It all started with a chair. When Jacob Sudhoff and Jerry Hooker were furnishing their home two-and-a-half years ago, they selected a white chair from Italian brand Giorgetti for their foyer. They were smitten with its elegant shape and exquisite finishes, and started looking into its Italian designer.

They discovered in Giorgetti a 120-year-old brand which handcrafts everything from furniture to marble countertops to lighting fixtures to cabinets from its workshop in Meda, north of Milan.