Meet the Artisans: Sotow
Paolo Calcagni has worked in advertisement and directed commercials for global brands such as Swatch, Vodafone, and L’Oréal. However, he had always loved design and moved away from advertisement to found Sotow, a unique artisan workshop that creates elegant one-of-a-kind pieces of furniture.
Paolo Calcagni designing his chairs
Paolo Calcagni
Our objects are simple and timeless and they are made just like tailored clothes: customized to our clients’ taste and needs. Nowadays design depersonalizes beauty and comfort. Sotow goes the opposite way and makes pieces to order.
Sotow chairs in the beautiful setting of Costiera Amalfitana
Paolo Calcagni at work
After designing the piece, I make the first prototypes. When the object satisfies me esthetically and ergonomically, we produce a series. The seat is sandblasted with steal spheres and dust-painted, while the central part is colored with a spray gun. When the chair is dry, we add the feet and at the same time we make the cushion either in braided raffia, cotton, suede leather, or in a fabric printed in HD.
A Sotow chair in the making
Ours is not really a company, it is an artisan workshop. I always loved design, back when I was in advertisement. I started moving away from advertisement in 2002 when I edited for three consecutive years the book “The Official Point of View” for the Milan Furniture Fair. I started making furniture almost as a joke three years ago: at the Fuorisalone events during the Furniture Fair I held an exhibition of ten prototypes of chairs that became very popular. It all started then. It is very gratifying to make objects that people like and want to enjoy in the intimacy of their homes.
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