Furniture Production in the 21st Century: What Sustainability Means Today

Just as the club leaves parts of its grounds to nature, every piece of wooden furniture begins with a piece of nature: the forest. Therefore, anyone who processes wood bears responsibility for its origin. In recent years, the EU has gradually made this responsibility mandatory.

• EU Timber Regulation (since 2013): Timber from illegal logging is no longer allowed on the European market. Anyone placing timber on the market must check and document its origin.
• EU Deforestation Regulation (from 30.12.2026): Following its postponement by Regulation (EU) 2025/2650, it will apply from December 30, 2026. Then, for timber, it must be proven down to the individual area where it was harvested. And it must be proven that no forest was cleared or damaged for this purpose after the cut-off date of December 31, 2020.

In addition, there are voluntary certificates. The best known is FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council). It certifies that wood comes from responsibly managed forests and tracks its journey through every processing stage to the finished furniture. Livarea uses FSC®-certified wood for its furniture.

Production takes place in Italy and only after an order is placed. There are no warehouses full of unsold goods: each piece is built for the place where it is needed. In the picture, you can see the Livitalia Wall Unit C110 with fronts in real wood veneer knotty oak.

The fronts of the C110 are covered with real wood veneer, i.e., thin layers cut directly from the trunk. This has an advantage that solid wood cannot offer: Because the veneer sheets of a trunk are cut one after another, they can be laid side by side so that the grain continues across an entire front or even an entire wall. This creates a large, calm wood pattern, as known from a cut trunk.

This is not possible with solid wood on such large surfaces. Wide solid wood surfaces react to changing humidity: they swell, shrink, and warp. Therefore, they are glued from narrow strips, and the wood pattern breaks up into strips.

Many automatically consider solid wood to be the more ecological choice. This perception is no longer accurate. Beneath the veneer lies a modern wood-based panel. It is made from residual wood, thinning wood, and chips that are generated during processing anyway. Thus, significantly more furniture can be made from one tree than from solid wood, where a large part of the trunk ends up as waste.

In addition, there are tangible advantages in everyday life:

• Dimensionally stable: The panel does not warp or distort, even in dry heating air.
• Precise gap dimensions: Doors, flaps, and drawers remain precisely aligned for years.
• Authentic surface: The real wood veneer gives the panel the surface that one sees and touches.
• Restorable: Damaged veneered furniture can be restored, re-veneered, or repaired. That's craftsmanship, not a problem.

The time when "particle board" stood for cheap is over. High-quality panels with real wood veneer belong to the premium class.

Much has also happened with surfaces. Water-based lacquers use a fraction of the solvents that were common in the past. This protects the air in the workshop and later the indoor air at home, without the surface being less durable.

Livarea's furniture is treated with such water-based lacquers.

The Livitalia Wall Unit C110 combines the warmth of natural knotty oak with a clear, matte white design. The floating lowboard is 300 cm wide and features a 3.5 cm thick wooden front in natural knotty oak. The top panel is located behind the front, making the front appear as a single piece from the front.

Above it sits a generous TV panel in matte white, next to a wall panel with three shelves made of natural knotty oak. Two large flap doors with push-pull opening create ample storage space, entirely without handles. Like all wall units in this article, the C110 is custom-made for you.