Chat & Coffee with… Paolo Romanato

Chat & Coffee the Berti blog column returns where today we find ourselves gladly exchanging a few words with Paolo Romanato, a talented architect who has collaborated on some of our projects, especially in Russia. We ask him a few questions to get to know him better and to learn more about his work together with Berti Pavimenti Legno.

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself professionally and the kind of business you do?

I like to think, even though it has changed over the years, that my professional activity is still what I aspired and dreamed of doing since my teenage years, even before I went to art school: industrial design, that is, drawings and plans for the mass production of everyday objects with high aesthetic value.

With the difference being that the activity I do today, is certainly not of “mass design and production” but rather ” custom made design and production ” ; in our language “made to measure” and thus, the opposite of what is proposed with mass production.

The fact that I now carry out this activity of designing and making elements for interior design and architecture stems mainly from the fact that the family business, for more than 50 years, has been involved in the handcrafted production of furniture, and it was quite normal for me to see what parts a piece of furniture was made up of as it was born within the family workshop, how it was to be finished and prepared to be then placed on the market. In addition, being able to attend industry fairs, especially the Salone del Mobile in Milan, opened in me an interest in the fascinating world of Milanese design, of the companies that have made the history of Italian furniture design and style in the world.

When did your collaboration with Berti begin? Can you comment on the company in general and the products?

My collaboration with the Berti brand occurred during a recent project to supply furniture, doors, and flooring that I was commissioned for the Russian market. The Berti company was recommended to me, as is often the case in any business, by a common collaborator.

Can you tell us more specifically something about this last project you did? What kind of work is it? What types of parquet flooring were used?

Specifically, it was a villa, a dream home with an indoor swimming pool and attached sauna at the annex, nestled in the woods surrounding the city of Moscow; an important building but balanced in its proportions and elegant as a whole. I have to admit that it was fortunate to be able to work for a client who immediately had confidence in my professionalism and with rather clear ideas in wanting from the outset to simplify and sober an interior design project, from an architectural firm in Budapest, that initially showed the traits often typical of a certain Russian “importance.”

Then, based on a given furniture design, we made our executive proposal; we simplified the idea of the living-kitchen area and then made a proposal from scratch, with a few very specific requests from the client in terms of finishing, for the closet area and the sleeping area. We designed the line of the interior and exterior doors, including the 4-meter-high entrance portal.

For wood flooring, the client had asked us for two types of American walnut flooring: “Hungarian herringbone” and with wide planks to be laid “running.” There was immediate willingness on Berti’s part to prepare a sample of the requested products, and once viewed at the showroom, there was no doubt: we had found the right product for the specific request. The sampling in this case was immediately successful.

Tell us a little about the market situation in Russian countries regarding parquet and interior design.

I believe that the Russian market can still offer for my business and for Italian furniture and design companies significant business opportunities; unfortunately, the political events that have affected Ukraine and the resulting tensions with Europe and the U.S. have caused a major slowdown in trade with Russia in all sectors, including furniture.