B&B Italia makes offers hard to refuse

SINCE 1966, Italian brand B&B Italia has been using the same technology in creating furniture pieces. But its designs evolve from one generation to the next.

The luxury brand invests 3 percent of its turnover annual to research and development “to create new products, new designs, to try to interpret the future needs of the market and end-user,” says Giorgio Busnelli, chief executive officer of B&B Italia.

Busnelli was in the Philippines for the opening of Focus Global Inc.’s new showroom at Bonifacio Global City. He is one of the three sons of Piero Ambrogio Busnelli, founder of the company.

Focus Global is the exclusive distributor of B&B Italia in the Philippines.

B&B ITALIA CEO Giorgio Busnelli with wife Mariangel during the opening of Focus Global showroom at Bonifacio Global City.

Busnelli describes B&B Italia’s designs as “contemporary with some avant garde pieces that is in our culture.”

Although the company continues to innovate, the pieces it created have come to be regarded as timeless with the passing of years.

B&B Italia has two divisions: Home division for the residential market; and contract division catering to hotels, cruise ships, corporate offices, and other industries.

The company also has four collections: B&B Italia Outdoor (outdoor furniture), B&B Italia Project (furniture for the contract market, such as hotels and restaurants), B&B Italia Object (bowls, vases and accessories), and B&B Italia Contract (furnishing for hotels, cruise ships, and offices).

For home division, B&B Italia shares the limelight with Maxalto, another brand the company established in 1975.

Maxalto carries five collections: AC, Apta, Acro, Lux, and Simplice.

Busnelli describes Maxalto, which is also available at the Focus Global showroom, as pieces of “classic themes with contemporary twists.”

The Italian brand continuously works with topnotch and award-winning designers such as Mario Bellini, Antonio Citterio, Naoto Fukasawa, Patricia Urquiola, and Marcel Wanders. It currently has 23 designers on its roster.

Esteemed designer Renzo Piano—together with Richard Rogers—designed the company’s headquarters in Novedrate, Italy, which opened in 1973, before Piano “became famous.” Piano is an Italian architect who, according to Time magazine, was one of the 100 most influential people in 2006. He is a recipient of the Pritzker Prize, considered to be the Nobel Prize in architecture.

Busnelli says they share “patience and passion” to come up with designs that will appeal to the brand’s niche market in the 79 countries it maintains a presence. He points out that 86 percent of their business is in export, with the United States alone accounting for 20 percent of its business.

It usually takes a year for the designers to come up with a collection, while conceptualization usually lasts for months, Busnelli says.

B&B Italia’s flagship stores are located in Chicago, London, Milan, Munich, New York, Paris, and Washington DC.

The brand has collected four Compasso d’Oro (Italy’s Design Award). It posted a 154.3 percent turnover in 2014.

Looking back, Busnelli relates how his father came up with the molding technology that the company has been using for decades.

“Working with wood is considered artisanal,” he explains. “It takes a lot of time and effort to finish one product.”

The elder Busnelli, during one of his trips, came across a rubber duck. He got excited with the material and was amazed at how flexible it was that he asked what it was made of. He then decided to work with a company in Germany to develop a technology that would allow them to use molds to create furniture pieces.

From the start, the founders wanted to be known as an innovative company. They invested in a technique where, instead of working with wood, furniture-makers use wood frames where they would pour in the mold.

“With this innovation, we are able to create a new standard,” he says.

While the United States is the company’s biggest market, B&B Italia has been in Asia since 1966. Japan is the Italian brand’s biggest market on the continent.

Busnelli shares that, for the Outdoor collection, the company has been working with exporters in Cebu since the 1980s.

“We import in Italy a system of rattan furniture made especially for us,” he says. “Until now, a part of our outdoor collection is produced by Pacific Traders in Cebu.”

Busnelli notes the growth of the Philippine economy. He says that, because of the boom, the country has become an important market for the brand.