i SALOON di CN - CN SALOON

Nuove idee e nuovi progetti, come già annunciato all'inizio dell'anno, iniziano a prendere piede ...
Parte la rubrica "i SALOON di CN"!

L'idea è partita dalla volontà di far conoscere la realtà di CN a tutti voi, come già accennato in altri post e dunque.. cosa potrebbe essere meglio di far conoscere le persone che ruotano attorno a questa realtà?
Abbiamo quindi elaborato un progetto di interviste, che coinvolge tutta la scala gerarchica, dai dirigenti agli operai e che sia allarga anche all'esterno, con collaboratori, anchitetti...
Insomma, un vero e proprio "salotto" di casa CN.
Ma il salotto è un luogo privato, dove il padrone di casa gestisce gli eventi come meglio desidera, è una parola che rievoca un po' un mondo elitario.
Quindi il saloon. Perché? Eccovi 5 buoni motivi:
- perché è il luogo di ritrovo di tutta la comunità,
- perché ci si sente liberi,
- perché si parla di tutto: lavoro, famiglia, hobby, politica...
- perché servono buona birra,
- perché ha dei bellissimi arredi in legno.


Se l'immagine che vi evoca è quella dela sparatorie alla Tarantino e pestaggi alla Bud Spencer e Terence Hille, ci sarà da ricredervi!
Il saloon nasce infatti come ristoro per commercianti, cowboy e banditi del mitico Far West, ma si trasforma ben presto in un luogo di aggregazione per tutti, dove persino politici e personaggi molto influenti trovano modo di esprimere e discutere delle loro idee.

Questa rubrica vuole parlare delle persone, semplicemente, come si fa davanti ad una buona birra al bar!



New ideas and new projects, as we have seen at the beginning of this year!
Here we start with a new rubric... CN SALOON!

We want to make you aware of what CN is and how CN works. This idea can not develop without let people, who work in CN talk about it. The company is made of people, that play different roles and have different ideas and way of looking at things.
So, we started this project based on interviews. We want people to speak about themselves and their work. Every person that works in or collaborates with CN will get involved! Carpenters and managers, designers and architects, sales people and friends...
Why do we choose the saloon? Here 5 good reasons:
- the whole community can meet there,
- you feel free to express yourself,
- you can talk about everything: family, work, hobby, politics...
- there is beer,
- there is a beautiful wood furniture.

If you imagine shootings like the ones in Tarantino's films, or fights to the way that Bud Spencer and Terence Hill usually did, you are wrong!
Even if saloons were born to serve trappers, cowboys, miners end gamblers, it became a place with an adaptable social nature, where everyone can talk and be heard. Even politicians and influential people used to meet with all other people there, to discuss their ideas.

Here, we want simply to talk and express ourselves, to know each others like in... a saloon!

VENEER MATCHING TECHNIQUES

Be glad, carpenters! Our rubric is back "on the blog"!

We must first resume what we have said on the previous episodes: we have written about how veneer can be cut and what is the process of veneering. But these sheets made out of wood can be smaller than your cupboard or table... So, they have to been matched. This matching process can be done with different methods, that can have different results.
Usually, sheets are sold in packs of 24/32 (it depends on the thickness and the type of wood). These packs are composed by veneer made out of the same part of the log, so they tend to have an homogeneous color.

One of the most common approach is called book matching: alternative pieces of veneer are flipped over, so they match as pages of a book. This kind of matching technique is used on flamed wood (obtained by lengthwise cut). 

This is one of the most precious finishing, due to its perfectly symmetric  pattern and its homogeneous color.

Another approach is the slip matching: 

sheets are simply joined in sequence, without flipping them. Wood with straight grain are often put together like this, so the joins will not be obvious.
Another reason for using a slip matching concerns the color: if sheets are flipped, the painting can have a different results on the different sides.
Transparent and natural finishing are usually used.

Then, we can write something about the random matching:

this technique is just what it sounds like; sheets are chopped and then matched, without respecting any kind of grain or color. The results is a bigger sheet that has a pattern composed by different colors and grain.

