Alf Group: Italian design embraces craftsmanship and industry

The story of Alf Group started in the fifties, when a group of artisans in Francenigo (Treviso) created the Artigiana Legno Francenigo cooperative for the working and serial production of objects in wood. One of these young workmen was Oliviero Piovesana, the future founder of the company. In 1957, Oliviero and his brother took over the cooperative and, having decided to turn it into a successful business, they invested in modernisation of the production plants. In just a few years the company grew, hand in hand with production and turnover.

Already by the sixties, Alf stood out for its design and manufacture of bedroom furnishings. Success and market request soon led the company to increase its production, also specialising in design of furniture for the living area, without ever losing sight of its artisan roots.
At the end of the eighties Alf expanded with acquisition of Da Frè and 2004 saw the birth of Valdesign, a company producing kitchen systems. This led to the creation of Alf Group S.p.A., today headed by its President and CEO Cristina Piovesana, Oliviero’s daughter.

The industrial growth of Alf Group has never compromised the principle that, right from the start, represented its company philosophy: artisan knowhow, the added value of bespoke production and the importance of the human and family dimension. This identity is one of the factors behind the great success of the company, also outside Italy.
The farsightedness in understanding, as far back as the sixties, the potential of foreign markets has allowed Alf Group to become capable of dialoguing with the needs of different cultures and of interpreting diverse living styles, while remaining loyal to the consolidated tradition of Made in Italy.

In 2016, Alf undertook a new direction of growth. It presented Cartalegno at the Salone del Mobile, the international furniture show in Milan, a project by the industrial designer Giulio Iacchetti. This is a collection of dressers, whose conception is based on careful research into materials, study of the production processes and details that make it a real icon. This signature design is however a natural development in continual production of an object of the highest level that combines industry and craftsmanship.

Today the group has 350 employees, 100,000 m² of production units (all in Italy) in three locations and a research centre to ensure it continues to look ahead. It has, however, never forgotten its family, artisan, 100% Italian character.

www.alfdafre.it