2 November/3 November 2019 ★ FTWeekend 13
Marco Fogli of the production teamlined with laurel hedges, is itself a sleek
piece of work. Sara’s cousin Mauro
Nastrimeets clients here: specifiers,
interiordesignersandretailagents.“We
startedinthemiddlemarket ndgradu-a
ally improved in design and technique,”
Nastrisays.
The company’sprincipal markets
today are Italy and the UK, but many
commissions for the Middle East, Japan
and southern Africa show designs that
lookequallyathomeindiversecontexts
and cultural traditions. Porada’s elegant
forms meld tradition with modernism:
(Above)
The Porada
workshop;
(right) the
Infinity table
Photographs by Lea
Anouchinsky for the FTIbrahima Sarr of the assembling teamnow,” says Sara. Instead, each spring
Ballabio and the family directors make
way for the new designs through a
cull of the models that are no longer
fittosurvive.
Once the prototypes are refined and
approved, the final designs are pro-
grammed for a CNC cutter by Fabio Poz-
zoli, an employee of 22 years. The
machine saws and drills with precision,
creating a batch of uniformly curved
sections waiting assembly. However,a
cutting canreveal laws inside the woodf
and rejects are bound for a furnace. The
factory is powered entirely by wood-
wasteandsolarpanels.
The joining, clamping, gluing and set-
ting are preparation for the sanding by
workerssuch as Ibrahim Sarr. He akest
six minutes to hand-smooth a tabletop
beforeitisvarnishedorstained.
The last stages of the process are
re-sanding the rough-sur-
faced varnish by a
bank of three finishers
whose abrasive powder is
wipedawayforthefinalpolish.
Porada keep stocks of furniture
boxed up in “raw” state for quick
orders that can becompleted with a
chosensurface finish.Customers can
alsospecify different marbles. But the
choice is limited. Is it cheap? No. Fast?
No. Is it good? Definitely. And in Milan
in April, it will have been worth the wait
throughwinter.to achieve this balance takes a rigorous
eye for shape and material, combining
metalwork,leatherandmarble.
Twenty years ago Porada was
renowned for then-fashionable cherry
wood. Today it offers just two timbers
chosen for stability, colour and grain:
Canaletta walnut and ash. The walnut
comes to Italy as logs from Canada,
and is sliced into slabs up to 100mm
thick before being delivered here
and stackedbeneath an overhang at the
factory. They are left to dry, taking
roughly a year to dry for each 30 mm,and are then hauled inside to be heated
to 70Cin green cylindrical kilnsuntil
the moisture content reduces to 8 per
cent. Ambient humidity will return this
level to 12 per cent, ideal for working.
“Scandinavians don’t like walnut,” says
Sara. “They prefer the lighter ash.” The
company’sash (calledfrassino) is har-
vested fromits own forest in Burgundy
andsimilarlydried.
The designs that will determine
the shape of the dried wood depend
on a rigorous process that begins in
summer, straight after meeting the
orders from interior designers at the
designfairs.
Porada solicits concepts from a select
group of designers, while the in-house
designleadis52-year-oldCarloBallabio,
today wearing a T-shirt with a funky
logo: not a rock band, but a chair by
Charles Eames. He comes from nearby
Cantù, where his father
was afurniture maker.
Ballabio trained at the
Istituto Europeo di Design ni
Milan and then designed interior fix-
tures and furnishings for architects. He
joinedPoradain2011.
“Soon after the fair we have to create
new designs,” he says. “From concept to
prototype takes about two to four
months.” Over a long grey-stained ash
table in the showroom, he unfurls a
roll of initial drawings showingnext
year’s models. The workshop willHouse Home
first shape his and others’ designs
according to digitised data and then
make ongoingadjustments: a centime-
tre broader seat, or a 2mm narrower
table top, a chamfer, or a total rejection.
“We throw out designs all the time,” he
says. “But we will produce 20-25 new
models[ayear].”
Ballabio is proudest of a recent
collection, Ziggy, which featurestaper-
ing legs beneathcurved structural
corners, suited to a sidetable, bed ro
chair. “We don’t really do collections‘Soon after the fair we have
to create new designs. From
concept to prototype takesabout two to four months’
NOVEMBER 2 2019 Section:Weekend Time: 10/201930/ - 17:44 User:elizabeth.robinson Page Name:RES13, Part,Page,Edition:REU, 13, 1