'The Perfect Density': B&B Italia celebrates 50 industry leading years
Italian design industry leader B&B Italia celebrated its half-century anniversary with a series of events including a film, a book – The long life of design in Italy – B&B Italia: 50 years and beyond, edited by Stefano Casciani – and an exhibition designed by Migliore+Servetto Architects in the Impluvium of La Triennale di Milano.
Unsurprisingly, given the architects’ track record for creating innovative displays, the exhibition eschewed the ubiquitous traditional furniture show format, instead providing an immersive cinematic installation interpreting ‘density’ in a very broad sense through a series of fleeting glimpses of the material product, designers and conceptual ideas.
At the centre of the compact rectangular space were eight high vertical cages with swirling ribbons of images, digital screens and beams of light that reflected intersecting stories of the key people and products; though these were almost upstaged by images of the fascinating industrial manufacturing processes conducted in B&B Italia’s Renzo Piano-designed workshop at its headquarters in Novedrate, Como.
The company, founded by Piero Ambrogio Busnelli and continued by his sons, has collaborated with some of Italy's most lauded design stars, including Antonio Citterio, Mario Bellini and Pierluigi Cerri, along with a host of international designers and architects such as Piano, Patricia Urquiola, Naoto Fukasawa, and the late Zaha Hadid.
Glamorous designers and technological innovation aside, the exhibition’s highlight were two sidewalls featuring long bands of video, showing an intriguing series of micro-stories of the company's distinctive communications. We were particularly taken with the original, but timeless, photo shoot by legendary photographer Oliviero Toscani of a bare-breasted Donna Jordan posing seductively on the 'Le Bambole' sofa collection designed by Mario Bellini in 1972.
‘The company was founded in the late 1960s but has always been about innovation,’ says monograph author Casciani.
INFORMATION
For more information, visit B&B Italia website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Catherine Shaw is a writer, editor and consultant specialising in architecture and design. She has written and contributed to over ten books, including award-winning monographs on art collector and designer Alan Chan, and on architect William Lim's Asian design philosophy. She has also authored books on architect André Fu, on Turkish interior designer Zeynep Fadıllıoğlu, and on Beijing-based OPEN Architecture's most significant cultural projects across China.
-
Alaïa’s secret new London café and bookstore is inspired by the art of hosting
Housed on the third floor of Alaïa’s London flagship, the intimate space – inspired by Azzedine Alaïa’s famed hospitality – includes a Violet Cakes bakery and a bookstore by Claire de Rouen
By Jack Moss Published
-
Is it really possible to stage a Shakespeare play inside the game Grand Theft Auto?
Grand Theft Hamlet, a documentary debut written and directed by Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane, is about two out-of-work actors attempting to mount a full production of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, inside the violent world of Grand Theft Auto, shot entirely in game
By Billie Walker Published
-
Arlo NoMad hotel makes the American diner officially cool again
The NoMad Diner NYC’s interiors and menu offer an elevated take on an American classic
By Dan Howarth Published
-
Faye Toogood brings new life to Matisse’s legacy
Milan Design Week 2023: tapped by Maison Matisse, the London-based designer has taken inspiration from the French master’s forms to create a collection of heirloom-worthy objects
By Sam Rogers Published
-
Prada Frames 2023: Milan programme announced
Programme announced for Prada Frames 2023 at Milan Design Week, the annual symposium curated by Formafantasma at Luigi Caccia Dominioni's Teatro Filodrammatici from 17 to 19 April
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
Alessi Occasional Objects: Virgil Abloh’s take on cutlery
Best Cross Pollination: Alessi's cutlery by the late designer Virgil Abloh, in collaboration with his London studio Alaska Alaska, is awarded at the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2023
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Salone del Mobile 2023: highlights from Milan Design Week
In pictures: our highlights from Milan Design Week, held during the 61st Salone del Mobile 2023 (18-23 April)
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
USM launches blushing pink limited edition of its modular furniture
Following an installation during Milan Design Week 2022, USM launches a new pink limited edition of its Haller range
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
‘You don't want space; you want to fill it’: Milan exhibition
Making its debut during Milan Design Week 2022 at Marsèll Paradise, a new exhibition by Matylda Krzykowski, explores how we approach the space we live in (until 15 July 2022)
By Cristina Kiran Piotti Last updated
-
Kohler and Daniel Arsham brought experiential art to Milan Design Week
Looking back on Daniel Arsham and Kohler’s Divided Layers installation, and the brand’s latest bathroom collection
By Simon Mills Last updated
-
Men’s mental health takes centre stage at an art and design exhibition by Tableau
‘Confessions’, which travels to Copenhagen’s 3 Days of Design following its debut at Milan Design Week 2022, features commissioned work by 14 male artists, designers and architects, reflecting on toxic masculinity, vulnerability and mental health
By TF Chan Last updated