Calia Italia

Calia Italia’s history begins with his founder Liborio Vincenzo Calia, a skilled master carpenter who in 1965 started to create and produce sofas in Matera. A sofa was supposed to be, as he loved to say, a piece of furniture where to rest, engage in conversation, dream… This master carpenter used to conceive new models, plan and follow-up all manufacturing stages, teach the job to trainees, take care of customer relations. At the end of the 70s / beginning of the 80s, Calia Italia oversteps the bonds of craftsmanship and starts designing and manufacturing sofas at industrial levels. In the mid 80s the company expands its sales to the whole domestic market and starts to look at Europe, succeeding also in the tough French market, strongly characterized by a high quality upholstered furniture’s demand. In the following years, the company specializes in the production of the medium-high range: a product made with the highest attention to materials and design, whose primary aim was to meet the aesthetic tastes of European consumers. In 1991 the company develops “Centro Studi”, a development and research area with personnel qualified in design and prototypes. In 1996, by building a new 8,000 sq. mt. plant in Ferrandina, Valbasento (MT), Calia Italia widens its range of models, giving a further boost to the economy of the territory. In the following period of time, and especially in the past three years, further reorganisation and technological innovation endeavours have taken the company to a highly competitive international level, without ever leaving behind the artisan matrix of its products and the strong ties with Matera and its people. Under Saverio Calia’s artistic direction and Giuseppe Calia’s commercial strategy, Calia Italia is now able to introduce more than 50 new models a year, with a wide range of coverings in leather and, as of 2010, also in fabric: a collection of approximately 30 different items available in over 400 colours. Calia Italia distributes its commercial offer to a continuous growing international market, that from Europe opens up to the Middle East, reaching the Far East – with China, Korea and Japan at the top of the list – thanks to an overall Italian production located in the Murgia area of Matera, the core of the Upholstery District, and to a state-of-the-art logistic system. Calia Italia’s finished product Automatic Warehouse is in fact the biggest in Europe, with a storage capacity of over 20,000 seats.