outlets and office headquarters as well. “The furniture pieces can do so much for the look and atmosphere of a place.”

“Our goal is to have stores in every country in the world with partners like Florence for Manila. We want to develop this business because we believe our products are interesting for people who want a beautiful home with smart but not very expensive furniture,” says Alessandro.

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The Calligaris showroom is located at the mezzanine of  Clipp Center, 11th Avenue corner 39th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. For inquiries, call 8691059-61 or email info.calligaris@furnitalia.com.ph.