Brands Arper

Arper is a leading Italian company that creates chairs, tables, and furnishings for community, work and home.

Arper was founded in 1989 as an evolution of a leather artisan enterprise launched by the Feltrin family in the 1980s. The company, created by the father Luigi (President of Honour until his passing in 2020), together with his sons Mauro and Claudio (the latter current President), distinguished itself right from the start for its innovative products and state of the art processes, as well as for its international approach.

Towards the end of the 1990s, Arper stops producing leather chairs for homes and switches to the contract sector. It begins positioning itself as a B2B company, with a design that privileges style unencumbered by bulky technological features.

Soon it begins its partnerships with international designers. These collaborations help define Arper’s identity, drawing inspiration from all over the world to elaborate an original synthesis.

Our first partnership, with the Studio Lievore Altherr Molina (Lievore Altherr as of April 2016), was essential and lead to a fortunate series of long sellers: from the Catifa chair collection (today presented in six different versions, with over two million chairs sold since 2001) to the Kinesit task chair (2014). Kinesit's uniqueness lies in having added color to traditionally monochrome office chairs, and having approached innovation in radical new ways, by hiding the chair’s technological features rather than boasting them. Other products born of the collaboration with the Studio Lievore Altherr Molina are the Loop sofas; the Saya, Colina, Duna 02 seating systems; the Meety, Yop, Wim tables and the Parentesit panels.

Among the designers that have designed Arper’s most successful products are Jean-Marie Massaud (the Steeve sofa launched at the Salone del Mobile 2015, and the Aston executive and lounge chair); James Irvine (Juno chair); Simon Pengelly (the Nuur table, winner of the Compasso d’Oro in 2011); Antti Kotilainen (Aava collection); the Metrica Studio (Cross table); and Ichiro Iwasaki (Pix ottoman).

Today Arper’s focus is mainly on the contract sector (80% of sales), with products targeted for different uses and market segments. The DNA of the brand, which approaches design as a means of action and communication, expresses itself through a special focus on color and system flexibility, in a constant dialogue between form and function.

The company is growing, thanks to organizational policies - today set out by the management - that unfailingly foster transparency and the promotion of a strong, consistent brand identity: turnover has increased from 67 million Euros in 2015 to 72 million Euros in 2018.

The strong drive to succeed in the international markets, which has distinguished the company since its inception, has led to an expansion of sales in the US, the Middle East and the Far East. Currently, foreign countries account for 92% of the total turnover (Europe for about 70%). Arper’s products are distributed in 90 countries through a widespread network of dealers and agents. The company’s medium to long-term goals are to foster a more direct relationship with partners within a global perspective that privileges increasingly personalized services, and to develop an expansion strategy aimed at enhancing each local market.

Arper employs a total of 260 people at its headquarters (in Monastier di Treviso), subsidiaries, branches, and showrooms in Italy and abroad. Our 12 showrooms are based in major world capitals. Of these, five are the headquarters of the Group's subsidiaries: New York, (Arper USA), Dubai (Arp Middle East), London (Arper UK), Tokyo (Arper Japan) and Mexico City (Arper Latam). The showrooms in Milan, Cologne, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Oslo, Chicago and Los Angeles are used as exhibition spaces, branded spaces and meeting points for local design communities.

Lastly the two meeting hubs in Munich (Germany) and Beerneem (which houses the offices of Arper Belgium) and the branch in Singapore complete the list.