Iconic Italian designer, Antonio Citterio, revisits his first collaboration with Maxalto in a collection encapsulating the brand’s DNA
It began in 1975 as an exercise in creating iconic objects that would to stir the imagination of an informed consumer. The Maxalto brand was a collaboration between architects Afra and Tobia Scarpa and B&B Italia owner, Piero Ambrogio Busnelli. It was named, on Tobia’s suggestion, from a neologism taken from the Venetian “Massa Alto”, meaning “the highest.”
The goal was to embody the design culture that Tobia Scarpa inherited from his father, the renowned architect, Carlo - furniture with a strong artisanal content and the highest quality standards in materials and production method.
See also: Design Icon: The Eames Chair That's Always Seen in Korean Dramas and Hollywood Films
The first collaboration paved the way for a new era with Antonio Citterio as its sole designer. Citterio, who is widely known as the most influential figure in modern Italian design, debuted a collection in 1996 inspired by French design of the interwar period while interpreting contemporary aesthetic trends.
For Citterio, Maxalto became a production workshop in which to research and manufacture a collection of modern neo-classics. Neo-classics because they were filtered, in terms of form and finishes, through the contemporary eyes of an Italian architect, and modern because they were designed to provide comfortable solutions for the home where furniture and objects interact fluidly.
Don't miss: 12 Stylish Striped Furnishings from Fendi Casa, B&B Italia, Kelly Wearstler and More Designer Brands