There are some other approaches, that creates particular patterns and figures: diamond, reversed diamond, sun, box... Each of these can give to your furniture a refined look and a different meaning!

La GIUNTATURA del TRANCIATO

Gioite gioite, amanti delle tecniche di falegnameria!

La nostra rubrica è di nuovo "on the blog", dopo un inizio anno un po' in sordina.

Ripendiamo il discorso da dove eravamo rimasti: il tranciato di legno, risultato della tranciatura, si adagia sui nostri mobili tramite il processo dell'impiallaccialura. Ma cosa succede quando il foglio non è abbastanza grande: facile, come già detto si passa all'aggiuntura, ossia alla giuntura dei vari fogli di tranciato tra di loro. I metodi con cui questo processo è attuato, saranno approfonditi in un prossimo articolo, per oggi ci divertiamo con le forme e i colori e vediamo come questi fogli possono essere assemblati.

In genere i fogli vengono venduti a pacchi di 24/32 fogli, dipendentemente dallo spessore e dal tipo di legno; questi fogli sono contigui, ovvero ricavati dalla stessa parte del tronco, sia esso il cuore (dal colore più scuro) o l'alburno (la parte più esterna e chiara).

Un primo metodo è quello detto a libro o cattedrale: il foglio di tranciato fiammato, ovvero quello con un disegno a fiamma, derivato da un tipo di taglio longitudinale, viene accostato ad un foglio con lo stesso disegno ma rovesciato. In pratica i due sono uno il simmetrico dell'altro. 

Questo tipo di aggiuntura è uno dei più pregiati.

Un altro metodo è quello di giunta a correre: 

i fogli vengono semplicemente accostati tra di loro, senza capovolgerli. E' una tecnica che si usa soprattutto per il tranciato rigato, in modo da ottenere un effetto omogeneo. Di solito vengono applicate delle colorazioni naturali a questi tranciati. Proprio per un problema di tinta, i fogli risultano girati tutti dalla stessa parte: girandoli sull'altra faccia, infatti il colore potrette risultare diverso.

Vediamo poi la giunta dogata:

il nome deriva dalle doghe del parquet e il foglio di tranciato in questo caso viene prima sezionato, poi giuntato senza rispettare un ordine o un disegno preciso. Il risultato è un foglio con un disegno misto, venature diverse e anche un colore disomogeneo. 

La casualità degli accoppiamenti gli è valsa il nome di giunta random, ossia casuale.

Ci sono poi molti altri modi per giuntare i fogli di tranciato, a seconda del disegno che si vuole creare, come a diamante, a diamante rovesciato, sole, scatola... Ognuno ha la sua particolarità e donano tutti un effetto molto ricercato ai vostri mobili.

Tutto chiaro? Alla prossima puntata!

Io la cucina... tu il soggiorno!

Per oggi il nostro blog abbandona gli argomenti seri e professionali (ai quali torneremo prestissimo però, non vi preoccupate) per un articolo un po' più... sentimentale!

Surfando sul web, infatti abbiamo trovato una notizia molto interessante, che riguarda il mondo dell'arredamento: ben il 70% dei litigi di una coppia che ha appena iniziato a convivere, è causato dalla scelta dei mobili! Seguono a ruota il 20% dovuto al colore delle pareti, il 14% a causa di complementi di arredo (come dimenticare le terribili bamboline/macchinine che la tua dolce metà si ostina a non mettere via) e addirittura il 10% per la scelta delle tende. 

Furniture by Agata Ruiz de la Prada - Vondom

In particolare, se il 34% discute su che mobili servono o meno, un altro 27% fa dello stile dell'arredamento una questione fondamentale. Se gli uomini, nel 36% dei casi preferisce uno stile classico, le donne, invece, oramai stanche dei merletti e pizzi della mamma/nonna vorrebbero un arredamento contemporaneo e moderno. Buone percentuali di giovani conviventi desiderano per la loro casa uno stile minimal o addirittura hi.tech, rivelandosi più attente alle nuove tendenze (e tecnologie) dei loro compagni.

