Italian furniture house Edra is based in Tuscany and draws inspiraton from the region's craftsmanship and Renaissance roots in collaboraton with designers Francesco Binfaré, Fernando and Humberto Campana and Jacopo Foggini. More Space caught up with Edra's Niccolò Mazzei to find out how the Italian design industry is faring, the future of the Salone del Mobile, the importance of making quality, timeless design that will be passed from one generation to the next, the furniture projects they are currently working on, and how staying connected with their design collaborators around the world is keeping the team positive.
More Space: Hello Niccolò, how are you?
Niccolò Mazzei: Everything is fine. We are happy that we could re-open the factory in the beginning of May so we are restarting. Maybe a new era is coming and everyone is looking for what is going to happen.
What is the mood in northern Italy and how is the design and manufacturing industry faring?
The last few months were chaotic, particularly in the north of Italy. We are in Tuscany in the central area which is better. We were all working from home but now we have reopened everything. There are new regulations for working inside and we need more space between one another, so we are using a different part of our office building and part of the production area for offices too.
The feeling here is that we are looking at the future in a positive way because we have reopened production. We are keeping in contact with our dealers and collaborators worldwide. We are moving on in a proactive way for sure, but we hope that the Italian situation will now happen in other nations too because it is important that everybody can work in an active way. For sure we can work at producing products, but people need to try it, to use it, to see it in the proper way. So it's important for us that every showroom worldwide can reopen.
What is the new normal at Edra right now?
I am not so technological but I’ve started to use Zoom and WhatsApp. At the beginning it was quite fun but it was also a necessity because I have meetings with colleagues from other companies in the Federlegno Arredo [furniture industry] and we continue to discuss the Salone del Mobile 2021. Part of our team now works between their home office and the Edra headquarters, and we are working to offer that option to every employee. However, sometimes technology is not so immediate. In Italian we say “l’intesa”, when people work together for a long time you can look in the eyes and understand a solution. Maybe in the future we will all work back here again, but for now our team will work this way.
The Edra family, from left to right – Monica Mazzei, Umberto Manetti, Valerio Mazzei, Edoardo Mazzei with Niccolò Mazzei. Photo © Giorgia Panzera.
What have been the biggest challenges and has this opened your business up to other ways of working?
The situation is not easy for everyone, but from the beginning we built relationships that are now really important for us. We believe that the people are the central element to restart in the proper way, so we will continue to work in a sort of traditional way. For sure we need technology to have meetings now, but the machine cannot replace the direct approach that we have. For us at Edra, this is a really crucial point. We say that we are like a Renaissance company, because we believe in the value, the quality, in the really concrete aspects. This will be the approach that we will use for the future for sure. For us, using only video or mobile phone is not really a positive way to build lasting relationships. When you look at a person’s face, there is an immediate response. Usually when we introduce new collections we spend years finding the right formula. We will discuss one centimetre more here, or one centimetre less, and different fabrics to offer a better quality and a better comfort. So, to explain this process via video to those who were not involved in the process is not easy.
Isolation has forced us all to slow down and perhaps rethink things, what have you been thinking about?
When my father founded the company in 1987, he believed the main thing was to develop timeless products with the best-high quality away from the fashion trends. Our opinion is that it’s better to create a product that can remain in the minds of the people, an evergreen product. This is a very hard challenge because it is not easy to create these kind of probjects. It’s our dream that people transfer their furniture to the next generation, and maybe in the next 100 years they can still use our products, thanks to its beauty and quality. Being from Tuscany where the Renaissance began more than 600 years ago, we will always respect quality.
Perhaps the new normal is a kind of new Renaissance?
Yes, maybe there is a new era, a new age, and quality is also the central focus for the future. When we met Zaha Hadid in 1987, Francesco Binfaré in 1993 and Fernando and Humberto Campana in 1997, we believed in the lasting collaboration because we wanted to build a really important relationship and to discover something new for the future. Often, it is observing the external situation and then transforming it into real products.
The view over Tuscany at dusk from Niccolò's home office. Photo c/o Niccolò Mazzei. "We believe that the people are the central element to restart in the proper way, so we will continue to work in a sort of traditional way. For sure we need technology to have meetings now, but the machine cannot replace the direct approach that we have. For us at Edra, this is a really crucial point."
"We believe that the people are the central element to restart in the proper way, so we will continue to work in a sort of traditional way. For sure we need technology to have meetings now, but the machine cannot replace the direct approach that we have. For us at Edra, this is a really crucial point."
Niccolò Mazzei, Edra
The Chiara armchair and Standard sofa designed by Francesco Binfaré. Photo c/o Edra.
