Walks of Design
15 December 2018
New B&B Italia Designs 2018
B&B ATOLL
design by Antonio Citterio
«B&B Atoll is a versatile collection that reinterprets traditional elements, like the bolster, associating them with a sleek, refined structure that fits smoothly into the contemporary language. It is versatile because it can be used in a wide range of settings, from the most formal, when partnered with the armchairs, to informal situations, thanks to the possibility of creating an L-shaped configuration with the daybed as end element.»
Antonio Citterio
Named after the coral formation B&B Atoll, the new modular seating system by Antonio Citterio, is a refined expression of a balanced aesthetic form and a decisive contemporary style that is also extremely elegant. The system is built on three basic platforms - 190 cm and 240 cm, both with 90 cm depth, and 130 cm with 140 cm deep - that are complemented by armrest and backrest elements to form various types of seats: sofas, dormeuses, corner-end modules, single or modular elements with chaise longue and pouf. The frames have light, slender lines and are applied on high die-cast supports with metal profile emphasising the line between the structure and upholstery. Two finishes are available, pewter and black chrome. The pieces are given even more character by a supporting element to be placed wherever desired, a bolster in two sizes - 65 and 90 cm - attached by leather straps to a die-cast structure. This accessory can be inserted between the seat cushion and the base structure to provide an additional support or become an armrest or backrest at will. B&B Atoll is a dynamic project with a constantly fresh ability to adapt to different compositions and create different seating types, from informal relax versions to most formal, also made possible by the use of complementary back cushions.
BULL
design by Naoto Fukasawa
«As its name expresses, Bull is a table with 4 toned legs that stand firm on the ground. I designed this very firm looking table together with an elegant chair as a pair. Together they look if they were truly “The Beauty and the Beast”. The beast, after all, is a great looking table.»
Naoto Fukasawa
The aim of Naoto Fukasawa’s Bull table is to communicate the immediate impression of a very solid yet extremely refined object. A stylistic formula that forms part of the designer’s distinctive language and which, in the case of Bull, uses a subtle structural tension among the elements: the legs with an ample round section, which although slightly inclined seem to be solidly “planted in the ground”, and in contrast a slim top that seems simply to be resting lightly on the frame. Available in two sizes - 240 and 280 cm - Bull can be entirely in oak in light, grey, black and smoked versions, or with an oak structure and top in black Marquinia or white Carrara statuarietto marble, both with matt finish.
BELLE
design by Naoto Fukasawa
«The character of this elegant chair is expressed by the back support and the armrests, and highlighted by the obtuse angle line around the elbow area. All four legs are slightly curved outwards at the bottom to give a classic feel as well. The chair is named “Belle” after the story of “The Beauty and the Beast”.»
Naoto Fukasawa
With a clever play of literary and stylistic references, the Belle chair is the delicate, feminine counterpart to the Bull table. With rounded lines and padded seat with leather upholstery, it reinterprets the detail of the rounded section of the table legs, and as it develops downwards adds a small element of curvature that creates a graceful touch. Towards the top, the legs join the chair back with elegant, elbow-shaped arms. Two solutions are offered for the backrest, oak wood in the same finishes as available for the frame - light, grey, black and smoked - or leather upholstery matching the seat, obtained thanks to a special manufacturing technology.
HARBOR
design by Naoto Fukasawa
“When I was working on the Papilio family project, I realized that the iconic strength of B&B Italia is in working with polyurethane foam as a mass. Hence the idea for this design to sculpt a form out of this material as if I was making a sculpture out of Carrara marble blocks. It is true to me that B&B Italia is a brand that creates sculptures in polyurethane. The name Harbor comes from a feeling of having a place to come back to. I also wanted this seat to have a feeling of wrapping around our body”.
Naoto Fukasawa
The Harbor series of armchairs and pouf, presented with success in 2017, is enhanced by a new, equally contemporary and sinuous sofa. A range extention in the sign of design continuity, result of Fukasawa’s research into seating in the shape of upside-down truncated cone. The sofa reflects in particular the architectural, ergonomic shape of the conversation armchair, compounding its welcoming appeal by hosting two people. In fabric or leather, it has a visible metal zip on the rear of the backrest that acts as a decorative element and also allows the cover to be removed.
