Controprogetto: designer rubbish

By Antonio Sgobba

If you enter the Controprogetto workshop you might think it is just a regular carpenters studio, but the story doesn’t end there. Four people are working in their overalls: Valeria, Matteo, Davide and Alessia. They are between 29 and 33 years old and in 2003 they openend this sustainable design workshop. Their products are unique pieces: chairs, armchairs, nightstands and tables made with salvaged materials.

“At the moment we’re working on a project for a rehabilitation center, together with the patients we have planned to build a climbing gym” says Valeria Cifarelli. They started for fun but now they’ve become a company. “In 2010 we had a turnover of 100 thousand euros. We grew by 30% compared to the previous years.” Adds Matteo Prudenziati.

Everything is made with salvaged materials. “We know where wood is disposed of and we go and get it. For example, fashion show sets are thrown away at the end of the Fashion Week so we use them again” Explains Matteo. So what used to be in the catwalk backgrounds becomes an incomparable piece of furniture. The prices are not accessible to everybody, they range between 800 and 1500 Euros “but we have a specific target of customers: people who usually furnish the house with the help of an architect” Says Valeria.

Even the tools are recycled in this workshop. Many of them come from the shops of artisans that are now retired . “It would have been a pity for them to throw these tools away, but with us they keep on living.”Says Matteo. The Controprogetto quartet started to work with creativity and sustainability before they became fashionable. “It was natural for us. We started to worked in a place that was crowded with salvaged materials. It was an old factory that had been renovated to give space to artists, students and associations and re-baptised La Stecca. Unfortunately in 2007 it was pulled down to build the new 2015 Milan Expo skyscrapers. It was a trauma for us, we were really close to that place, we all lived nearby” remembers Valeria.

Controprogetto then moved to the opposite side of Milan but although they create their furniture here, it often travels abroad. Among their dealers is Decameron Design in San Paulo, Brazil. “The owner discovered our works at last year’s Milan Design Week and wanted us as an example of Italian design. He asked us to work on salvaged materials from Brazil,” says Matteo. He is the only one of the group who hasn’t studied design.

“I graduated in law but I never really felt like working behind a desk. I learned how to use tools in my grandfather’s workshop in Bergamo. Carpentry was his hobby and it has become my job” he says. Valeria is from Taranto, a city in Southern Italy and with Controprogetto she worked there as well. “In 2008 we built a recreation ground in the old city which was an ill-famed neighborhood. We worked with the children and the teenagers of the area and it’s been one of the greatest satisfaction we’ve had.”

Paying attention to social issues – like childhood – has been one of the distinctive traits of the activities carried out by Controprogetto. Their playgrounds can be found both in Milan and in an orphanage in Kosovo. All these projects have been developed together with the people who are were going to live those spaces. This is how Controprogetto works, following the principle that says if you actively collaborate to create something, you will take better take care of it afterwards.

www.controprogetto.it