About Arredo

Robert C. Ilas, Founder and Principal

Robert’s formation in luxury environments began in Europe. Architectural studies at I. Mincu University in Romania were followed by over a decade representing B&B Italia, Matteograssi, Obumex, Lualdi Porte, LEMA, IOC, Ebony and Co, and other premier European furniture and architectural products brands in New York, working directly with architects, interior designers, general contractors, and some of the most demanding private clients in the market.

That immersion in how these products were specified and sold led directly to the source. Over the years that followed, Robert accumulated more than 7,000 hours of advanced training in Italy, Belgium, and the Netherlands, working alongside engineers, architects, product designers, master cabinetmakers, veneer and lacquer specialists, upholstery and leather craftsmen, maestri vetrai from the Murano tradition, hardware engineers, and sawmill artisans. The objective was to understand how these objects are actually made, not how they are described in a showroom.

That depth of factory-level knowledge is paired with 10+ years of construction project management on luxury retail flagships for brands including Asprey, Bottega Veneta, Diesel, Dior, Max Mara, Roberto Cavalli, Roger Vivier, and others across the U.S.

What that means for a client is direct. When a contractor proposes a substitution, Robert knows whether it is equivalent. When a material arrives with a question about handling, Robert knows the answer. When a finish is at risk from an adjacent trade, Robert sees it before it becomes damage. Twenty-five years of exposure to how these objects are made produces a different quality of judgment than twenty-five years of managing projects from behind a desk.