Wood & More /

Peeling, dyeing, compounding, gluing, pressing, squaring, slicing, testing... this is the production sequence of ALPI wood, in which form and substance establish a dialogue between technical and manual skill: ALPI breaks down and reassembles Poplar, Lime Wood or Ayous, all of rigorously controlled origin, into infinite varieties, finishes and decorative effects, through a particular process that peels the log, then dyeing the wood by immersion, after which the dyed sheets are layered to create a new log. A fascinating production process, where time only apparently stands still and a living material like wood is enhanced thanks to the most innovative technologies and the remarkable cultural heritage of manual skill. The "squaring" of the wood.

Space for research and intuitions, a nucleus projected into the future but rooted in the force of experience. The charm of a true miniature factory where each process, each piece of machinery, has been perfectly reproduced to scale. A catalyst of ideas, where everything begins: here the material is explored, testing its expressive qualities, studying new dimensions, condensing conceptual thinking and formal, structural and aesthetic experimentation.
New characteristics of this unique material, wood, emerge from the encounter between precision workmanship and creativity freed of any constraints. Side by side, the company, the designer and the client generate a weave of fundamental relations to guarantee ongoing innovation.
Major investments in R&D and constant analysis of the market, in search of new stylistic and product trends. An activity of industrial service to offer the market new stimuli, new design ideas. There are two directions of the research, conducted in-house by specialized teams, two independent but parallel activities that sustain and complete each other, with the goal of innovation: the first is related to products, the second to processes.
Here the experts study the reactions of wood to chemical and physical agents (heat, light, humidity, pressure), and the properties of the raw materials utilized in the various production phases; trials and tests are conducted on new products and on the optimization of their successive production process, constantly refining new techniques to implement in the production cycles, to achieve maximum efficiency.

A focus on quality of design and material, great technological expertise and knowledge of manufacturing as the basis of an exceptional ability to interpret and reinterpret heterogeneous languages, at the complete service of every project, projecting experience into new, ongoing paths of technological and formal experimentation.
Orchestrators and tailors of wood, skilled artisans and expert technicians, true talents relying on the know-how provided by over ninety years of tradition in the crafting of wood. Quality and excellence, at the center of their universe.
A living, never sterile industry that has chosen innovation as its high road, looking towards a future that can gather and transform into value the experience of the past.
Crafts culture and advanced technologies convey a precise idea of industry, where man and his knowledge are the central focus, without ever losing sight of the firm commitment to social responsibility.

Africa represents an important chapter in the story of ALPI.
Thanks to the intuition of Valerio Alpi of building a barge as a mobile processing plant, still active in Ivory Coast, which from the port of Ravenna was towed to Africa, starting in 1975 ALPI began operating first in Cameroon and then in Ivory Coast.
Today, 40 years later, the company holds licenses for the management of 500,000 hectares of forest, also ensuring the growth of local communities in terms of economics and infrastructure, thus combining the core business with activities of social and environmental sustainability. The synergy between the African facilities and the mother company in Modigliana is very close.
For the 40th anniversary of the operations on the African continent, the always original perspective of empathy of Gianluca Vassallo narrates and pays tribute to this fascinating story.