Lebanto, an innovative startup from Como (Italy) founded in 2022, was born with the mission of creating durable, resistant furniture in the right quantities with the utmost respect for the planet and people. Lebanto wants to make Italian style and know-how within everyone’s reach, accessible, simple. Direct access to superior quality furniture made entirely by expert Italian craftsmen. A short and km0 supply chain. Lebanto argues that barriers to access to Italian production and superior quality materials must be removed. He claims that returning to simplicity and clarity, to ‘little but good’, to things well done, is truly the key to a sustainable, ethical and close to people future.
In fact, every year 11 million pieces of furniture are thrown away in Europe alone. Furniture that is most often semi-new: a table that is missing a leg, a chest of drawers with a surface defect, a TV cabinet with a stuck door. This occurs because all these objects have not been designed to last over time, where the materials they are made of limit their maintenance. Furniture made in large factories, often thousands of km away from us, where hundreds and hundreds of pieces of furniture are created every day which will subsequently enter a long and complex worldwide distribution chain. Furthermore, it must be added that not all the furniture that is taken to the landfill is defective. In fact, the case of objects that are destroyed because they are produced in large quantities and not purchased by any customer after months and months spent in the warehouse is known.
This worldwide trend, also known as fast-furniture, has brought the craftsmanship of the Italian wood sector to its knees, with a net -22% of shops closed in the last two years.
Lebanto deals with the design and production of furniture collections, also developing customized projects and commissioned collections, following all the phases of the project. From design to materials research, from engineering to production in Italian little workshops up to delivery. The founders are Alessandro Pozzi, 31, an engineer with experience in Italy and abroad in companies as production and logistics manager. Emanuela Terraneo, 29 years old, architect with experience in Italy and abroad in studios and companies. The idea was born when Alessandro and Emanuela returned from a work experience in Japan. Like all Italians returning after a few years spent abroad, they immediately realize how much beauty, art and craftsmanship there is in Italy. You can see Italy with new, different eyes. This gives them the courage to throw themselves into an entrepreneurial adventure that they have had in mind for some time: an activity that supports and develops true Made in Italy and at the same time can leave the planet a little better than they found it, helping to reduce the fast-furniture phenomenon which is very harmful to our planet and to people.
Lebanto offers its products on its e-commerce platform, allowing the user to view them in their own environment in augmented reality with a simple click, without the need to download any app. Furthermore, Lebanto is developing software for the development of handcrafted furniture using artificial intelligence which will be launched in the coming months.
