Mission

Technique and art at the service of fashion

Art Lab

Headquartered in S. Croce sull'Arno (PI), was born as a true artistic laboratory at the service of the best fashion brands. In 30 years of activity, Art Lab technicians and staff have made the traditional finish a pure art by forging new and personalized items.

The constant research of the company is based on the knowledge of the traditional finishing products to be applied on selected leather from customers. These are then finely finished in various ways: by airbrush, buffing, inkjet or other manual or mechanical techniques.

All the work takes place internally: from preparation to finalizing and testing. This is the real added value that distinguishes the company on the market.

Art Lab offers its prestigious customers, the complete refinishing cycle, with state-of-the-art tools: manual airbrush and manual painting for whole leathers, cut and/or woven fabrics and transfer paper application systems (laminate, paillettes, lacquers, transfer designs, polyurethane films). Finally, digital printing is also available, refined over twenty years of experience with the use of every kind of ink on all types of support: from acid dyes for natural leather, crust, nabuk and velours to the "Eco -Solve" colors for finished leather such as tassels, covers, paintings, abrasives, mirror bases and, finally, UV ELASTIC dyes for black or dark bases.

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The industrial project of the entrepreneur Marcello Tatoni (in the center of the photo) began in the late 1980s in Tuscany in the tanning district of Santa Croce sull 'Arno (PI). The company stood out immediately because it was the first to undertake alternative and unusual ways of finishing and printing on leather for that era.

The intuition of the entrepreneur Marcello Tatoni was to transform the idea of sublimation printing made on paper into digital printing by transferring it directly to the skin by modifying its machinery.

What has always characterized the development and evolution of the entrepreneur's path has been his curiosity in grasping the essence with which things can be done, in this regard he is told as a child when his father gave him an inflatable balloon, he spent the whole day staring at it until taken by the curiosity to understand what was holding it in the air ... he pierced it, this simple gesture profoundly formed his thought or that beautiful and particular things are not always composed of something tangible but are experiments which allowed us to give life to ideas.

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Meanwhile, after school, the two sons Ilaria Sassetti and Dario Tatoni began to train in their father's company, assimilating the background and teachings of experienced people who worked together. In 2013, a year of profound transformation, the current Art-lab srl was born, a real laboratory of ideas and continuous innovation. They say they spent sleepless nights fantasizing about what the name of the company might have been, it was important that the sense of tradition was not lost but that at the same time it was not trivial and easy to remember, so thinking and rethinking they decided to use a part of the father's company name Artea transforming it into Art and Lab to frame what would become a real laboratory of innovative and creative ideas on leather finishing.

Ilaria Sassetti and Dario Tatoni now grown and matured become the first two owners of Art-lab srl and they tell us that at this point new projects were urgent which in turn moved a new single large investment that would have allowed the company to reach new production standards and which would have redeveloped their work making it even more exclusive and innovative.

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For this reason, thanks to a common knowledge, the engineer Andrea Balleri manager with great experience enters the company who has given meaning to the new business project by staging targeted strategies aimed at careful management and process control by opting mainly for top brand customers in the fashion and furniture sector. Together, the partners have strengthened their investments aimed at digital and high frequency printing by offering a complete and diversified service in synergy with their traditional and main business of airbrushing

An analysis laboratory is also created internally, where it is possible to certify in real time the samples requested and carried out at the customer's request.

With the arrival of the engineer Andrea Balleri, a Green scenario opens up for the requalification of working environments and for the development of new eco-sustainable products / processes, this confirms that Art-lab Srl today has become a large research and development company.

The company, tells us about the entrepreneur Ilaria Sassetti, before an industry, a big family appears, in Art Lab srl a group of over 100 families operates and this concept has been such since the first day, when they were only a few people and she and her brother were formed with the help of these people. Today Art Lab srl has a turnover equal to zero, synonymous with high approval by all its employees, the work is carried out with enthusiasm and harmony and everyone is well and feels an integral part of the family business.

On the other hand, the difference in companies that work, in terms of quality and service, is made by people.

The average age of employees is 28, so some generations of people will stay within Art Lab srl for several tens of years, growing from an economic and working point of view and gradually assuming greater responsibilities.

The investment of these three entrepreneurs is mainly in the development of human capital and their workers are also asked to contribute with research and ideas, while at the same time regularly updating the technology with the latest generation machinery.