B&B Italia Furniture
In 1966, Piero Ambrogio Busnelli cofounded C&B Italia, a modern Italian furniture manufacturer, with Cesare Cassina in northern Milan. From the outset, Busnelli and Cassina set about recruiting the most talented modernists in Italy to conceive of creative furnishings manufactured in modern ways. In the early 1970s, the company split, with Cassina founding his own eponymous firm and Busnelli taking leadership of what became B&B Italia.
For decades, Busnelli cultivated relationships with the world’s best design talent, resulting in furniture pieces that remain iconic today — be they Gaetano Pesce’s outwardly curvaceous Up seating (made for C&B, reintroduced by B&B) or tables from industrial designer Paolo Piva, each more sophisticated than the next in their geometrically complex steel-tube bases. B&B Italia earned four prestigious Compasso d’Oro design awards: in 1979 for Mario Bellini’s Le Bambole, in 1984 for the Sisamo wardrobe system by Studio Kairos, in 1987 for Antonio Citterio’s modular Sity sofa and, in 1989, the first award given to a manufacturing company itself.
Other notable names who designed for B&B Italia over the course of its 54-year history include Patricia Urquiola, Naoto Fukasawa, Zaha Hadid, Ettore Sottsass and Vincent Van Duysen, to name a very few. And while these names bring star power to the B&B brand, in many cases, it was B&B Italia who helped usher in their celebrity, fostering a wave of design talent on the world stage.
The company’s forward-thinking vision manifested in its own headquarters, too: In 1972, B&B Italia tapped architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers to design a steel-framed, postmodern-style home for the brand, whose crisscrossing metal exoskeleton is reminiscent of the pair’s Centre Pompidou in Paris, which was built at roughly the same time. Now, B&B Italia manages a contract division and outdoor section as well as its residential arm, and it also controls production for Maxalto, a brand spun out with furniture designs by Antonio Citterio.
At 1stDibs, find a range of vintage B&B Italia furniture — including sofas, cocktail tables and more.
1970s Italian Post-Modern Vintage B&B Italia Furniture
Copper
1970s Italian Post-Modern Vintage B&B Italia Furniture
Copper
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage B&B Italia Furniture
Glass, Walnut
1960s Italian Vintage B&B Italia Furniture
Wood
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage B&B Italia Furniture
Glass, Smoked Glass, Wood
1960s Belgian Mid-Century Modern Vintage B&B Italia Furniture
Leather, Glass, Wood, Oak
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern B&B Italia Furniture
Leather, Wood
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage B&B Italia Furniture
Smoked Glass, Mahogany
1960s Italian Vintage B&B Italia Furniture
Wood, Lacquer
20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern B&B Italia Furniture
Walnut
1970s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage B&B Italia Furniture
Wood
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern B&B Italia Furniture
Leather, Wood, Walnut
1960s Italian Mid-Century Modern Vintage B&B Italia Furniture
Glass, Smoked Glass, Wood, Walnut
Mid-20th Century Italian Mid-Century Modern B&B Italia Furniture
Rosewood
B&b Italia furniture for sale on 1stDibs.
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- Where is B&B Italia made?1 Answer1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022B&B Italia makes their furniture at a company-owned factory in Novedrate, Como, Italy. The brand's headquarters are also in the city. To ensure quality, skilled artisans produce each piece by hand. On 1stDibs, shop a variety of B&B Italia furniture.
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