THE COMPANY
LAGO roots can be traced back to the late nineteenth century when Policarpo began his handcraft activity as a cabinet-maker in manor houses and churches in Venice. The next generation continued the tradition and expanded production to double bedrooms and subsequently to small furniture sets for entrance halls. However, it is during the 80’s that the younger generation had the idea to focus on the furniture of other areas of the house. In 2006, at its fourth generation, the company located in Villa del Conte was transformed in a joint stock company and set out to confront the global market. A new journey thus began full of challenges and achievements. In charge of this delicate generational transition is Daniele Lago, a young entrepreneur and designer, who, together with his brother Franco and his sister Rosanna, leads a young and dynamic team. Today, LAGO has an annual turnover of 30 million euro and around 180 employees. LAGO has a worldwide presence with about 400 selected stores and single-brand stores in Italian and European cities, including Rome, Milan, Berlin, Madrid, Paris and London, with a store at Harrods. The expansion is still in full swing, but the company remains firmly tied to its origins while expanding; it is open to getting to know and exchanging ideas with other cultures, partners, suppliers, consumers, bloggers and all those attending LAGO’s events and sharing LAGO’s path marked by the continuous interplay of influences from inside the company outwards and vice versa. A single-celled organism that becomes multicellular, which feeds itself on many different individual personalities, enhancing them and expanding far beyond its headquarters. Participation and sharing are the keywords.
VALUES
Lago believes in an expanded vision of design, seeing it as a discipline that produces not only objects but also meaning. A discipline that can innovate the entire product chain—from the initial concept to disposal—generating culture, an indispensable condition for producing innovation. For LAGO, culture and profit are in continuity, not opposition. This is why LAGO has always worked in the world of design understanding it as a tool for social transformation. New profits can be generated creating scenarios that can improve the quality of our lives. LAGO believes that design bring positive change to the way we experience spaces and generate empathy between interiors and the people who use them. That is why in 2017 we unveiled the first LAGO book, published by Rizzoli, ‘Never Stop Designing Spaces’, a journey through the quality of life in ten Italian cities chosen through Trivago’s ‘Global Reputation Ranking 2016’, with the aim of celebrating and giving depth to the genius of Italy, understood as a culture of knowing how to design and knowing how to create. Network logic, where there is no single, central monolith but rather many small centres that communicate with one another, is the perfect expression of the LAGO business philosophy, where everyone can make their own contribution. Projects like LAGO INTERIOR LIFE NETWORK are demonstration of the company’s commitment to influencing and being influenced. Creativity, relationships and influences enrich the mind and everyday work and flow spontaneously into the company’s products and strategies. LAGO is not a finished text. Instead, it is an alphabet: design tools, shapes and materials are the ingredients for designing interiors that resonate with your own way of being, living and working.
