area 103+ | extra ordinary

 M.C.: Lately, there has been much talk of Contract, but we would like to gain a better understanding of what it is about, and above all when we can talk about Contract and forms of “sub-Contract”, or rather simple suppliers. We asked Danilo Ronzoni, in charge of Contract for Cassina, a large company boasting a great deal of experience in this sector. Cassina is historically known above all as producer of design objects. However, it has always dealt with Contract; how do these two dimensions co-habit, that of customization and that of mass production? Producing bespoke objects really means opening the doors to experimentation, the research into innovation, which has always characterized Cassina: what consequences in terms of finance and design does Contract bring to mass production?
D.R.: Cassina was established 80 years ago as a carpentry business, which produced household objects; greater attention to quality came with the encounter with the emerging designers of the post-war period such as Gio Ponti, Mario Bellini, and the extraordinary and farsighted ability to manage what was to subsequently become the collection of the great masters like Le Corbusier, Mackintosh, Rietveld, which still today represent an “evergreen” for the company’s residential sector. Within Cassina, Contract has always proceeded independently. There has been little relationship between the world we call residential and the Contract world. I have no recollection of objects designed for a Contract request and subsequently produced. We probably have to cast our memories back to the 1950s and ‘60s when Cassina began to deal with Contract for large projects designed by masters such as Gio Ponti, to furnish the cruise ships of that time: the Raffaello, Michelangelo and Andrea Doria. At the time, when Mr Cassina was still around, the designers worked directly in the company alongside those physically manufacturing the product in the carpentry sector, and in the sectors of Development and Research. Unlike those days, today, the designer only occasionally physically comes to the company.
M.C.: Is there more turnover with Contract or with mass production?
D.R.: Within Cassina, Contract is worth about 30% of the overall turnover, a percentage which we hope will increase in the future. We cannot talk about a tight rapport between the two sectors, with the exception of the earlier years. Today, Contract is a completely independent sector in itself.
M.C.: As far as design objects are concerned, does Cassina continue, as in the 1970s, to call designers and develop the products together with them?
D.R.: Generally it is the company which calls the designers, while at times it is the designers themselves who propose pieces. In recent years, with the rationalization made by the Poltrona Frau group, things are moving above all in the marketing sector: we are carrying out research in this sector in order to understand what the consumer’s needs are and, on the basis of the results, designing products which are as close as possible to those requested by the market.
M.C.: How is the Contract part of a project usually carried out? Does an architect give you a project or do you do turnkey projects? What are your skills? How is the company structured? Nowadays, what skills does a company require to carry out Contract?
D.R.: As early as the twenty-year period between the 1960s and ‘80s, when all the large companies were working in the hotel sector (it was the period of the large Contracts of Arab countries, Egypt, etc…), Cassina had shifted towards “completely customized” Contract, understood as the bespoke production of the entire architectural project, be it a hotel, a yacht, clothes shops or a museum, and dealing with the interior in toto. In the case of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, for instance, with a project by I. M. Pei and interiors by Jean-Michel Wilmotte, Cassina provided all the bespoke interior furnishings.
M.C.: In a company such as yours, which does Contract, what are the internal specializations, the different roles?
D.R.: Cassina currently has some sixty people in the Contract sector, against a total of 300 people in the entire company. About twenty are employed in the logistics sector, which not only deals with dispatch but also with assembly. This same group also works on the preparation of prototypes. For example, we have just completed one of a series of apartments designed by Foster & Partners, where we have fulfilled not so much the product in itself, but the shell, the doors, the false ceilings, floors. Each project is entrusted to the project managers within the company. These figures deal with the client and designer, and, together with the technical and project departments, develop the project with a structure to suit its dimensions. These departments examine thoroughly and resolve all technical problems, as well as execute drawings which can be given to the suppliers. As far as assembly is concerned, we work with teams we have known for decades and, according to the type of job, we choose the most suitable team. The head of the team is practically entirely responsible for the job from technical, architectural and commercial points of view.
M.C.: Does the architect design everything completely or do you actively collaborate with the designer?
D.R.: In general, we actively collaborate with the designers, who almost never arrive at the stage of construction, above all with regard to furnishings. Citterio, for instance, is very meticulous in his own work. For a hotel and an auditorium like that of Moscow, the Barvikha Hotel & Spa, with 64 rooms, plus communal areas and the auditorium, we produced over 1000 drawings. Citterio did the architectural design, then, whenever we used this base to carry out the construction drawings, he would methodically check every detail, evaluate it, define it, alter it… Foster, on the other hand, works on a less detailed level, and therefore we have to finalize the technical drawings under his direction. Starck, on the contrary, is extremely meticulous, checking the samples of materials. And likewise Wilmotte, who is very technical and meticulous in his work.
