Brands We Love

Foscarini – Shedding Light on Italian Design

In 1981 on the small island of Murano, near Venice, Foscarini was born. And it was in 1983 that Carlo Urbinati and Alessandro Vecchiato, owner and manager of the company, respectively, designed their first collection of lamps.

The year 1990 brought a team of designers to the company, such as Rodolofo Dordoni, who with his famous Lumiere lamp, combined a blown glass diffuser (white on the inside and coloured on the outside) with a hand-finished, die-cast aluminium base. Enhancing the blown glass with another material gave Foscarini prestige and the reputation it deserved. And, after nearly 20 years, Lumiere has never gone out of fashion.

In 1992, Ferruccio Laviani, replicated the success previously achieved by his colleague, by designing the Orbital floor lamp, famous for being the first Foscarini branded lamp manufactured in industrial glass.

As pictured above from left to right: Foscarini's Lumiere Lamp and the Orbital Floor Lamp 

And it was 1993, when the famous designer, Jozeph Forakis Havana, produced a polyethylene lamp in different versions, which was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York in the prestigious collection dedicated to design. 

Foscarini then collaborated with Marc Sadler, who joined the team in 2000, signing real works of art, such as the Mite and Tite lamps, winners of the Compasso d'Oro in 2001.

The following year, Lux magazine was born – a new editorial experience for Foscarini. Patricia Urquiola and Eliana Gerotto created the famous Caboche Lamp Collection, in 2005, which inaugurated a season of great success for the company. In fact, they presented the Twiggy line and the Gregg line, in the same year and two years later, the prestigious Tress line was born, which best expressed its content of innovation and design culture.

2009 saw the signing of a licensing agreement for Foscarini and Diesel, as part of the home and lifestyle design – a partnership that offered Foscarini the opportunity to talk to a new audience and explore different ways of living.

Thirty years after the first collection of lamps, Foscarini opened two new spaces in the cities of contemporary design: Milan and New York.

After 35 years, Foscarini continues to ‘seduce, surprise and inspire’. Its lights are conceived as ‘design objects that transform spaces: to bring beauty, and stir emotions’.

The Heritage of Porada - Porada Pride

“Wood is universally beautiful to man. It is the most humanly intimate of all materials.” Frank Lloyd Wright

Porada is the epitome of contemporary wooden furniture and last year it celebrated its 70^th Anniversary. Its trademark is that “our products do all the talking” – solid wood accessories that over time have found new expressions and new combinations, with different materials, new functional purposes, coupled with upholstered elements giving them a distinguished look with meticulous craftsmanship.

The Porada story began in the Brianza district of Italy in 1948, with a talented furniture maker – Luigi Allievi, and a piece of wood. With this, he made a beautiful, handcrafted chair from his small artisan workshop. Luigi continued to make chairs until he had an established chair-making business. And in 1968, helped by his four sons, he expanded the production of chairs into other branches of home furnishings and thus the company Porada was born. Combining technological processes with the artisan tradition of the area, working with architects Alberio & Cerbaro, then with Martino Perego.  

As pictured above: Porada began in 1948 with talented furniture maker Luigi Allievi taking the reins and The Infinity Table is a prime example of Porada's talented craftsmanship with wood 

Porada’s collection is wide and varied, made up of a multitude of occasional furniture developed in cooperation with designers such as Tarcisio Colzani, Patrick Joiun, Carlo Ballabio, Marconato e Zappa, Opera Design, Studio Buratti, David Dolcini, Stefano Bigi, Gino Carollo and Emmanuel Gallina, among others.

The main strength of Porada has nothing to do with the quality of the materials or cutting-edge machinery. It’s the human factor. They’re people who for years have become part of the Porada family, who treat products as they would do with something of their own, putting all their care and passion into their daily work.

As well as showrooms in Cabiette and London, in 2018, Porada opened its new showroom in Milan. With two sections: one showing hotel rooms, halls, dining and breakfast areas. And the other ‘house’ section: showing the ‘cult’ pieces from past collections.

To celebrate this important anniversary, Porada developed a room fragrance with packaging incorporating lines and colours that fully reflect the company's philosophy. It is a perfume designed by perfumery experts Paolo Fadelli and Arturetto Landi, specifically to make the Porada style differently perceived – discreet, but always current and enveloping.

So, what makes Porada so special?

Is it the Garbo chair with its characteristic classic armrest, or the sinuous and feminine Anxie with its unmistakable contoured and tapered legs? Could it be the Ubiqua bookcase system and TV stand with metal uprights – a cornerstone of current Porada style, but linked to the Fifties vintage style. Perhaps it’s the Infinity table, so elegant, with its crystal top and sculptural wooden base?

The answer is simple – it is all of these and more, as “Everything’s born from the love of the wood.” Long may it continue.

The Heritage of Cattelan Italia

"Home is the symbol of precious things,” Giorgio Cattelan

Giorgio Cattelan, was the youngest of a family of seven children, the son of a well-known carpenter of Thiene, a small town in the province of Vicenza. Giorgio loved the aroma of wood in his father’s workshop and cultivated the art of creating furniture – a tradition that continues to this day with five of the seven brothers.

Cattelan Italia was founded in 1979 from an idea by Giorgio and Silvia Cattelan, who started their marble-based furniture company, making products such as dining and coffee tables for the export market.

In 1989, to meet the growing market demand, the collection expanded with the addition of stools, chaise longues, sideboards, TV units, bookcases, mirrors and lamps. Using a variety of contrasting materials, from wood to glass and leather to metal, each stunning product is created with taste, style and comfort in mind.

As pictured above: The Diapason Table by Cattelan Italia was designed in 1980 and remains one of its bestsellers

The minimal Diapason table, designed by Studio Diapason in 1980 and Italian creative Emanuele Zanere’s iconic Valentino table are two of the noteworthy products from the company that remain bestsellers.

