Fire shuts down Italian fabric source
By Susan M. Andrews -- Furniture Today, March 24, 2002
CHIERI, Italy — CHIERI, Italy — High-end Italian fabric source Piovano has not operated since a Feb. 18 fire at its mill here destroyed all its looms and archived patterns. The company said it is too early to say when, or even if, it can rebuild and resume production.
The mill, which has been called the Rolls-Royce of Italian upholstery fabric producers, was founded in 1948 by Leandro Piovano. The current owners are his descendants Guido, who handles manufacturing, and Leandro, who manages the sales side.
In a letter to customers, the company gave them permission to take Piovano patterns elsewhere to be duplicated. "We are firmly determined not to let die the name Piovano," the letter said. "With deep sorrow we are compelled to suspend our business until all insurance proceedings will be over."
The company, which employs about 80 people, exports the majority of its goods to Germany, France, Portugal, England, Spain, Lebanon and the United States. It usually exhibits at Proposte in Italy and Decosit in Belgium.
Roger Berkley, president of Weave Corp., a Piovano competitor, said, "Piovano has been an extremely creative designer and weaver. The mill's creativity was prodigious. As a competitor, Piovano challenged us to strive for greater and greater levels of excellence. I will miss the excitement and passion they brought to the industry."
Franco Nannucci, president of Loomcraft Textiles International, called Piovano "a great weaver" and hopes the company will be able to re-establish itself, but added, "A company's greatest asset is its archive, and when you lose that, you lose your heart. It will take a lot of energy and money.
"My family's weaving department burned some years ago, and we were able to start again, but the memory of those blackened looms is very bad and very depressing."
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