The Etoilepeople Interviews: Fabio Santoni

Design that transforms work

In this interview, Fabio Santoni, the founder of Etoile, gives us a deep dive into where the company stands in the market right now and what its future looks like, considering the latest industry trends.

Etoile stands out in the panorama of partition walls and design office furniture with a strong commitment to innovation. What is the guiding vision driving the company today in the design of new solutions?

Etoile, both today and yesterday, remains firmly rooted in its original insight. The focal points of its operations are consistently tied to the utmost customization of the products it offers to the market. This vision translates into meticulous customer service, beginning with attentively listening to specific needs, even substantially modifying standard products to meet them. We ensure genuinely high quality across all supplies, from the smallest, routine order to the largest, complex, and highly customized. Over the years, this approach has enabled us to navigate market fluctuations and challenges, fostering intense and trustworthy relationships with numerous clients. Our commitment to customization, services, and quality remains the cornerstone principles that we continue to uphold, albeit with new methods, yet with the same steadfast determination, in a constantly evolving market that remains highly responsive to supplier proximity. Clients no longer perceive us merely as service providers or product suppliers but as genuine partners.

In recent times, there has been an emergence of new trends such as hotelification, hybrid working, and flexibility in workspaces. How is the company adapting to these new trends, and what solutions are you developing to address the evolving market demands?

We can assert with certainty that the concept of the office has departed from traditional norms. Particularly after the Covid pandemic, the modes of working tied to a massive and stable presence of employees within company spaces have shifted. There is much more mobility, a greater opportunity for remote work, and a more sporadic and flexible use of workspace. This has led to the widespread adoption of hot desks—flexible workstations where individuals can work alternately with others without having a dedicated desk. The same trend is observed in designated office spaces, where there is a move towards creating highly flexible environments, with physical divisions primarily reserved for executive areas, training rooms, and meeting spaces that also require specific acoustic performance and amenities. Essentially, the office is now conceived as a hub where various company roles converge, characterized by increased mobility and new dynamics of interaction compared to the past.

This evolution prompted Etoile, a company specializing in partition walls for over forty years, to design a more versatile system that could enhance the experience of office partitioning. This led to the concept of an “operational box” within an “architectural box,” where activities of various kinds such as training, meetings, and encounters could take place. This approach aims to meet the objectives of the new flexible work schemes, which are partly conducted outside the company, at client sites, at home, on business trips, or in other forms. Furthermore, there is a need in the office to create spaces that allow, upon employees’ return and occupancy, for significant freedom of use. We are precisely moving in this direction, developing systems that can better meet these new market demands.

Sustainability is a central theme for Etoile. Could you elaborate on how this approach influences the design and functionality of your products?

Sustainability has become a fundamental selling point and a vital necessity for this and future generations. It is possible to engage in greenwashing by discussing sustainability in various ways, but without achieving tangible effects. Etoile has chosen to advance a plan for designing new products and restyling existing ones under the banner of genuine sustainability. This involves selecting recyclable components or those sourced from recycling, ensuring that products can be easily decomposed and materials reused at the end of their lifecycle. In turn, this approach has prompted careful consideration of assembly, disassembly, and recycling systems, mindful of waste reduction and recovery. Within the concept of sustainability lies the idea of longevity and product quality, which can lead to greater durability and thus reject the logic of planned obsolescence or, worse, disposability.

The products we are currently working on consist primarily of elements related to aluminum, metal, recycled wood, and glass, enabling us to achieve effective results in safeguarding the planet. Furthermore, this approach has a positive impact on sales because Etoile continues to offer solutions aligned with market needs.

Does Etoile collaborate with external architects or designers on its projects? What is the importance of strategic collaborations for the company’s future?

Collaboration with architects and designers is essential, whether they are designers of our products or customers. An open and intelligent mechanism of collaboration, exchange of information and continuous stimulation is always in motion with each of them. Many of our products are the result of this beneficial mutuality. We may mention two examples out of all. One is the partnership with Architect Pampanoni and D+A, who are working back in business with Etoile, in order to provide perfect consistency among the corporate image, the product, and the needs expressed by the market. This has strongly conditioned the impact the company has today toward customers, as the spurs that resulted from specific expertise have led to further improvements in both products and business logics, that although being already in a developed stage, they might have possibly needed an outside point of view. A different perspective, freed from operational bias that has proven to be very stimulating and useful to the company. On the other hand, there is the “Fora case”, a special partition that was specifically designed and produced for Fora London, one of the largest and most prestigious coworking companies in the UK.  A brand-new partition created entirely for this client and that wasn’t in Etoile’s catalog previously, inspired by a basic principle of the business owner who, in the workplaces he rented to multinational companies at his headquarters, wanted to avoid the so-called “aquarium effect” given by rooms divided by glass walls. Instead, he asked for walls to be highly articulated, rich, divided into segments and characterized by the use of different materials, following the logic of British-style stained glass. It was the exchange with the client and his architects that led to the definition of a product with specific characteristics, which we later added to our catalog. Then there are countless professional experiences with both Italian and foreign firms, with whom we have established a relationship of strong cooperation and mutual trust, which constantly lead us to further develop our experience and products in significant ways.

How do you picture the evolution of workspace concept in the next five years and what role will Etoile play in this transformation?

The workspace of the future will certainly have to be increasingly adaptable to people’s needs quickly and easily. No wonder we strongly believe in the design of free-standing acoustic booths and phone booths, as technological evolution pushes towards a flexible and easily reconfigurable space conception. There is a powerful and progressive trend towards respecting environmental quality and comfort. Thus, high care in the choice of materials, selection of colors, and extreme focus on the lighting and acoustic performance within the rooms. For example, today we can create environments that are much closer to the kind of home or hotel layouts approach than in the past. So very cozy, high-performing venues where people move freely. A key role is also played by indoor greenery to improve air quality in the offices. So no revolutionary changes are on the horizon, but we will continue on the path of creating settings that can ensure stability, individual well-being and employees’ sense of belonging to the company. This is crucial for us, so much so that we have always worked on the environmental quality of offices to ensure greater retention of employees, who represent the very capital of any company. Office space will probably move in this direction more and more and at all levels. It was once thought that having inspiring and carefully designed environments was the prerogative of large multinational corporations. Today we see that even small professional businesses require their workspaces to be set up in an extremely careful and thoughtful way.

One of the most significant problems facing companies today is that of managing the generational transition. What can you tell us about Etoile’s experience?

After the economic boom there were generations of extremely brilliant entrepreneurs who led Italian companies to success. Today we are witnessing a time of difficulty, where many assets are being sold to funds or acquired by bigger players. We have experienced a very intense and, we might say, even suffered continuity between generations. Today I feel the responsibility of my role as founder and holder of the founding principles that Etoile must preserve within the marketplace. However, I am aware of the need to open up to new generations. I had the opportunity to train Alessio and Matteo, who are the youngest members of our company. Now the former is in charge of the technical and financial side, while the other is in charge of purchases, and I actually have confidence that the company is much safer and much more supervised. Through a training that started from the bottom, in our factory, I have seen them professionally evolve to the point of deserving top management control. A path of progressive and conscious growth that has created the conditions for the longevity of our company. They themselves have shown foresight and vision, opening up to major collaborations with external consultants, which have favorably affected the economic, financial, and stylistic development of Etoile. So there is great continuity, but also great eagerness for the future. I personally feel very blessed compared to other companies, because the second generation in Etoile is, so to speak, overtaking the first.