Lo studio che ha fornito questi dati (ArchitettaMi), inoltre, ha rivelato delle differenze fondamentali tra uomini e donne: i primi sono più attenti al soggiorno e alla camera da letto, mentre le seconde vorrebbero concentrare le risorse su bagno e cucina. 

L'indecisione (di lui) e il repentino cambio di idee (di lei) non fanno che aumentare i contrasti: trovare una soluzione che accontenti entrambi non è affatto facile!

Per questo le soluzioni "su misura" sono quelle che riescono a rispondere meglio: progettati insieme alla coppia, discusse con esperti e testati personalmente, i mobili su misura di cui CN è produttrice potrebbero essere la soluzione a questo genere di conflitti.

Ma ricordate: la soluzione migliore è quella di non litigare... l'amore supera tutti gli ostacoli! Buona festa degli innamorati a tutti!

Today's post isn't about professional or technical subjects (but don't worry, we'll be back on track soon), but for Valentine's day we have some more... sentimental news!

Surfing on the web, we found an interesting research, regarding both furniture and love: 70% of arguments in a couple, that just started to live together, is caused by the choice of furniture! Then we have 20% of fights about the color of the walls, 14% regarding accessories (how can we forget horrible puppies and mini-cars, that our sweetie can not live without) and, at the end 10% caused by the choice of curtains.

Furniture by Agata Ruiz de la Prada - Vondom

In particular, about 34% argues for the need of certain pieces of furniture, while 27% fight for the right style. 36% of men claim a classical one; on the other hand women, that are tired of laces and old-style sideboards, prefer a contemporary and modern one. A lot of your ladies want for their house also a minimal or hi-tech style, revealing themselves more attentive to trends (and technologies) than their men. 

Furthermore, this research (made by ArchitettaMi), has ascertained that, while men prefer to decorate and take care of the living room and the bedroom, women care more about the kitchen and the bathroom.  

At the end, also different approaches to this subject have a big part in the battle: he is usually more irresolute; when she changes her mind too many times in little time!

At this point, bespoken furniture is one of the answer that better suits (literally): furniture can be drawn by experts together with the lovers, projects can be discussed and the final pieces can be tested personally, by her or by him. CN provides this type of services with a complete productive path, that enable this company to be the sole referent for the entire project.  

But remember.. Love is overcoming obstacles, facing challenges and fighting to be together! Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

G.Ma.P. 1.0: what we think about our future

We have already written about the executive education.
Yes, that article is in Italian and the automatic translation doesn't work so good, I know. But I think that it's pretty unnecessary, because it was dedicated to an Italian public, composed by MSE (medium and small enterprises), and its objective was to underline the importance of this kind of managerial training also for small and familiar enterprises. Supposing that international public take in great consideration this kind of training (as the great number of international courses proposes by universities shows), this choice is motivated and we can go on with this article.

Today we are going to start a series about management control that we are implementing in CN: you can call it G.Ma.P., that means Getting a Managerial Prospective. 

As said in the article we were speaking about above, our company decided to get en executive course about managerial approach, moving away to the familiar and "as-we-were-friends" approach that Italian companies usually have to the market and to themselves too.
This project is developed in collaboration with Cube Consulting, that helped CN to quit the day-by-day approach and having a rational and anticipatory one. 

This change is felt as compulsory for lots of Italian MSE: they are at the second or third generation, they have a strong identity and well.developed know-how, but they have to compete on an international world, that is very different to the one they were born in.
This international point of view needs not only an important know-how, but also a managerial approach, to survive and communicate in the same language.
Survivor in such an environement means knowing well who we are, which kind of resources we have and how we can rationally organize them.
All of this take part from the ensemble of managerial control tools. An entrepreneur that handle all of this subjects and get ahead of the game, is likely to win.

G.Ma.P. project is composed by 3 phases:

1)   EmployeeAnalysis: how to rationalize roles and tasks, for getting an empowerment? How can we assess employee satisfaction? How can we assess the perceived competence-map?

  2)   Budgeting e costing: which and what kind of costs do we have to face? How can we measure peformance? How can we have a rational and antipatory approach to the governance? How can we analyse the results, according to the previous budget? How can we find out responsabilities?

