Dezeen Magazine

Patrizia Moroso reveals the "hidden heart" of Moroso in exclusive factory tour

Movie: in this exclusive movie, Moroso creative director Patrizia Moroso gives Dezeen a personal behind-the-scenes tour of the furniture brand's factory in Italy.

Moroso factory showroom

Every piece of Moroso furniture is made to order at the company's headquarters in Udine, Italy.

"We do everything from the prototyping, to the industrialisation, to shipping all over the world," Moroso explains in the movie, which was produced by Dezeen for the Italian brand.

Moroso factory tour

Moroso was founded by Patrizia Moroso's parents in 1952, and it is still a family company. The first stop on the tour is the prototyping area, where Moroso's uncle Marino cuts all the foam pieces by hand.

Moroso factory tour

"The prototype room is where everything starts," Moroso says. "It's very important, this space. It's the hidden heart of the company where we first meet with the designers with their ideas. My uncle has been cutting the first shapes in foam for many, many years."

Misfits Sofa by Ron Arad
Misfits Sofa by Ron Arad

Ron Arad, who has been designing collections for Moroso since the early 90s, described Marino Moroso as "a master, like Michelangelo, with a carving knife," in a previous Dezeen movie.

On the tour, Moroso reveals Arad's modular Misfits sofa from 2007 is one of her favourite foam forms: "Misfits was designed by Ron many years ago, but there is still something fantastic, very contemporary about it," she says.

Moroso factory tour

The next stop on the tour is the upholstery area of the factory, where the fabric covering for another Arad design – his 2001 Victoria & Albert sofa – is being cut.

Moroso factory tour

Moroso explains that textiles are very important to her.

"Fabrics are our main material," she says. "We are basically making dresses for bodies, which are chairs, arm chairs and sofas. The fabrics are a part of the project from the beginning with the designers, because it's part of the personality of the objects."

Kenny chairs by Raw Edges
Kenny chairs by Raw Edges

Moroso then shows us the sewing room, where the covers for a Kenny chair by Raw Edges and a My Beautiful Backside sofa by Doshi Levien are being hand-sewn, before taking us through to the final assembly and packing area.

My Beautiful Backside Sofa by Doshi Levien
My Beautiful Backside Sofa by Doshi Levien

"Here we put the covers over the bodies of the objects," she says. "And the final step of the process is where the product is packed to go away somewhere in the world."


Subscribe to Dezeen's YouTube channel for the latest architecture and design movies


"Sometimes I want to get in [the box] and go too."

Patrizia Moroso
Moroso creative director Patrizia Moroso

This movie was produced by Dezeen for Moroso. It is the latest in a series of movies about the Italian brand, which you can watch on our YouTube playlist: