Cabiate, Brianza
two benches, one name
One workshop cut and joined. The other stuffed, sprung and covered. They were neighbours in the same district for three generations before the name on the door became one.
- Where
- Cabiate, Como, Italy
- Together
- Since the 1970s
- Catalogue
- 89 families, 139 pieces
- Price
- On request
where this is made
Cabiate is a small town in Brianza, the strip between Milan and Como that has made furniture for longer than anyone there can date. The district is dense with benches of twenty or thirty people, each one good at a single part of the job, and the whole trade runs on that division.
Meroni is the joinery half: carcasses, frames, turned legs, veneered panels, stone and glass tops set into bases the workshop welds. Colzani is the upholstery half: webbing, foam, fibre, the covers and the tailoring that shows on the seams.
Neither half is a factory in the sense of a line that runs without an order. Every family in this catalogue is built after somebody asks for it, in the cover and the finish they picked, which is why no price is printed anywhere on this site.
what the fifty years bought
Three generations on each bench is the whole argument for the catalogue below, and it shows in the places nobody photographs: the corner of a drawer, the seam where a leather arm turns, the way a stone top is carried by a base that will not rock.
The number in the corner of every page on this site is that span, and it is the one figure here that is not on request.
- Joinery, veneer, turning and stone from the Meroni bench
- Webbing, foam, fibre and covers from the Colzani bench
- Rope, iroko and painted metal for the thirteen outdoor families
- Nothing built before the order, nothing sold from stock
the same bench, out of doors
The outdoor line is the newer half of the catalogue, and it comes from the same two benches rather than from a separate shop. What changes is the material: a braid of polypropylene where the indoor piece has fabric, painted tube where it has a wooden frame, iroko where it has walnut.
The drawing beside this text is the outdoor seat in section. It names the parts and leaves the numbers alone, because the factory publishes none and this site does not invent them.
which bench does what
both benches work on most families| Bench | Since | What it makes | Where it shows | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meroni | Three generations | Carcasses, frames, turning, veneer, stone and glass tops | Storage and tables | On request |
| Colzani | Three generations | Webbing, foam, fibre, covers and the tailoring on them | Sofas and armchairs | On request |
| Both, outdoors | Since the newer line | Braided rope over painted tube, iroko, quick-drying cushions | The outdoor line | On request |
where to start
the outdoor line, first in the ledger
ask the two houses
Write with the room or the terrace and the pieces you have in mind.