Valitalia: New Frontiers for Traditional Italian Furnishings

The Friulian region in Northern Italy is known as the “Chair Capital of the World” and has been defined by its high-quality luxury furnishings for more than 140 years. The furniture created here by dedicated Italian manufacturers and craftsmen are seen in some of Italy’s top design brands.

Valitalia, Italian Quality Furnishings, founded by designers Andrea Varutti, Colleen Beckett, and Francesco Benvenuto, is a cooperative distribution company, co-owned by the Industrial Union of Pordenone and 35 of the Friulian region’s best furniture manufacturers. By acting cooperatively, and with these designers as ambassadors to the US design markets, the handiwork of these furniture makers can be brought to the United States for direct retail, thus cutting out the various “middlemen” of international distribution.

Everyone benefits- manufacturers see more of the profit from their work, and American consumers are able to get high-quality luxury Italian furnishings at more affordable prices. The economic reality of Valitalia is that the increased reach and income for many of these artisans allows them to maintain the manufacturing traditions and practices that have often been handed down for generations.

 

Launched in November 2014, Valitalia began as a wholly online business. Operating out of their Woodbridge storehouse, Valitalia could get authentic Italian furnishings to customers anywhere from 3 days (for smaller pieces) to two weeks. In December 2014, Valitalia  was featured by the New York Times and the NJ Star Ledger when they set up a pop-up shop in SoHo, New York, to give people a chance to experience the exceptional quality of their pieces.

To set down stronger roots in the American market, and to allow customers to experience the exceptional quality of Italian craftsmanship firsthand, Valitalia has just opened a retail showroom this April in Paramus, NJ. This allows everyone- from homeowners, designers, to real estate stagers- a chance to physically interact with the pieces Valitalia brings from their Italian craftsmen. One can see the beauty of Italian design, and feel the high quality materials and workmanship that Valitalia promises and delivers. Further afield, Valitalia also has a physical location in Dania Beach, FL.

Want to learn more about this unique relationship between these world-class designers and the Italian furniture-makers they represent? Visit their retail showroom at 185 Route 17, Paramus, NJ (they would love to tell you all about it) or their website, at www.valitalia.com. Valitalia aims not only to bring business to these Italian manufacturers while bringing affordable luxury furnishings to the US market- they also want to give consumers a look at the skill, tradition, and quality materials that go into making each piece of authentic Italian furniture.

Valitalia will also be featured in the 2015 Metro Designer Showhouse at the Pearl in Edgewater, NJ. The pieces sold through the showhouse store will have 15% of the proceeds donated to the Alzheimer’s Association, Greater New Jersey Chapter.