Timber Tale

Wood: a precious natural resource and a blank slate for carefully curated craftsmanship. That’s what Italian furniture brand Pedrali believes, and have continued to champion since their emergence in 1963.

Through a mission to intertwine beauty and tradition with innovation and sustainable practices, Pedrali has remained at the forefront of producing furniture made of metal, plastic materials, upholstery, and wood for decades.

2025 marks an especially important anniversary in the brand’s history: 20 years of its wooden furniture factory in Manzano (Udine), located in the heart of Italy’s Friuli-Venezia Giulia Chair District. As an Italian company, the Manzano facility is at Pedrali’s heart, and functions with an unmatched level of specialist care when it comes to working with wooden materials.

“Italy boasts some of the world’s best technologies for manufacturing wooden chairs, and a heritage of expertise in raw material selection and complex processes that is hard to replicate elsewhere,” explain CEOs Monica and Giuseppe Pedrali.

These technologies include the use of water-based coatings, composed mostly of plant-based resins for an added sheen and durability to the wooden furniture.

“We work with trees that have taken 70–80 years to grow, so we feel a responsibility to transform them into the highest quality products, designed to last and honour the value of such a noble material.”

Shortly after the opening in Manzano in 2008, Pedrali got to work launching new collections. The first was the Frida chair designed by Odo Fioravanti – a seat crafted from oak featuring an extraordinary three-dimensional, curved plywood shell on a solid wood frame.

In 2011 the Frida chair won the ADI Compasso d’Oro award for its “simple sculptural beauty”.

From there, the brand developed the visual lightness of Malmö, the classic elegance of the Nemea collection, and most recently, Griante by Cazzaniga Mandelli Pagliarulo: Pedrali’s first wooden chair specifically for outdoor use.

Drawing from the origins and know-how of the Manzano factory, Griante reinterprets the concept of woven seating through a design that combines traditional skill and industrial production for a timeless silhouette. 

The frame of the outdoor version is made of FSC certified teak, a refined wood characterised by warm tones, that also boasts weather-resistance.

Using FSC certified wood for production means Pedrali makes exclusive use of wood from responsibly and adequately managed forests in line with high environmental standards.

But the standout feature of Griante is a handwoven seat and backrest, both of which are fully recyclable with a soft, three-dimensional texture.

A continuation of their mission – intertwining beauty and tradition with innovation and sustainability – is fundamental for Pedrali and their work in Manzano. This, alongside a passion and dedication to craft and the noblest of materials, is indicative of what lies in store.