  3)   Web-Experience: How can we create a web identity that is coherent to the company perceived image? How can we interact directly with our clients? How can we reach new clients and new markets? How to develop engagement by our clients?

In the next (translated) articles, we'll analyse these different phases of the process.
Now, how did it started here in CN?
Massimo Memmola, researcher and professor at the Cattolica University of Milano, is our principal contact in Cube Consulting. We asked him to answer some questions, just to explain that this is not only theory and academic exercise, but really touches everyday life.

·         Are there any peculiar facts that permitted this "change-of-view" in CN? There were problem with implementing it?
      CN is a structured company, that has its own costs and a fixed productive path.. Costs can be organised in cost centers, even if sometimes that results difficult. Yet, without an adequate cost accounting system, that is taken for granted. the first step for the change is understanding who we are and how our business works, a sort of anatomic study of the company. If Silvio and Davide Cappi hadn't get involved, re-discovering the system they worked in for years, nothing could have been done. Problems are, most of all, caused by a different "way of thinking". There were not specific problems, but we had to overcome several difficult points in the "anatomy" structure of this company.

·       How important are people in this change?

People is the crucial point : as I mention before, we first have to change the way of thinking and acting. A critical and improvement personal approach is the base for such a new system. Teamwork is necessary and essential.

·        How much can CN develop from this project?

We can go further and further, in space and time, because a managerial approach can makes CN competitive on international market and give long-terms prospective. CN wants to get competitive not only on the product, but also on governance.
Being able to enlarge its custom with a strong decision taking policy will be the winning card for CN, especially during this crisis. 

·        How long will it take to get results?

Results are already tangible: knowing the cost structure is already part of the knowhow, and now we are studying processing and engeneering. This blog, with the website and social networks (Fb, Tw, LIn) is part of a developing web strategy. As a good car, it takes few kilometers to assess all the systems.
Year by year, then, the project must change and adapt to fit the develop of CN.

Waiting for... SALONE DEL MOBILE 2013

E come poteva il nostro blog mancare una notizia così importante come la presentazione del Salone del Mobile 2013?
E infatti eccoci qui, con una rassegna stampa sulla presentazione tenuta ieri da Cosmit a Palazzo Unicredit, per la presentazione del Salone di quest'anno.

Critter - Elia Mangia

Il milanesissimo Corriere, presenta nella sua rubrica riservata alla casa e all'arredamento un articolo molto ottimista, concentrato sia sul mondo degli interni d'ufficio (uno dei filoni di "esercizio"più importanti per gli architetti in questa esposizione) sia sul mondo al di fuori del salone e le opportunità che Milano ha studiato per lo sviluppo di tutto quello che possiamo far rientrare nella grande categoria del "fuorisalone", allungato in un lasso temporale di due anni che lo collega direttamente all'Expo 2015. Grande spazio anche ai grandi nome del design di interni, dal Pritzker 2008 Jean Nouvel, a Piero Lissoni, Patricia Urquiola e Antonio Citterio, alle grandi idee e alle innovazioni, in un "capodanno" che non manca di novità e buoni propositi (e di un'ottima colonna sonora).
*Piccolo appunto: già l'anno scorso sul blog si vociferava delle novità di questo salone... mostrando questo prototipo, la cui produzione è realizzata proprio in CN!

G. Pisapia e C. Luti

Grande spazio ai grandi nomi anche sul blog di Repubblica, dove la fanno da padroni gli spazi dedicati agli uffici, all'illuminazione e il salone satellite "Design e artigianato" e la voglia di innovazione, fil rouge di questa edizione.

Il Sole24Ore mostra da una parte, l'anima innovativa e attenta alle novità del design, con un occhio particolare alla realtà aziendale, che difende in un altro articolo, che sottolinea l'importanza del settore legno e arredo per il nostro stato e la grande importanza che ha il distretto del mobile di Monza e Brianza, dove ci troviamo. Il salone si pone quindi come una (delle tante) calamite per questo territorio. L'articolo non nasconde una certa vena critica-politica, da parte di chi scrive molto apprezzata.

