After his degree in electronic engineering, Gino Zorzan has been managing for thirty years, along with his brother Sandro, the sales of furniture at MALFATTI-ZORZAN stores, a family business ever since, established in 1918 in the very heart of Vicenza, a town with many workshops and industries in the north-east of Italy. 

Already a member of the “Federazione Nazionale Commercianti Mobili e Arredamento” (Italian Association of Furniture Dealers) with an in-depth knowledge of the problems and the evolution of this sector, in this interview he makes some considerations on the world of sofas, however not from an insider’s point of view, but in much more detached and disinterested terms, with a more emotional and passionate approach, as if he were a layman. 

The result is an amusing and original picture with a series of considerations that outline the sofa more like a kind of personal object than a product meant to furnish the home. 

The sofa
Furnishing one’s home is a very important operation. The choice must take into account personal taste, functions to be performed, wishes to be fulfilled, need for an orderly room space and the feeling of liberty. No habitat can elude these rules. 

Sofas are special, though. 
Whereas the kitchen is meant to satisfy the physical and mental need for food or to provide a setting for our social relations with relatives and friends and the subsequent reward brought about by the culinary skills of the host, and the bedroom is the place for the private moments in our daily life, when looking for a sofa we are looking for a friend. 

Its presence at home is not necessary, as it is not part of the eating-sleeping cycle, which means that it is the last thing to be bought. And yet, as long as we don’t buy it, we miss it. 

At the moment of choosing one, we do not only consider its shape or comfortableness. We want it to pamper us, match our moods, be able to follow our thoughts, be a place where to vent our anger, and where to relax. When we look at a sofa, we think of how it is going to welcome us when we get home, a haven of rest where to listen to our favourite music, the cosy nook where to comfortably read a book or watch TV, or share intimate moments. 

The sofa’s shape and upholstery are important, as they meet aesthetic and practical needs. But if your sofa does not welcome you with a smile like your most loyal friend at home, it is never going to be your sofa.