We could have been thirty by now. Staying nine was the decision that shaped everything else

In this trade, growth usually means layers: a sales office that doesn't speak to the purchasing office, a project manager who inherits a file he never quoted, a customer service desk staffed by people who have never seen the product. We have been supplying Italian furniture since 1997 and have had every opportunity to grow that way. We stayed nine, and that is less a philosophy than an operating choice.

What it buys you is specific: every person here knows what every live project is doing. Nothing needs a formal handover, because nothing was ever handed over — the person who quoted your job is still the one chasing the factory in week six. A team this size cannot hide behind a process, which is uncomfortable internally and useful externally.

We work in English, Italian, Spanish and French, and we are a distributor rather than a maker: the furniture is built by the Italian manufacturers we represent, and our part starts with choosing them and ends when the last piece is standing where it should. The nine names below are the whole company — no regional offices, no agents speaking on our behalf.

Marco Olivieri, founder and CEO of La Mercanti, Made in Italy office furnitureMarco OlivieriFounder & CEO

He spends more time inside factories than in showrooms, which is where you learn whether a range will survive ten years of daily use — by watching how it is assembled rather than how it is photographed. He works the international fairs, from Salone del Mobile and its design week to Orgatec and NeoCon, to see brands and directions early enough for them to be useful to clients and design teams.

Languages: Italian, English

Andrea Bollettini, head of the logistics division at La Mercanti, industrial shelving and mezzaninesAndrea BollettiniCo-founder · Head of Logistics Division

He runs the division devoted to industrial shelving and mezzanine structures, from site survey through to load testing. He is the one person here who thinks in kilos per shelf and permissible spans, working in the part of the business where a design error hides nowhere. He runs the sites himself and stays the contact years later, when the warehouse changes use and the installation has to be rethought.

Languages: Italian

Mirco Cameli, quality and management control at La MercantiMirco CameliQuality & Management Control

He holds the certified quality system, the project budgets, the costs and the deadlines. In practice he establishes what something genuinely costs before anyone promises it, and when a further discount is requested he recalculates instead of reacting — which is why, when the answer is yes, the yes holds. If a delivery date sounds realistic, it is usually because he checked it first.

Languages: Italian

Antonio Consorti, design and project management at La Mercanti, office layoutsAntonio ConsortiDesign & Project Management

With the company since 2002. He starts from the same questions every time — who sits where, who walks past, how many people use that room and for how long — and opens the catalogue only afterwards. He builds the layout, selects the furniture, has custom elements made where series production stops, and stays on the project through installation, because that is when you find out whether the dimensions were right.

Languages: Italian, English

Laura Olivieri, sales and customer care at La Mercanti, office furniture quotationsLaura OlivieriSales & Customer Care

A languages graduate, with the company since 2008. She is the first voice you hear: she takes the request, works out in two questions whether it is a project or a single purchase, prepares the quotation and follows it until it becomes an order or a clear answer — including when the clear answer is no. The quality clients mention most is not speed; it is that she calls back when she says she will.

Languages: Italian, English, French

Ida Raffaella Mecozzi, international sales account at La MercantiIda Raffaella MecozziSales Account · International Markets

A graduate in banking economics, on the export desk since 2006. She follows clients and design practices outside Italy and works alongside the management on trips abroad: when we meet a client or an architect overseas she is the person on the other side of the table, taking the notes that become the project a few weeks later.

Languages: Italian, English, French

Martina IgnaziiExport & Domestic Sales · Outreach

She works two fronts that rarely sit together: international enquiries and the Italian market, plus direct outreach to companies that have never heard of us. That is the hardest job in sales — calling someone who is not expecting you and having something useful to say inside thirty seconds — and it only works if you study the company before dialling rather than after.

Languages: Italian, English, Spanish

Giorgia De Ascanio, A&D client service and marketing support at La MercantiGiorgia De AscanioA&D Client Service & Marketing Support

A languages graduate who joined in mid-2025. She works with architects, design practices and corporate clients: coordinating quotations, samples and finish boards, aligning lead times and budgets with a construction calendar that is almost always less flexible than a catalogue. Her job is to put two or three genuinely comparable options in front of whoever decides.

Languages: Italian, English, Spanish

Dalila MariottiExport Sales

A languages graduate covering international markets from first contact to quotation. She also handles the least glamorous part of the trade: reading the same specification in three languages and noticing that one of the three is missing a line — a finish left out, a quantity that does not add up, an accessory lost in translation. On an international order, that check is what prevents the dispute.

Languages: Italian, English, Spanish, French

FAQ

Are you a manufacturer or a distributor?
A distributor, and the distinction matters. The furniture is produced by the Italian manufacturers we represent, in their own factories. Our work is the selection, the specification, the logistics and the accountability afterwards — four things a factory rarely does well for a client abroad.
Which languages do you work in?
English, Italian, Spanish and French, spoken by the people who will handle your project rather than by a translation tool. If you write in a language none of us reads, say so and we will continue in English — on a specification, a misread word costs more than a week.
How long has the company been doing this?
Since 1997. That is long enough to have watched brands rise and disappear, and to know which factories answer the phone in August when a delivery goes wrong. Longevity is not a virtue in itself, but in this trade it is a decent proxy for judgement.
Can you handle a project outside Italy from start to finish?
Yes — selection, quotation, consolidation of several manufacturers into one shipment, freight and delivery to site. Working across borders is not a side activity here; most of what leaves this office is going somewhere else.
Who looks after warehouses, shelving and mezzanines?
A separate division with its own lead, because it is a different discipline: loads, spans, safety standards and site surveys rather than finishes and layouts. Same office, same accountability, different vocabulary.

How to prepare a first call that saves a week

Fifteen useful minutes beat a month of emails. Five things worth having in front of you.

Have the plan open
Even a rough floor plan with dimensions lets us talk about real quantities instead of hypotheticals.
Know your two dates
The day the space must be usable and the day the budget has to be committed. They are rarely the same, and both change the answer.
Bring the constraint you think is embarrassing
A narrow lift, a landlord restriction, a piece of furniture that must stay. These decide more than preferences do.
Decide who else needs to hear it
If an architect or a purchasing office will be involved, put them on the call once rather than relaying it twice.
Ask what we would not recommend
It is the fastest way to find out whether you are talking to a supplier or to a catalogue.