Italian Furniture in Chicago: Why Italian Modern Furniture Is Worth the Investment

The first reaction most people have to Italian furniture is to the price. A sofa can cost what a used car does. A wall unit can cost more. It's fair to ask what could possibly justify that when a perfectly decent sofa is available for a fifth of the money.

The honest answer is that it isn't worth it for everyone, and it isn't worth it for every piece in a home. But for the furniture you use every day and plan to keep, there's a real case to be made. It rests on how these pieces are made and how long they last. The label has little to do with it.

What you're paying for

The price difference shows up in places you mostly can't see in a photograph.

• Frames and structure. Lower-cost sofas often use softwood or engineered board held with staples. Better Italian pieces use hardwood or steel frames with proper joinery. You'll never look at the frame, but it determines whether the sofa still sits square in fifteen years.
• Cushioning. Cheap foam feels fine in the showroom and flattens within a few years. High-end upholstery layers foams of different densities, often with a down or fiber wrap, so the seat holds its shape and its comfort.
• Finishes. Italian lacquer work is a good example. A proper lacquer finish goes on in multiple coats, sanded by hand between each one, which gives it depth and makes it more durable. Wood veneers are matched so the grain runs continuously across doors and drawers.
• Mechanisms. Drawers, hinges, sliding doors and reclining backs are the first things to fail on inexpensive furniture. On well-made pieces they close softly and stay aligned for years.
• Proportion. This is the hardest to describe and the easiest to feel. The seat depth, the angle of the back and the height of the arm have been worked over many prototypes. A good piece is comfortable in a way you notice only when you sit on a lesser one afterward.

The cost-per-year argument

Think about furniture as an annual cost instead of a purchase price. A $2,000 sofa that looks tired after six years costs about $330 a year, and then you buy another. An $8,000 sofa that lasts 25 years costs $320 a year, and it's more comfortable for every one of them.

Those figures are illustrative, and real lifespans depend on use, children, pets and care. But the principle holds. Well-made furniture can usually be repaired and reupholstered, which stretches its life further. Cheap furniture generally can't, because the frame isn't worth saving.

There's a design side to this too. Italian contemporary furniture tends to be restrained, with clean lines, neutral palettes and little decoration. Pieces designed that way don't date quickly. A sofa bought in 2010 from a good Italian maker doesn't look like a 2010 sofa. Furniture that follows a trend usually looks like the year it was bought.

Some pieces also keep their value. There is an active resale market for furniture by well-known Italian makers and designers, and certain classics sell secondhand for a large share of their original price. That isn't true of everything, and you shouldn't buy a sofa expecting a return. It does mean you aren't starting from zero if you move or change your mind.

How to judge quality yourself

You don't need to be an expert. In a showroom, do the following:

• Lift a corner. A solid frame feels heavy and doesn't twist.
• Sit, then stand. The cushion should recover its shape right away.
• Open every door and drawer. They should move smoothly, close softly and line up evenly.
• Look at the back and underside. Good makers finish the parts you won't normally see.
• Check the seams and pattern matching. Stitching should be straight and even. On veneer, the grain should flow from one panel to the next.
• Ask where it's made. A piece can carry an Italian name and be produced elsewhere. A good showroom will tell you the factory and the region.

Shopping for it in Chicago

Chicago is one of the better American cities for this. River North grew from a warehouse district into a design district, with showrooms for commercial and luxury interior furnishings clustered in the blocks north of the Merchandise Mart. Many of the city's European furniture showrooms are within walking distance of each other.

That matters because Italian furniture needs to be seen and sat on. If you're comparing Italian Furniture Chicago showrooms, plan an afternoon and visit several. Bring a floor plan with measurements, photos of your room, and samples of your flooring and wall color if you have them.

A few questions will tell you a lot about a showroom:

• Do they work directly with the manufacturers, and which ones?
• Is design help included, such as space planning and material selection?
• Who handles delivery, assembly and installation, especially for wall systems and closets?
• What does the warranty cover, and who services it locally?

Where to spend and where to save

You don't have to furnish an entire home this way. The sensible approach is to invest in the pieces that take daily use and are hard to replace: the sofa, the bed, the dining table, and built-in storage such as wall units and wardrobes. Those are the pieces where construction quality pays you back.

Save on the things you'll want to change, like side tables, accent chairs, rugs and accessories. A room with two or three excellent pieces and modest supporting ones will look and feel better than a room where everything is average.

Italian modern furniture is expensive, and no amount of explaining changes that. What you get for the money is furniture designed by people who've spent their careers on it, built by workshops that have done this for generations, and made to be lived with for a very long time.

Italian modern furniture costs more for reasons you can see and feel. Here's what goes into it, how to judge quality, and how to shop for it in Chicago.