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Trade terms for professionals and design studios
Executive chairs are usually offered in black, and occasionally in a light grey that nobody chooses. Synua takes the opposite view: base and armrests are available in eleven finishes, each with a reference you can check — signal black RAL 9004, signal white RAL 9003, bronze BROWN 547, dark green NCS S 6010 B90G, butterfly blue, copper, broom yellow, corrosion red, oyster white, basalt grey and polished aluminium.
That list changes what the chair is for. A boardroom furnished in oak and brass takes bronze or copper; a white minimal office takes oyster white and disappears; a creative studio can afford broom yellow. Because the colours carry RAL and NCS codes, a designer specifies them against the door handles and the joinery rather than against a photograph — and the aluminium is either polished or powder-coated in epoxy, so the finish is a decision, not a default.
Underneath the colour the chair is one continuous shell with an integrated synchronised mechanism, designed by Giovanni Ingignoli for Milani in the Veneto. La Mercanti specifies the finish, the fabric and the version for offices in the United Kingdom and beyond.
Model: Synua, Milani S.r.l. — design Giovanni Ingignoli
Versions: Presidenziale, high backrest (mod. 0100S) · Direzionale, medium backrest (mod. 0200S, prepared for armrest fixing)
Shell: seat and backrest joined in a continuous monocoque · high flexible backrest · backrest insert in Ø 10 mm (0.39 in) steel wire · seat insert in reinforced plastic · cold-foam polyurethane padding, density 65 kg/m³, fire retardant
Mechanism: MS2AQ integrated synchronised self-weighing mechanism with 3 locking positions and anti-shock device
Adjustment: lever on the right of the seat for height · lever on the left to release and lock the position
Armrests: BRSY in polished aluminium or epoxy powder-coated aluminium
Base: BG033 five-star base in polished or coated aluminium, Ø 684 mm (26.9 in)
Finishes for base and armrests (11): aluminium · signal black RAL 9004 · signal white RAL 9003 · bronze BROWN 547 · dark green NCS S 6010 B90G · butterfly blue RAL 270 60 35 · copper X191.Z172 · broom yellow RAL 1032 · corrosion red RAL 040 30 40 · oyster white RAL 1013 · basalt grey RAL 7012
Castors and glides: R26 maxi self-braking castors in black PP Ø 65 mm (2.6 in), pin Ø 11 mm (0.43 in) · R27 rubberised black · R28 perforated rubberised · R21 maxi free castors, rubberised chrome-plated Ø 60 mm (2.4 in) · P03 fixed glides in chrome-plated metal · P04 fixed glides in black nylon
Packaging: gross weight 22.5 kg (50 lb), volume 0.33 m³ (11.65 cu ft) (0100S) · 22.3 kg (49 lb), 0.30 m³ (10.59 cu ft) (0200S)
Production: Milani S.r.l., Roncade (Treviso) · showroom at Meolo (Venice)
Tell us which finishes you'd like to assess
The direzionale, with the medium backrest. The presidenziale version has a high back that reads as a piece of furniture in its own right, which is what you want in a room designed to receive visitors but not in an office of twelve square metres, where it visually fills the space behind the desk. Both share the same shell, mechanism and finishes, so the two can be mixed on one floor without a break in the language.
There are two inserts inside the padding: the backrest is reinforced with 10 mm steel wire and the seat with reinforced plastic, both wrapped in cold-foam polyurethane at 65 kg/m³, fire retardant. It matters because a high flexible backrest has to bend thousands of times without losing its shape, and a flexible shell with no internal reinforcement is exactly the kind that sags after two winters.
It stops the backrest from snapping back when you lean forward suddenly — reaching for a phone, standing up in a hurry. On a chair with a genuinely flexible back the return can be abrupt, and over a working day that small impact is felt. The mechanism also locks in three positions, so the chair can be fixed upright for a meeting and released afterwards.
Yes, and it is worth knowing before ordering. Beyond four castor sets there are two glide options, in chrome-plated metal or black nylon, which turn the chair into a fixed seat. It is the specification used at a boardroom table where chairs should stay aligned, or in rooms with a raised floor where a rolling chair drifts towards the same corner every day.
By Milani in the Veneto, north of Venice: the offices are at Roncade, near Treviso, and the showroom is at Meolo. The technical documentation is dated 2025 and lists every component by code, from the BG033 base to the R26 castors, which is what allows a like-for-like reorder in three years. La Mercanti requests the manufacturer's product documentation whenever a specification pack calls for it.
Fabric can be changed; the base and armrests stay. Five steps for choosing a finish you will not regret at the next refurbishment.
Door handles, window frames, the leg of the desk. These are the elements nobody will replace, and the chair should agree with them rather than with this season's mood board.
A warm metal such as bronze or copper makes the chair a visible object; oyster white or basalt grey lets it recede into the room. Both are legitimate — but choose deliberately.
Colour names travel badly between suppliers. RAL 9004 and NCS S 6010 B90G mean the same thing in every country, and they can be compared against joinery samples with no ambiguity.
Polished aluminium reflects the ceiling lights, powder coating absorbs them. The same base looks like two different products in a daylit room and under evening downlights.
La Mercanti supplies finish samples with the manufacturer's references, and their cost is credited in full when the order is confirmed. One sample on site settles what three meetings will not.