Paolo Cattelan, together with his brother Lorenzo entered into the family business in 1995, assisting their father in the management of different activities. Paolo says, “Our goal was to immediately grow with quality, both through the value of products, and promoting a ‘Made in Italy’ aesthetic that is an absolute icon of elegance and know-how. These were decisive years, not only from the commercial point of view, but also for the unfaltering values that our family business model has always wanted to preserve.”

Lorenzo followed the brand image, drawing on its strong creative spirit. In 2002 he moved to Tuscany, in the Chianti DOCG region, to manage a winery with premium wine and a farmhouse with a 100-year-old farm.

With its acquisition in January 2011 of ARKETIPO, the world-renowned Florentine company, known for its prestigious refinement of its products, Cattelan Italy entered the world of upholstery design, driven by Lorenzo.

Paolo Cattelan CEO, is now a key figure in the evolution of trade and production of the Company, having a thorough knowledge of the market. He travels most of the year, both to sustain relationships with top clients, and to experience new countries in economic expansion. He is the protagonist in making stylistic choices, design and distribution.

Today, Cattelan Italia is present in 150 countries around the world, with over 350 stores, the Company continues to open new markets and consolidate strategic ones. Cattelan Italia has expanded its presence in major international fairs, such as Milan, Cologne, Paris, Valencia, Moscow, Kortrijk and more.

Cattelan’s versatility and expertise in developing and combining different materials into its designs has allowed the business to stay ahead of the luxury furniture sector’s evolution.

“Keramik has been a hot, ongoing trend,” says Cattelan. In 2015, the company developed a new technique that allows for ceramic surfaces that look like marble to come with “harder, heatproof, waterproof, scratchproof features.” As a result, the “demand for marble tops has come back to life.”

The design of the furniture from Cattelan Italia stands out because of the amount of time and attention paid to the smallest of detail. Every single curve or twist you see on a Cattelan Italia product has been carefully thought through. Besides their beautiful designs, Cattelan Italia is famous for its innovative use of unorthodox materials in the production of pieces. The subtle choice of materials for specific pieces makes them stand out.

While most designers prefer to use hand-drawn sketches in their work, Cattelan Italia has proven that using technology to design and render pieces gives them an edge on competitors. They are able to create stunning designs and place them in a fully rendered mock-up room so you can see how the finished piece will look in any space

Catellan Italia continues to impress more than 40 years after their founding. Many of its designs can be found at Lime Modern Living.

The Heritage of Bontempi – Making the Most of Metal

“Good enough is never good enough if your target is pursuing excellence”  Samuel Johnson 
 
The Bontempi business started in 1963 with a production capacity of less than 20,000 packages and 200 accounts. After gaining experience and expertise in metal handcrafting techniques, Alessandro and Giancarlo Bontempi established Mobilfer – a manufacturer of metal structures and equipment for warehousing. This sparked the beginning of their entrepreneurial career. Owing to their obsessive pursuit of quality and daily passion for their work, they employed a company of people determined to turn dreams into products. And in 1980, the Bontempi Casa brand was born, and a new collection of tables, chairs, stools and coffee tables were launched.

As pictured above from left to right: The Bontempi business began in 1963 and In 1987 Bontempi received an Oscar of Design Compasso  d’oro  in 1987, for its chair – Delfina

It was in 1985, with the continuous improvement of quality standards for products and manufacturing processes, that Bontempi Casa was able to establish a plant for galvanic treatment, in order to provide its clients with a special lifetime guarantee on chromed and gold-plated iron beds.

They received an Oscar of Design Compasso d’oro in 1987, for its Dining Chair – Delfina. The Jury of XIV edition awarded the Oscar: for the wise use of different technologies in a harmonious summary, also fit for purpose both structurally and ergonomically. In the continuing years, a further increase of production facilities was carried out, and manufacturing techniques improved, enabling the production of quality furniture on an industrial scale.

1989 saw their passion for design continuing, using the latest cutting-edge technologies and ergonomic solutions. Throughout the following decade, Bontempi developed internationally and in 2002 they launched their new collection of Design Beds, thoroughly researched for design and comfort.

It was in 2004 that Bontempi wanted to promote a young design and meet the modern furnishing needs. So, they introduced the new collection Ingenia Casa – using the best processes, offering a brand of wide-ranging quality products with good value for money.

Encouraged by the excellent results of the beds’ collection, in 2004 they focused on perfecting technologies and manufacturing procedures, introducing Bontempi Sofa – a range consisting of high-quality products, with advanced technological and aesthetic standards.

In the subsequent years, the second generation took charge of managing the company and today the sons are following in the footsteps of their parents in developing the business. The sons’ passion is equally as strong, and they are forward-looking, open to new ideas and research and always committed to achieving excellence. Their goal is to preserve Bontempi’s family business identity for the future.

Bontempi Casa has always been committed to the safeguard of natural resources. All the Bontempi Casa production is conceived and manufactured with extreme care, regarding the eco-sustainability of materials used.

Manufacturing processes and finishes are carried out, avoiding treatments with harmful substance emissions that can be noxious to human beings and the environment. Bontempi Casa uses non-polluting, solvent-free and plastic-free paints, recyclable glass, wood selected in forests managed according to strict environmental, social and economic standards.

Thanks to their 50 years of experience, Bontempi’s passion is to turn raw materials into bespoke design pieces. They thrive on enthusiasm, managing their work with a positive attitude and promoting innovation at every point. Every single day in their factories, they work on new techniques, new design concepts, new products to develop the best solutions for any kind of environment.

The Bontempi Casa dream is to furnish spaces where you can experience the unforgettable daily emotions and looking back through their history, they have certainly achieved it.