From Baroque to High-Tech: Santo Passaia, its extraordinary furniture and interior trends

This time Anna Chincoli, the head of ALTER EGO Milan office, visited the factory of a long-term partner of the bureau – Santo Passaia, a company specialized in the production of the most complex joinery and custom-made furniture.

This company tracks its history back to 1948, when its founder Santo Passaia was 14 years old, and he had just started his carpentry activity. His outstanding talent, multiplied by diligence, allowed him to establish his own workshop and start a large family business known not only in Italy but around the world.

First of all, Santo Passaia is famous for its ability to work with classics using the glorious Italian handicraft traditions in furniture production. 

However, Santo Passaia has not frozen in time and boldly combines those traditions with state-of-the-art technologies implementing high-tech interior projects. The most striking example is a meeting room in the company's showroom where all processes are automated to the maximum extent.

Such enthusiasm for modern technology can be explained by the passion of the current director, Pier Angelo Passaia, for motorcycles. It resulted in a collaboration with the legendary British motorcycle brand Triumph. Santo Passaia produced for them a special exhibition stand that won the first prize at the Motor Bike Expo. Besides that, at the company’s headquarters you can find a display garage dedicated to motorcycles enthusiasts, equipped with cutting-edge automation technologies for lighting and audio systems.

Moreover, the interior of the garage - walls decorated with antique oak and vintage pieces of furniture - deserves a special attention. Although Pier Angelo shares his hobby only with long-time customers once a trusting relationship has been developed, his example has become contagious indeed. It has inspired many people to remake their own garages with that special "Passaia style".

Among new developments for furniture decoration Santo Passaia company offers amazing decorations with briar-root wood from different trees: this particular type of veneer has a heterogeneous structure, resembling stone rather than wood in its texture. Its decorative natural pattern can be enhanced with the latest technology when several different fragments of wood are combined and united into a single whole.

According to the company principal Federico Passaia, walnut is once again the hottest furniture and interior trend. Notably, it is popular in both natural shades and in colors typical for fossil trees, that for many years remained under water or in swamps and acquired new properties. As for the finishing, all its types remain relevant - from glossy to matte with brushing effect. The latter demonstrates the texture of the tree, making its structure more well-read and prominent: this particular finishing can be appreciated on the walls of the garage – where an amazing match between finishing and material (antique oak) has been chosen.

Cooperating with Santo Passaia, ALTER EGO design bureau appreciates the opportunity to work with great professionals. Fitting out the interiors of premium houses is a really demanding process where the cost of an error is high. Skills of working with both handicraft techniques and modern equipment allow avoiding such mistakes. Also, while creating exclusive furniture collections, the coordination of the designers’ work with that of the manufacturer’s technical specialists is essential. This is a multifaceted process and Santo Passaia manages to organize it properly, working through all the details of the project, including complex design solutions. As a result, the turnkey project fit-out is as close to its design plan as possible. It is pure happiness for the bureau professionals to work with those who know how to implement even absolutely incredible ideas.

Here is how Santo Passaia commercial and project manager Maryna Bakay speaks about the cooperation with ALTER EGO design bureau: "For us each joint project is a pleasure, because ALTER EGO does not provide simple tasks. And with each new project we all gain a lot of experience and get incredible joy from communication!”