‘Cocoon makes a house a home,’ custom made furniture in Naples

In downtown Naples, right on Fifth Avenue South you will find Cocoon Gallery, known for their high craftmanship in their furniture products.

Cocoon custom makes its products outside the Naples Art District to fit the buyer’s desire.

The 25,000-square-foot warehouse is a mile down the road from Cocoon Gallery’s main location in Naples.

According to Dave, who did not want his last name disclosed, he’s been working as an artisan for the gallery for two years.

“We are involved from the forest, right to the client’s house,” said Dave. “We have our hands in it all.”

Cocoon Gallery owner Mitchell Siegel has been traveling around the world for his products for more than 30 years.

Siegel works with an organization in Southeast Asia in exchange for natural Acaia wood. Siegel, along with some of his artisans, handpick each product of wood.

The Cocoon team also travels to Brazil to mine and handpick their minerals.

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The store handcrafts anything to the buyer’s needs, including 20-foot-long dining room tables, mineral or crystal side tables, chairs and even exquisite decorative pieces for any home.

Cocoon shop manager Frank Bentivegna traveled this past year to Brazil to find and ship back all the minerals and crystals to be sold at the gallery.

For Bentivegna and many of the artisans, they agree there has been no limit to their creativity with their products.

“We pretty much don’t like to say no,” said Bentivegna. “We like to figure out every project.”

Several pieces within the warehouse have taken several months to create, some weigh more than 500 pounds.

Bentivegna says customers check in regularly on their products, and the gallery does not ship out their products early unless they are perfect.

“Each step is so tedious,” said Bentivegna, “that we want to make sure that we don’t have to go back. We want it to be exactly how they want.”

Siegel says they have developed a close relationship with their sources in Asia, respecting their property and land.

According to Siegel, a special license is required to receive the natural Acaia wood.

For every tree Cocoon takes with them, they have to be responsible for replanting.

“We are very careful who we purchase from,” said Siegel. “We know very well that they are not cutting down trees; we know that they are replacing what is down already.”

Cocoon Gallery just opened their second Florida location in West Palm Beach.