Roberto Zambelli, co-owner with Marco Dimai of Wood Art Cortina, introduces us to the company and tells us about the collaboration with TWT for the production of the first samples of the Esperia wooden front doors.
If you were to meet a new customer and very briefly introduce Wood Art Cortina, highlighting its strengths, what would you say?
Wood Art Cortina is a company structured to give an all-round service. Ninety per cent of our production is custom-made furniture in antique wood. We were born from the merger of two already established companies that joined forces in 2018.

We built a new warehouse, bought state-of-the-art equipment to join forces and face a market that demands ever more speed and important structures.
Today, we are structured to do everything that is wood, if we can call it that, and for two years there has also been an upholstery department. We have formed partnerships with a glassworks, a stonemason and blacksmiths, in order to be able to offer the customer an all-round service.
How did the idea of also producing windows and doors come about?
Right from the start. When we moved into the new building, we bought a machining centre with the idea of also making windows.
What is your market?
Let’s say that almost 100 per cent of our market is in Cortina D’Ampezzo. The market in Cortina is experiencing a very good period, stimulated by the upcoming Winter Olympics.
At the moment we find enough work here not to move elsewhere, also because in Cortina we are practically the only ones producing windows and doors.
How do you see this market? Do you think there will be a drop after the Olympics?

A drop will be inevitable, but it is not all purely related to the Winter Olympics. Obviously it’s an extraordinary event that stimulates everyone a bit, but what gave it an acceleration was the Covid. People have realised that it’s good to be in Cortina, and they have started to reopen their houses.
You can’t build new houses here since ’76: you can only renovate, so the market will certainly have a downturn.
Who is your ideal customer?
We work exclusively with high-end, very high-end individuals and, in most cases, we interface with architects.
To characterise our product, we also customise the windows with the antique wood used to produce the furnishings in the house. Internally, in fact, we apply a slat made from the antique wood used for the furnishings.
Do you do this just to characterise the product or also to respect a typical Cortina D’Ampezzo building tradition?
More to harmonise the window with the rest of the house. It is very aesthetically pleasing to see the whole wall, the furniture and the window frame made of the same wood.
When did you meet TWT or were you already a customer of Rekord or Zuani before?

No, it was a series of coincidences. We were introduced by our representative here in Cortina: it was 2019-2020, I don’t remember exactly. A good relationship of mutual trust was immediately established with TWT.
We first bought the milling cutters from them to make the frames, then those for the doors, and finally we collaborated on the prototypes of the Esperia entrance doors, which were then certified and taken to the trade fair in Milan.
Did you just make samples or did you also adopt the system?
We made a lot of entrance doors, about 30 of them now. Armoured doors were often installed in houses, but if you don’t buy a serious armoured door…. So we started offering wooden front doors, and we have now fitted them in many houses.
It has to be said that there is practically zero delinquency here, so people prefer to have doors that are better for the cold weather. If you want an armoured door that matches the interior décor, you have to go to armoured door dealers and then come to us to have it coated.
With Esperia entrance doors you have one less step. Our customers often cannot or do not want to waste time, so every step saved is an advantage. Finally, these entrance doors are very beautiful.
What features do you appreciate about this entrance door system? When you were introduced to it, what was it that attracted you?
At first sight it was the mutual respect: we consider TWT a serious company and therefore worthy of the utmost trust. When they proposed the system to us there were only the drawings, but already on paper the project seemed interesting.
Then, with a few adjustments, a good job came of it: an excellent product, simple to produce.
What feature of TWT’s style do you appreciate most?

Despite being an important company, it has maintained a craftsmanship attitude that leads it to pay attention to detail, to offer a product that lives up to expectations.
It has also maintained a sense of closeness to the customer, they are not aloof like some companies where it feels like talking to a ministry.
You can still talk to someone you know without being bounced around between switchboards and department heads.
New projects on the horizon?
One project that we want to develop is a new brand that will be called Element: a part of the company that will only follow furniture complements. It was supposed to have already started, but we don’t have time. We hope to get it up and running later this year.
We believe it could be the solution when work drops a bit. Having a Plan B will also allow us to work outside Cortina, because the furniture complements can be shipped without the need for on-site workers.