G. Romano Celebrates 45 "Hip" Years In Business

Furniture World Magazine

Montreal upholstery manufacturer G.ROMANO Inc., announced that the company will celebrates 45 years of modern style in 2007. According to Rick Lovegrove, G.Romano’s head of sales and design, "our success teems from our focused collection of hip and fashionably dressed line of contemporary upholstery specifically scaled for urban living." G.Romano was amongst the pioneers to focus on smaller scale condo-sized frames, which are now popping up in many manufacturers’ collections. "In 1994, we made a conscious effort to re-invent the Romano brand to ensure future success and to create new generation of Romano, continued Mr. Lovegrove. “We began building a design oriented collection based on both form & fashion, and also designed it around what was happening in architecture today-i.e. the surge in popularity of condos and renovated lofts. The combination of scale, clean lines and the latest color trends are what our customers come to us for and has allowed us to succeed in an import driven industry” We work hard on keeping it fresh, coasting on last season’s collection-is not an option for us. "The transition from old to new was not always an easy one, changing the style of furniture you produce may seem like a relatively easy task to achieve, but when you are dealing with a group of talented crafts people- some of whom had been with us more than 25 years it isn’t that simple to just change things up” Apart from the design direction, the change also required G.ROMANO to source new fabric suppliers, hire new sales reps and of course find customers who would appreciate and sell the new product line." In Fall 2004, G.Romano modernized its 35,000 sq. ft. factory and switched to a lean manufacturing system to allow them to delver faster and more efficiently, a project overseen by Natalina Romano (daughter of Gino and Maria Romano founders of the company) and a team of engineer’s hired specifically for this project. “This significantly decreased the lead-time for 8-10 weeks to 4 weeks was absolutely essential to the future success of this company” said Lovegrove The company recently expanded its product range to include upholstered beds and dining chairs which can be upholstered in any of G.Romano’s signature line of over 200 fabrics. G.Romano is still family owned and now headed by the second generation husband and wife team of Natalina Romano and Rick Lovegrove. The 2007 collection can be seen at the TCHFM in Toronto, Canada, Highpoint Furniture Market, in Highpoint, NC and at the Las Vegas Market in Las Vegas, Nevada.