“Sofa Value Chain” Project, a compass for the sofa and armchair sector

The proposal is a candidate for the Compasso d’Oro 2026 together with the other 343 nominations. Over one hundred sofas and armchairs selected by the platform

10 November 2025

Puglia is among the world’s leading regions for the production of living-room furniture, despite the recent fluctuating market crises. The Apulian upholstered furniture district is one of the territory’s most important excellences, geographically located close to the Murgia, between the provinces of Bari and Matera.

These are the master craftsmen of upholstery and woodworking who, in the 1950s, for a local market, promoted production of sofas and armchairs.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the introduction of industrial processes, standardized products and high-quality materials, such as leather, together with internationally inspired design, led to a worldwide success. The boom came between the 1990s and 2000s, with over 80% of production destined for export. Export declined in the 2010s. In 2024, -12%. Despite the challenges posed by economic and trade changes, the sector remains a pillar of the regional economy.

To gain ground and remain competitive, companies are increasingly called upon to invest in Made in Italy design and innovation. In this direction lies the project “Sofa Value Chain”, a compass and guidance tool for the sector. In the form of an interactive platform that collects and provides a systematic reading of Made in Italy upholstered products, it is capable of optimizing production processes as well as supporting designers and companies in exploring sustainable solutions for new products in the sector, aligned with the characteristics of a circular economy.

The quality of the project proposal for functional innovation has been selected by ADI Design Index (Associazione per il Disegno Industriale) for the 2025 edition and is among the 344 best projects of contemporary Italian design that showcase the quality, research, and variety of the country's productive and cultural system.

The presentation of the projects took place in Milan, at the Adi Design Museum, on 15 October. This selection represents the first step toward the prestigious Compasso d’Oro 2026 Award (June), the most prestigious recognition of the productive and design quality of goods, services, processes, and systems of Italian design.

Traces of history. The project “Sofa Value Chain. Interactive tool for the critical taxonomy of Made in Italy upholstered products”, was born within the research activities carried out for MICS – Made in Italy Circular and Sustainable, an extended partnership involving the Politecnico di Bari and funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU under the PNRR. The research concerned Spoke 7 of MICS, Innovative and consumer-oriented business models for resilient and circular supply chains (coordinator Prof. Ilaria Giannoccaro).

To this end, the research group of the project “7.5, Cultural Value Chains” of Poliba, composed as follows: Annalisa Di Roma, coordinator, Alessandra Scarcelli, Anna Christiana Maiorano, Piera Losciale, has since 2023 undertaken an extensive analysis of the world of upholstered products that characterizes the production of one of the most important manufacturing districts in the region, starting from those most representative and successful models that have defined the history of Made in Italy design over the last 80 years. The collection of a large amount of information, highly diverse from one another, makes it possible to connect historical, technical, and sociocultural aspects.

The data range from technical specifications relating to dimensions, materials, manufacturing processes, and the mechanisms that enable modularity and transformability, to the technologies and comfort systems implemented, as well as design drawings and historical archive, production, and commercial images, which tell the story of a culture of living in the midst of transformation. 

The idea of the project was to systematize this data through the creation of a digital platform, an archive that is accessible and easy to use intuitively, with the aim of making the information available and enabling the study and analysis of those elements that have made this product category, upholstered furniture, one of the most recognized symbols of Made in Italy, present in the most important museums around the world.

The quality of the materials, attention to detail, technical innovation, the pursuit of comfort, as well as undeniable aesthetic values, are just some of the aspects that emerge from the comparison of the over one hundred sofas and armchairs that the platform makes it possible to identify and appreciate. The award-winning platform simplifies communication along the supply chain, optimizes processes, and supports designers and companies in exploring sustainable and circular solutions.

The article “Sofa Value Chain” Project, a compass for the sofa and armchair sector comes from Poliba Chronicle.