The Edra family includes designers Francesco Binfaré and Jacopo Foggini. Photo © Giorgia Panzera.
Brazilian designers Humberto and Fernanda Campana who began a collaboration with Edra in 1997 after sending a VHS tape showing the chair's weaving process. Photo c/o Estudio Campana.
The Vermelha armchair by Fernando and Humberto Campana was designed in 1997. Their first piece in the Edra colleciton, it is still made by hand and involves the handweaving of 500 metres of rope. Photo c/o Edra.
The Vermelha armchair by Fernando and Humberto Campana and produced by Edra. Photo c/o Edra.
The Boa 'living lounge' designed by Fernando and Humberto Campana. Photo c/o Edra.
The lily shaped Getsuen chair and Rose chair designed by Masanori Umeda. Photo c/o Edra.
The handmade Margherita chair sits on a swivel base by Jocopo Foggini. Photo c/o Edra.
Jacopo Foggini photographed by Hugh Findlater.
The Pack sofa designed by Francesco Binfaré is both a comfortable lounge system and an environmental statement about the melting polar caps. Photo c/o Edra.
On the Rocks designed by Francesco Binfaré. Photo c/o Edra.
A classic in the Edra collection, the Tatlin chair was designed by Mario Cananzi and Roberto Semprini in 1989. Photo c/o Edra.
With it's moveable segments, Edra's famous Flap sofa found in galleries aroudn the world is a landscape for relaxation. Photo c/o Edra.
"We are asking everybody to work on the comfort, the beauty and the quality and when we can have a meeting with Francesco Binfaré, I am sure we will be very surprised but it’s not easy to understand this yet. I am sure they will all arrive with something new."
Niccolò Mazzei, Edra
What are you working on now and how has the crisis impacted your projects?
We are looking at collaborating with a few new designers we are in contact with now, and for sure we are working with the designers we have known for a long time such as Binfaré, Foggini, and the Campana brothers, who we are in constant contact with. Usually we introduce new products to the collection every year in Milan, so this year we have worked on our existing collection, evaluating what this situation can offer in terms of opportunities for the future. We believe that it will be the public who will check the quality of every product in the future, from furniture to food. Maybe this situation invites everyone to transform to a better way.
Last year we launched the Grande Soffice sofa which is fantastic and we are currently working to explain its characteristics in the best way. It takes a new approach where we work without industrial machines, with people who produce every product by hand. The Edra production department is really like a school and we are happy when the team can transform those skills into the vanguard for the future.
We are also looking at new materials and new ways to use the materials we have in the collection. Sometimes, by just mixing things in a different way you can get a really spectacular new product. We are also working hard to transform something for the Salone del Mobile in 2021. It is the main fair worldwide and it’s still very important. I believe that we have to work two programs to have a really fantastic salone, so next year will be very important.
You work with designers in Italy, Brazil, Japan… how are they all faring?
They are vulcans in terms of ideas and in this period they have had time to introduce some new ideas. We are discussing every day with some of them and it’s fantastic because we have a really strong exchange. Usually we have a conference call without video because we are all at home at the moment, and honestly and it’s not always interesting to share on video (laughter).
We are asking everybody to work on the comfort, the beauty and the quality and when we can have a meeting with Francesco Binfaré, I am sure we will be very surprised but it’s not easy to understand this yet. I am sure they will all arrive with something new. We have received sketches on paper, drawings and ideas, but when we are in the factory together we can analyse and put the products with the materials and we can start to understand if it will be a stunning product. I hope to meet with them as quickly as possible because they are all sort of prisoners in their own homes and they want to come here to have meetings with us and our clients. We all need that contact.
Has that helped you get through the crisis mentally?
Yes, working with all the positive people in the team is fantastic because we can put on the table interesting and positive things. The connection and collaboration is really important.
If this crisis offers a blank page, a new start, where would you begin?
I think we really have to work on this main value, the main argument, and that is about quality. We have to restart with quality as the base for the future, it’s really important and a crucial point for the future of the environment. We must produce things that you don’t remove from your life every year, instead you use them every day for a really long time. When I walk in Florence I see the 13th century Palazzo Vecchio and it’s still an amazing building, when I see Ferragamo shoes that were designed 50 years ago they are still modern, this is fantastic for me. They are the values that we have here at Edra and we are always looking for. I am happy when I see the Tatlin sofa which was introduced to the collection in 1989 and it is still a beautiful product today. The ingredients of the Edra formula are what you would find in a good recipe. With quality pasta and tomatoes, a chef can produce “un capolavoro”, a really fantastic job. By mixing artisanal ingredients in the proper way, I think we can create something really extraordinary.
Thanks for talking with us Niccolò and please stay safe.
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