For over 50 years, Parenti & Raffaelli has used old world tradition of woodworking, combined with meticulous craftsmanship, and modern technology. We can take on any size or type of project, even the most challenging of designs.
A true tradition begins before living memory, the unseen roots that anchor the living tree. At Parenti & Raffaelli, Ltd. those roots begin in Italy where as a boy, Peter Parenti learned the all of cabinetmaking under the watchful care of his father.
Peter's father was taught by his father, an old world tradition of craftsmanship passed down from father to son by untold generations.
As a young man working as a cabinetmaker in Italy, he saw many of his friends leave for the opportunities of America. Peter decided to bring the woodworking craftsmanship of his ancestors to a burgeoning America.
Peter Parenti arrived in America and settled in Chicago with his skills as a craftsman and his ambition to use them. Striving always to enhance those skills, he studied furniture design at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Peter took a job with a major woodworking company, where his exceptional woodworking skills proved invaluable. In ten years, he became one of the owners of the company.
Peter encouraged his sons, Ron and Bob, along with a skilled cabinetmaker, John Raffaelli, to start a woodworking firm. In 1951 Parenti & Raffaelli, Ltd. was born.
In the early 60s, Peter joined his family at Parenti & Raffaelli, Ltd., guiding a tradition of craftsmanship handed from father to son. Today, Peter's two sons and three grandsons, Bob, Don & Jim operate the business carrying on a tradition of old-world excellence.
Parenti & Raffaelli, continues to use their traditional European craftsmanship to produce some of the finest architectural and custom woodwork in America. The hands of master woodworking craftsman painstakingly attend to every detail of the design.
From an early age, these master artisans learned to work with the subtle nuances of wood in the woodworking shops of Italy, Germany, Poland and Norway.
Working together at Parenti & Raffaelli, craftsmen from all over Europe share and blend their varied woodworking techniques and styles, enabling these artisans to enrich their skills and extend their woodwork mastery.
The expertise of Parenti & Raffaelli craftsmen extends from hand woodcarving, restoration of fine furniture, architectural woodwork and custom furniture, laying up all their own veneers, and selecting from the world's finest woods for uniformity and balance.
Parenti & Raffaelli is accomplished in handling materials other than wood, since many of their projects incorporate the use of fabrics, leather, metal, glass, and stone.
Throughout all of their projects, Parenti & Raffaelli never strays from the craftsman's search for perfection in detail.
Woodworking