Italian Furniture Brands 2022
Italian furniture design has always emphasised fine quality materials and beautiful craftsmanship. Read more about its history and discover the top 10 Italian furniture brands you need to know. HIST
Aditya Pandey
Italian furniture design has always emphasised fine quality materials and beautiful craftsmanship. Read more about its history and discover the top 10 Italian furniture brands you need to know.
HISTORY OF ITALIAN FURNITURE
Whilst much of history would suggest that France has completely owned the luxury furniture and decorative arts worlds from the Louis' of the 17th and 18th centuries to the Art Nouveau and Art Deco of the 1910s-30s, Italian furniture has a unique and impressive history of its own.
Since the time of the Renaissance, Italian furniture has been as sought-after as its French furniture counterpart, with families like the Medicis playing a major role in developing the arts in Florence. And, even still, in the modern era, the contribution of contemporary Italian designer furniture has left an indelible mark, establishing the country as a major exporter of modern-day classics.
"Nowhere else in the world can one find so many varied examples, both in terms of conception and of formal outcome; so many applications of diverse forms, from fashion and graphics to product and set design; such an extensive and multifaceted documentation recorded in literature; and such an international resonance," says Paola Antonelli, senior design curator at New York's Museum of Modern Art and renowned expert of Italian Design, in the preface of Design Directory: Italy.
Consider the Castiglioni brothers, Vico Magistretti, Ettore Sottsass, Gio Ponti, Gae Aulenti, Marco Zanuso, Fornasetti, Harry Bertoia, Joe Colombo, Carlo Scarpa and Gabriella Crespi—all names which have become ingrained in the design world's vocabulary for their nonchalant Modernist style. These lodestars of Italian Design were proof of the country's creative vision in the second half of the 20th century and, these days, the same enthusiasm for innovative Design remains.
Paola explains, "To this day, Italian furniture design companies have been able to maintain their status and their experimental stamina and, in a time short of great indigenous designers, are attracting the best talents from all over the world. They keep the flag of Italian Design flying high."
