MAXALTO

Neo-Classical Modern Furniture

In 1975, the founder of B&B Italia, Piero Ambrogio Busnelli, invented Maxalto with Afra and Tobia Scarpa. The company specializes in modern furniture distinguished by refined artisanal execution. In 1995, Antonio Citterio picked up the baton from the Scarpas and commenced the contemporary reconstruction of a small encyclopedia of furniture. Guided by a bias for the typologies and styles of French design between the two World Wars, Citterio favored the modern approach that juxtaposed spare pieces by Le Corbusier and Charlotte Perriand with the gentle shapes and precious materials of Jean-Michel Frank. With this partiality, Citterio mined Maxalto as a design laboratory for the production of neo-classical modern pieces: neo-classical because they were filtered in form and finish through the contemporary eye of an Italian architect; and modern because they are comfortable objects that look to the future of the home.

The importance of the long-term vision pursued by Antonio Citterio for Maxalto in designing a line that followed neither fashion nor trend cannot be understated. The secret to the longevity of Citterio’s pieces lies in an initial negation followed by an affirmation, plus a subtle balance between the two. There is a denial of the need to renew products superficially. There is a confirmation of the possibility to build an abundant range of products with a wealth of variations on the themes of comfort, warmth, interiors, and furniture. The tables, chairs, armchairs, couches, beds, and cabinets in the collection are functional, together they create many places in which to live—the rooms of an ideal house where you always find confirmation of having chosen well.