COLOSSEO
design by Naoto Fukasawa
«Like the Harbor armchairs that are carved out from an upside down conical mass, these small tables were originally made by the same process. However they looked rather too solid and heavy so I shaved off some of the mass, then its arches resembled the Roman arches of Colosseum.»
Naoto Fukasawa
Colosseo fits smoothly into the highly successful product category of accessories, furnishing elements that change function according to occasion and need, and for Colosseo this means transforming from coffee table to pouf. When designing this new product, Fukasawa arrived at the shape he was searching for by considering a solid in the form of an upside-down truncated cone, lightened by arch-shaped grooves that define the surface, creating an assonance with the structure of the famous Roman arena it is named after. Made of hard polyurethane painted in sixteen glossy colours, Colosseo is available in two sizes: 40 cm diameter x 45 cm height and 50 cm diameter x 55 cm height.
EDA-MAME
design by Piero Lissoni
«It’s as if it were a surface, a Möbius strip. Eda-Mame is strangely full of curves, it welcomes you and, if you want, it lets you drink an aperitif, almost as if it were an upholstered table.»
Piero Lissoni
Shaped by an organic development inspired by the form of a soy bean, the typical ingredient in Oriental cuisine, Eda-Mame is a furnishing element with a strong impact created by a sculptural design that can give great incisiveness to a space. A single object that is a fusion of three types of seating - high-back chair, easy chair and pouf. Its threefold nature lends Eda-Mame extreme versatility in both residential and public settings, and can also highlight areas for co-working, passage and short stays, like hotel lobbies. Made of moulded foam, Eda-Mame is upholstered in a stretch fabric with a light stitching. The support base is made of crosspieces with rounded steel feet connected to each other by a bar, all in pewter painted finish.
JACK
design by Michael Anastassiades
«This bookcase system started as a stacking exercise of an assembly of rods of the same diameter. The selected design is a reduced configuration, providing the optimum structure and modularity to address a diverse range of interior spaces. The technical solutions are discreet, allowing for arrangements that feel specifically fitted to a particular room. Its discipline lies in the structural rules used to build from one form to the next, assembling to make a cohesive composition.»
Michael Anastassiades
Jack is the result of the first collaboration between B&B Italia and Michael Anastassiades. Known for his skills in working with light, the Cypriot designer has designed a modular bookcase system with a striking degree of technological perfection. In its search for the creation of an innovative language, this design challenge revisits and modernises a design classic, the 1950’s room centre bookcase, transforming it into a complement with a clean, essential yet architectural structure. The genius of the piece lies in concealing the engineered supports, including those holding up the laminated shelves, inside the vertical elements with a rounded section made of extruded aluminium and integrated by an exclusive, totally-invisible, floor-ceiling telescopic adjustment system. The system is available in 14 heights, ranging from 219 to 323 cm and taking in all measurements in-between, while the shelves are in two lengths, 75 and 90 cm, both 30 cm deep. Two are the finishes provided for the vertical elements and shelves for single-colour solutions, chalk white and black, both matt.
ALANDA ’18
design by Paolo Piva
The Alanda coffee table, an iconic piece that ushered in the 1980s, is now revisited in homage to Paolo Piva, the great architect and designer who passed away last year. A highly successful classic and sought-after vintage furnishing complements, Alanda is one of the most typical design objects of a period with a wealth of strong, daring stylistic signs, often in a dialogue with architecture, reproducing its most attractive, characteristic elements in miniature. The Alanda’s structure, serving as both pedestal and support, recalls a group of upturned pyramids, a geodetic frame that has always characterized it as if it was a magical object, entrapping and amplifying cosmic energy. Alanda ‘18 is offered in two sizes - 120 x 120 cm
and 120 x 180 cm - with structure in glossy black painted steel and top in extralight or smoked glass.
