Do you know AS Design?

AS Design was born from a family tradition spanning three generations.

GRANDPA

It was the 1950s when my grandfather Francesco started working at a historic bicycle and moped shop in Lecce. Here he approached the world of two wheels, making seat covers of various kinds. In the following years, to satisfy the needs of the family, he started working on his own, dedicating himself to all-round upholstery. With the help of his children, a little less than teenagers, he began to create sofas and relaxation armchairs, still scattered today in various houses in Salento and beyond.

A detail that has always impressed me on my father's stories is that they worked at home. A small house inhabited by 8 people where the beds were opened at night to sleep and during the day they closed to make room for sewing machines and work tables.

Subsequently, the company evolved, allowing Francesco to open a laboratory in the city and what was once a home / laboratory has resumed its usual residential functions.

What might have seemed like reaching a goal was for the grandfather only the launching pad for the creation of a real lounge, the "Southern Lounge".

MY STORY

Grandfather, children and not a few employees contributed to furnish the living rooms of many Salentine houses and beyond. In this context, it is easy to imagine how I was able to grow up surrounded by sewing machines, carpentry, stitchers, sponges, fabrics and whoever has more. If to this is added my innate disposition to disassemble and reassemble, first the toys and then growing every object that came into my hands; my passion for motorcycles from an early age followed subsequently by a technical school preparation, can be explained quite easily the birth of AS Design.

With the arrival of the first motorbike in 2003 they start to tickle a few ideas in my head thanks also to the love at first sight of a blue and white leather helmet seen in a specialized shop in the area. The limited economic possibilities of the time did not allow me to buy it but I didn't give up on the idea of ​​satisfying my desire, so my first helmet was born. The appreciation of the helmet by friends and acquaintances and their word of mouth contributed to making me understand that what was a passion for personal use only could have become a real working activity. After helmets, the closest thing to upholstery on a motorcycle is the saddle and therefore I could not refrain from the fact that my saddle remained commonplace and common. From here I started to transform an ordinary saddle into a more refined creation with a more particular design.

EVOLUTION

With the birth of these creations and the increasing attention from friends and acquaintances, more and more specific requests began to arrive which left room for my desire to create particular things. Increasingly elaborate helmets and increasingly personalized saddles with different conformations and materials designs. This allowed me to personally test multiple materials and always better meet the needs of my customers.

At this juncture, I dedicated myself to the design and manufacture of upholstered furniture for the family business and various objects.

THE TURNING POINT

In 2012, having gained greater confidence in my abilities, I decided to become independent from the family business and create a new company dedicated exclusively to the design and creation of craft saddles and objects for motorcycle use. Thanks to the passion for the motorcycle environment, thanks to the various problems that customers have submitted to me and thanks also to the various collaborations with workshops, trainers and designers, I have had the opportunity to develop greater attention to the structural characteristics, based on the different type saddle, motorbike and rider; study the different designs based on the style of the bike and better manage the proportions of the shapes; taking care of the aesthetic details to enhance the shapes and create an accessory that makes the difference on a good customization project.

In short, loving motorcycles and Kustom Kulture, not knowing how to get my hands on engines and bodywork, I thought well that I could have said my own using what was the family tradition, the upholstery. Not the generic one, but the one aimed at a specific sector.

An example that struck me and that I report in full is that of the specialist and general practitioner:

It is not a question of being better but of being more competent in a specific area.

This because:

•  The specialist spends more time on that subject.
•  The specialist follows multiple cases with the same problems, then finds solutions faster and has the opportunity to gain more experience.
•  The specialist updates, studies and attends specific courses for that area.

This leads the specialist to obtain a better result. This same method applies to each sector.

Today the aim is to create saddles and accessories with a more captivating design for various motorcycles on the market, to try to offer products different from what is the series production and to always give the end customer the opportunity to customize 100% of the accessory on which then it will grind km. Today AS Design is present with at least one product in various European and non-European countries, Mexico, Thailand, Iceland, Norway and other countries including England.