Archiportale dona una grande e bella varietà di citazioni dalla conferenza stampa e una fila di foto sul progetto dell'area Garibaldi-Repubblica, mentre Il Giornale sottolinea le grandi aspettative in numero di visitatori e propone una riflessione economica sui numeri (di esportazioni e di tasse).

How can our blog miss such an important news, about the Salone del Mobile 2013? So, here we are, with our press review.

Critter - Elia Mangia

The Milan Corriere, presents in its blog dedicated to interior design a very optimistic view, regarding both  the world of offices design and what develops outside the Salone and all opprtunities given by Milan during that week (public transportation integrated ticket, free access to civical museums...) and stretching out proposal and links for two years, when there will be that great (and debated) event, the Expo 2015.  

Great names are presented as well: Pritzker 2008 Jean Nouvel, Piero Lissoni, Patricia Urquiola and Antonio Citterio, with their great projects and innovation in a "new year party" that doesn't miss any news or good proposal (and a beautiful soundtrack).

*Something special: last year this blog wrote about this prototype, that will be presented next April... and has been realized in CN! 

On the blog of Repubblica, great names and concepts. Themes like offices, lighting and "Design and handcraft" communicate all a huge desire of innovation, fil rouge of this year edition.

Sole24Ore shows in one article its attention to new design, but always with an eye on Italian companies, that it defends in this article, underlining the importance of the furniture trade for our country and in particular for  Monza e Brianza, where CN is located. Salone acts as (one of many) magnet for this area. This article doesn't hide a critical/political vein.

Archiportale reports some quotations of important people, given during the press conference and some photos of the palace and the area where it was located (thei are still working to finish it, the Garibaldi-Repubblica area in Milan), while Il Giornale underlines the expectation of a great number of visitors and porposes an economic reflection with real numbers (about import-export and taxes).

Wood VENEERING

Here we go with the second technical articles, translated from this post. Today we are talking about the process off veneering, that is used to produce furniture that is resistant, nice and also less expensive that the one in massif wood. How does it can be possible?

First of all, you should have been read the article about wood SLICING, that will provide you a good explanation about the way we can obtain a sheet of wood.
Then, we must clear up the concept of veneering: this words refers only to the covering made by wood sheets (called veneer) and not to all kind of covering. Indeed, wood can be covered also by melaminic resins, but we'll talk about it another time.

Questions? Please feel free to pose questions on the comment area, under this post!
Now we can describe what happens to the sheet of wood. Once it is sliced from the log, it is dried up and sometimes also ironed, as your mother (or wife) does with your shirt, as there will be no unaesthetic pleats once you wear it.
These sheets undertake a docking and trimming, that means parallel and perpendicular cutting to make the edges uniform.



Now the veneer is ready to be joined one to another, to create bigger panels.
This laid-up veneer can be done in different ways, with glue on the edges or adding paper on the back of it. This last process is used to compose marquetry and it is also very useful when the veneer is applied on curved surfaces: in this way the wood is less likely to crack.
Anyhow, precision is essential. The pattern depends on the different lying up of sheets. Here you can see come examples.

These sheets are glued (with special kind of glue) on less-precious wood panels.

What about the result?
Stable and durable furniture, that resist better to woodworm attacks and are homogeneous when produced in series. Moreover, with an infinite choice of the patterns, that is limited only by our imagination (and technique progress). Some project can be realized only by using veneer, because the climate changes (hot and cold, rain and sun) cause a contraction and expansion of solid wood and this can compromise the stability of the furniture.

But, most important, wood veneering is ecological! Furniture made by wood veneer uses less wood that same pieces made by solid wood. Using wood requires 70% less energy than other materials.
Being eco-friendly means a greater possibility of recyclability and renewability, for a conscious and attentive use of wood resources.



At the end, some sort of curiosity: wood veneer was used since Renaissance. Obviously, they had no machinery like the ones we use today and, of course they sliced wood in thicker sheets.
This can be used to recognize the age of some furniture and avoid buying fakes!