Crassevig Srl

For more than 40 years, curved wood has been Crassevig’s creative language, lending a distinctive style to the company’s collection of tables and chairs for residential and contract environments.

Founded in 1969 as a subcontractor to the furniture industry, Crassevig capitalised on its traditional workmanship and creative business vision, becoming a designer of timeless products and a creator of new styles. With an innate sense of beauty and an innovative spirit, the Friuli-based company seeks inspiration in the austere aesthetics of Northern European design.

The history of the company and the family are intertwined, beginning with the grandfather Alfieri Crassevig, followed by the father Luigi and finally the son Francesco, who was born in 1982. Luigi Crassevig in particular brought a new vision to the company – a passion for beauty, a desire for creativity and experimentation, and an emphasis on practicality in daily operations. These values, rooted in the past, are still alive today and are evident in each of the company’s creations. As with a family photo album, the Crassevig catalogue is a ‘snapshot’ in which all of its products, from the most traditional to the most recent, are linked by common traits as well as a shared spirit and history.

In 1971, Giovanni Offredi was the first designer to leave his mark on Crassevig’s production, creating Johan, a curved, solid beech coat stand that is still in production today and has become a symbol of the company’s entire catalogue. Crassevig’s unique products are the result of creative vision and always incorporate the company’s unmistakeable hallmark – curved wood. One example is the Arca chair by Gigi Sabadin, which received a Selezione d’Onore at the Compasso d’Oro design awards in 1979.

In the 1980s, Crassevig was the only non-Scandinavian company to exhibit at the Copenhagen International Furniture Fair (CODE). During that same decade, the company’s creations were being exported to the rest of Europe and even the United States. The collection was enhanced with the addition of new materials, skilfully combining metal and steel with wood so as to provide the same level of comfort and ergonomics offered by the company’s more classic models.

In 1994, Enrico Franzolini’s Asia chair – the company’s first chair with a metal frame and base – was selected for honourable mention by the Compasso d’Oro. This chair marked a stylistic milestone with a design that is still fashionable today – a combination of clean lines and practicality, simplicity and beauty. Designers work in close partnership with the company’s in-house studio to provoke new ideas and interpretations, like Ludovica and Roberto Palomba’s Anna chair. The different curvatures of the wood are flawless, giving the chair an unparalleled lightness and grace that would be almost impossible to duplicate.

A company must have exceptional technical and production capabilities as well as a deep understanding of the market to compete in the contract sector, one in which Crassevig has played a leading role internationally since the 1980s.

In the 2000s, the company adopted a new approach inspired by its own past, ‘celebrating’ Crassevig products in residential settings and new environments. The company’s tables and chairs are found in the world’s most prestigious hotels, universities, theatres, and institutional and corporate headquarters, including the Petit Palais in Paris, the Hamburg State Opera House, the Sorbonne’s library, Turin airport, the University of Amsterdam, and the corporate headquarters of multinationals such as Pomellato, Nokia, Ericsson and L’Oréal.

All Crassevig products are made in Italy at the San Vito al Torre (Udine) facility. The company exports to the United States, Sweden, France, Holland, Japan, Australia and Singapore, to name just a few of its most important markets. International sales represent 90% of Crassevig’s turnover and are the primary focus of the company’s commercial strategy.

Crassevig is ISO 9001:2008 certified (Quality Management Systems) and ISO 14001:2004 certified (Environmental Management Systems).