The link between the world of interior design and yacht design is becoming increasingly strong. Nowadays, there is no brand that does not have a line dedicated to boating or that cannot boast some of its most iconic pieces on the most famous megayachts outdoor. That’s why, starting this week, we have decided to republish, one at a time and strictly in alphabetical order, the interviews published in the current issue and conducted during Milan Design Week with the CEOs of leading furniture brands.
B&B Italia continues to innovate in the outdoor design, as demonstrated by the expansion of the Erica collection by Antonio Citterio, which this year – on the occasion of the Salone del Mobile in Milan – we will present at the store in Via Durini. Launched in 2017, this collection has become a best seller and has now been expanded with new types of sofas, daybeds, sunbeds and tables, offering complete solutions for any outdoor context, from residential to nautical.
The world of luxury yachts is an ideal environment for our brand: our furnishings are selected for highly prestigious projects, also for the interiors of yachts, which are true ‘travelling homes’. From the beginning, our challenge with outdoor furniture has been to maintain the same level of excellence as our indoor collections. We were the first to strongly believe in a line of outdoor furniture that would not compromise on design, ergonomics and technological innovation.
Our research into materials and construction solutions has allowed us to achieve significant results, especially in the field of textiles and padding. Our roots in the outdoor sector date back to the 70s, when we created the division La Compagnia delle Filippine, in collaboration with Afra and Tobia Scarpa; subsequently, in the 90s, Antonio Citterio revised this experience, until the official birth of the B&B Italia Outdoor collection in 2007 with the launch of the revolutionary Canasta line by Patricia Urquiola. Sustainability is an essential value for us: we believe that product durability is the first form of environmental responsibility; we work to make our furniture increasingly circular, designing it for easy disassembly and material recovery.
Today, the boundary between indoor and outdoor is increasingly fluid. Some emblematic examples are the Charles Outdoor sofa, an evolution of the famous Charles sofa designed by Antonio Citterio in 1997, and the Tobi-Ishi table by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, successfully transformed from indoor to outdoor use. Confirming the growing importance of outdoor living, in the next few months we will be opening the first single-brand store entirely dedicated to outdoor living in Sydney. A 450 square metre space, developed in partnership with Space Furniture, which marks a further step forward in the diffusion of our philosophy of outdoor living with quality and design of excellence.
Gaia Grassi
