4 PEDRALI
5
4 PEDRALI
“Our problem is that the objects we make age
gracefully”.
This may seem paradoxical in an age when
everything is dedicated to ageing rapidly in order
to be replaced by new products. However, this is
one of the intimate, sincere guidelines provided
in our short chat with Mario Pedrali at the offices
of the company he set up in 1963 at Palazzolo
sull’Oglio, and now moved to Mornico al Serio.
A firm handshake, a strong gaze, simple but
precise words, and a sincere smile.
Over the past century, these plains have created
a powerful metamorphosis which transformed
the inhabitants of these lands, along with their
winter downtime, first of all into mechanical
experimenters and then sharp inventors, able
to generate new forms of industry and creations
for a new world.
Pedrali is also all of these, a company tied to an
artisan past with its roots in a land that boasts
a strong industrial and entrepreneurial vocation.
Together with Monica and Giuseppe Pedrali,
the second generation now at the helm of the
company, you see right away that a series of
healthy paternal obsessions have matured over
the decades, showing a path undertaken with
coherency and calm authority.
From the first garden furniture metal workshop
to a factory sizing 104,000 square metres,
with a second premises dedicated solely to
manufacturing wooden components, it seems
that the lead elements have remained the
same, despite being further metabolised and
transformed into strongholds of a genuine
production philosophy, which raises its head
in every piece of design furniture produced.
Attention to quality spreading throughout
the production process, selecting high range
materials, true passion for the most
top-of-the-range machinery, expert research
into technology and Italian raw materials,
planning in every phase with the typical
meticulousness of a craftsman, fighting waste and
redundancy, and a sense of community are the
main aspects that identify Pedrali as an excellent
interpreter of contemporary industrial design.
Strolling with Giuseppe Pedrali through
the towering shelves of the new automated
warehouse designed by architect Cino Zucchi
and already a green, friendly icon of the region,
seems like a journey into a future that becomes
the present.
“Sometimes I come here in the evening, with
the lights turned off, and I look mesmerised at
the perfect choreography of these machines
which tirelessly bring or fetch goods. Not even a
millimetre of space is left unused and every last
minute is used intelligently. Everything has been
designed to be sustainable and to best contribute
to optimising the making of our products and the
lives of those who work here”.
Walking through the metal, wood, and plastic
materials production areas, you understand how
much a carefully-chosen machine is not just a
powerful industrial investment, but, above all,
it represents a choice to finally materialise a chair
that was dreamed for years, but not yet fully
matured to its production potential.
The pieces manufactured are designed to last
over time. The materials used are selected
to age well. The forms and lines of each new
product follow along a line of continuity with the
previous product families, innovating gracefully.
The machines used to make the products are
incorporated into the chain by considering the
right time to insert them into the production
process.
The result – 100% made in Italy – which comes
from this meticulous care to the production
process throughout all its stages then tackles
the international market. Indeed, Pedrali began
exporting at the end of the 1970s, distributing
in Switzerland, Germany, the United States,
and Australia.
Beauty,
tradition
and innovation
