Design (Corriere della Sera)
23 november 2022
“It was important to clarify what it means today for a company in the design and furniture industry to be part of a prospective sustainability process.” Emanuel Colombini, President of Colombini Group, explains the group’s decision to sign the Furniture Pact, a model of sustainable management development for the Italian wood-furnishing supply chain, promoted by SDA Bocconi’s Sustainability Lab. That is to say “the opportunity for the Group to be monitored in its rational implementation of a sustainability process specific to our industry and to intercept a new market sensitivity.” By adopting a specific system of evaluating the value creation processes. “After obtaining the measurement data, the Furniture Pact provides the company with a very clear road map of adjustments in order to improve on individual points.” Also at a collective level all along the supply chain, following specific criteria and commitments made by the companies that signed the pact. For Colombini Group, signing this “pact” is the end game after a long-established journey towards productive sustainability undertaken by the company, which was established in 1965 and is today the Italian leader in the furniture industry, with its own brands, including Febal Casa. The main strategies already included the optimisation and innovation of production processes, with the recovery and re-introduction of waste into the production process. “Sustainability is also very important for us in terms of product”, Colombini explains. “The raw material we use for our panels is FSC-certified wood, with full respect for the re-planting of the source forests, and wood waste that is 99.97% recovered, achieving an almost complete circularity. What’s more, we are increasingly trying to apply the same philosophy to other raw materials, for instance the tops for our kitchens are made from sintered materials, in other words stone powders that can be reused in the future. Two products are the perfect example of this. Febal Casa’s Class kitchen, with melamine structures and doors made from these eco-friendly panels treated with Greenguard certified “organic” low-emission paints. The second example is the special edition Kaleidos kitchen by Febal Casa with Neolith top, which is 100% natural and resin-free, ultra hard-wearing and just 4 mm thick, made of the best raw materials thanks to sintering. The exclusive new finishes are Mont Blanc, a tribute to white quartzite, and Aspen Grey, inspired by Aspen natural stone. In conclusion, Emanuel Colombini explains: “These two models are important proof of our increasing focus on the life cycle of our products and the recyclability of all the materials we use”.
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