New Maxalto Designs 2018
NIDUS
design by Antonio Citterio
«Nidus is a curved sofa with no arms for formal use as a conversation seat. I felt that this type of product was lacking in my interior design projects, intended for large interiors where there is the need to create lounges with different groups of seating. It’s part of the experimentation in creating high-backed sofas, which provide a degree of comfort to seating designed for socialising.»
Antonio Citterio
The Nidus collection of upholstered furniture was inspired by the precise need to create a series of formal proposals with a relaxed feel, for moments of socialising and conversation in a harmonious, relaxed setting. Antonio Citterio has achieved this objective by paying great attention to structural details like the embracing shape of the curved sofas, available in two sizes. Together with the absence of arms and the high back, this solution makes it possible to bring people together in a fresh, relaxed and unusual way. This extrovert approach is also embodied by the armchairs, offered in three versions, only one of which with arms, intended as items to be arranged freely. All the Nidus pieces can be complemented by a comfy removable headrest, and have feet upholstered in the same fabric or leather as the seats, with the addition of a small metal detail at the base that is decorative and also guarantees protection against impacts.
CARATOS
design by Antonio Citterio
«After 25 years of presenting products that use artisanal materials and processes, I felt the need to offer a “moulded” piece, a chair with a fusion structure, thanks to a significant industrial investment by the company. At the same time, I wanted it be part of the Maxalto collection. Caratos is absolutely contemporary, but recalls some twentieth century objects, echoing the idea of bronze, through a “full” opaque finishing that absorbs light,
and the great quality of the leather upholstery, giving it a “saddlery” look.»
Antonio Citterio
Chairs in two versions, armchairs, poufs and coffee tables are the new proposals that extend the Caratos series launched last year. These new items both reflect and strengthen the original designs’ essential features while softening them by introducing embracing shapes. The light die-cast graphite or amber painted aluminium structure is retained, while padded backrests contribute to the formation of the armrests, creating seating with no postural restrictions at all, encouraging conversation and relations between neighbours. The poufs and coffee tables echo the design of the frames and are ideal complements to the seats to create conversation areas and social settings.
New B&B Italia Outdoor Collection 2018
BAY
design by Doshi Levien
Bay is a collection of sculptural and monolithic yet visually light outdoor seats comprising of a sofa in two sizes, an armchair and a high-backed armchair. Their enveloping volumes are marked by a double polypropylene fibre interlacing that creates “air pockets”, granting transparency and lightness to the furniture. The frame accommodates padded solid seats and soft cushions for added comfort. The colours combinations are extremely refined, with tortora and anthracite for the interlacing, paired with elegant block colour and patterned fabrics for the seats and cushions.
TABOUR OUTDOOR
design by Doshi Levien
Tabour, the collection of indoor ottomans introduced in 2016, now features a new outdoor version. Oblong oval and square in shape, they resemble primeval marine creatures or large unicellular animals, associating the sensuality of the organic shapes with highly technological materials. The fabric is stretched over the padded frame by a sort of oversized “button” that serves as a tray, painted white, tortora or anthracite.
FIORE
design by Naoto Fukasawa
Fiore is a new series of outdoor tables, round and square available in two heights, in white or greige cement. “Many years ago, I called my chairs “Papilio” because their silhouettes reminded me of butterflies,” says Naoto Fukasawa. “Now I have called my latest project “Fiore”, meaning flower in Italian, because the Papilio chairs sit around these tables like butterflies flying around a flower. The combination of a Fiore table with the Papilio chairs creates a pleasant outdoor environment for a coffee or a quick meal.” An outdoor solution that offers utmost flexibility, suitable both in residential and public settings.
TOBI-ISHI OUTDOOR
design by Barber & Osgerby
The iconic Tobi-Ishi table - whose inspiration from the East is clear even in the name, which refers to the ornamental stones used in traditional Japanese gardens - is now presented in a low, cement version that emphasizes its sculptural, textural aspect. Available in two finishes: grey and anthracite.
Edoardo Croci
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Abraham CheremThe use of concrete is inspired by the work of Brazilian architects Lina Bo Bardi and Oscar Niemayer