M.C.: Contract, therefore, is above all a system of management, design and engineering of a project designed by a studio. It is not the product as much as the ability to manage entirely a job, right through to quality control. As far as suppliers are concerned, do you use local ones?
D.R.: For over 10 years, Cassina has been working in China, Brazil and Russia, endeavouring to use local sources to cover the territory, according to the client’s requirements. Around 1993-94 we started to build numerous shops with important brand names: Bally, Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Ferragamo… In this sector we have a lot of experience and we have learnt that, above all in distant markets, the client wanted an extremely rapid, low-cost intervention, so we were obliged to do some research into specific suppliers we could contact: in China and Russia for the entire sector of Asia, and South America for North and South America. The latest project carried out by Philippe Starck for the SBI group in Los Angeles, for instance, was fulfilled by a Chinese supplier. We effected quality control, the drawings and an engineering check…
M.C.: Which themes does Contract concentrate on most? Which most lend themselves and which take up most time?
D.R.: We work above all in the sector of luxury motor yachts: we are currently working on three, one designed by Dordoni and two by Foster & Partners, one of which has just been launched. The shipyards are the Rodriguez of Massa Carrara for Foster’s yachts, and the San Lorenzo in La Spezia for that of Dordoni. In addition to the nautical sector, we also work in the hotel, restaurant and commercial sectors, and I particularly refer to important Italian and foreign designer clothes shops.
M.C.: How has Cassina’s structure changed, if at all, since the Montezemolo group, the largest shareholder, united the companies Poltrona Frau, Cappellini, Cassina and Alias in a single group? What novelties has this dimension of industrial group brought to the company?
D.R.: First of all, greater awareness inside each company and greater responsibility within the entire group. Everything was extremely clear: each company has its brand name and its specific skill. With regard to Contract, we are skilled in interiors, Poltrona Frau for the seating, the other companies such as Cappellini and Alias do a kind of Contract which we define “soft”, that is, mass production adapted to one’s needs.
M.C.: With regard to accessories, are there companies with which you generally work or do you do everything on design? How do you proceed with the theme of accessories?
D.R.: Working frequently with designers of international renown, who design 360° in the architectural world, each one of them often suggests a range of companies which cover the various sectors of accessories, lighting, etc. We are therefore steered also by the architects themselves in the selection of suppliers. In these cases, we effect the acquisition and management of the job.
M.C.: Who are your Italian and international competitors?
D.R.: In the interiors sector, our largest competitors are B&B Italia, the Molteni group (Unifor, Molteni, Dada). Furthermore, there are some smaller companies from the North-east like LEMA, which do Contract and also have an internal production, Permasteelisa, a huge company which has a part dedicated to Contract above all in the regions of Asia; then there are new smaller firms from the North-east, for instance Venice and Treviso, with a maximum of 40/50 people. They are hence neither artisan companies nor large industries, but represent small and medium enterprises, extremely flexible and competitive on the market. Finally, there are the large Chinese companies, which, however, are often one-off, in other words used sporadically.
M.C.: In relation to the Chinese market, can a company like Cassina be competitive?
D.R.: We can only be competitive when we produce furnishings in loco, obviously aiming for a good quality-price ratio.
M.C.: In Contract, is it necessary to have a name like Cassina, that is, to have a background of quality production, be recognized as a company?
D.R.: Of course. The name is a visiting card which guarantees that you will be received and listened to, but between that and obtaining a project there is a lot of ground to be covered. Cassina is, nevertheless, famous throughout the world.
M.C.: Yours is a Contract of quality, which works with important designers on important jobs. What is the minimal dimension of intervention for Contract?
D.R.: For Cassina, it must exceed at least one million euros. Then there are jobs like the Barvikha Hotel & Spa in Moscow, which are worth some 18 million euros. There are jobs that continue over the years such as the construction of all the Zegna shops throughout the world, which has now reached 50-60 million euros in 10 years, as also in the case of Louis Vuitton.
M.C.: What are the most important projects you have fulfilled in recent years?
D.R.: Philippe Starck’s recently completed hotel in Los Angeles, Citterio’s Barvikha Hotel & Spa, Foster & Partners’ yachts, one of which has just been launched, the third Zegna shop on which we are currently working, and, on the design of Peter Marino, the Wind shops all over Italy, designed by Crea International in Milan.