Today I would like to talk about luxury interior design trends by Italian brands. Opera Contemporary, Fratelli Boffi and Gallotti & Radice – they might not be household names, but their products and aesthetic reflect current trends in both luxury design and hospitality sector. Let’s have a closer look at their collections.
Opera Contemporary
Pink and green, a sensual colour combination of the moment, sets the tone for the latest Opera Contemporary collection. Other prominent items include low coffee tables with marble tops and sophisticated armchairs with upholstery fabrics mimicking marble surfaces. The set design wouldn’t be complete without some indoor greenery to further enhance the luscious mood of the collection.
Opera Contemporary is a relatively new company, founded in 2010, yet it’s produced by Angelo Cappellini, an artisanal manufacturer of classic-style luxury furniture since 1886. The brand’s collection is meant to complement Angelo Cappellini with more contemporary aesthetic for a luxury home and hospitality sector. Opera Contemporary offers a complete range of furniture for the living room, bedroom, dining room and the office. The company reinterprets the classic Italian style by making it more appealing to a modern, international customer.
My favourite item of the collection is the Cosmo sofa (designed by the Castello Lagravinese Studio) in pink velvet with the outer backrest covered with diamond-patterned quilting. All pieces are handmade in a factory near Brianza, north of Milan, with high-quality fabrics sourced from niche Italian manufacturers.
Fratelli Boffi
If you’re looking for a luxury wooden furniture, Fratelli Boffi is a brand that offers unique products rooted in tradition of Italian craftsmanship. The company was set up in 1928 by Carlo Boffi, who reproduced French chairs of the 18th century. Starting from the 1970s they’ve expanded their product range into all types of furniture and started to form strategic collaborations with renowned architects such as Aldo Cibic that have translated the Fratelli Boffi vision for the 21st century.
The creative approach of the brand didn’t go unnoticed and in 2017 they won the prestigious Salone del Mobile. Milano award in the luxury category for its D/Vision.1 cabinet created in collaboration with Ferruccio Laviani. The form of this eye-catching, fairytale piece draws inspiration from a classic trumeau, an elegant wooden cabinet with a mirror and chest of drawers, popular in Lombardy in the 1950s. Here it’s updated with a modern, slightly surreal twist.
On of the top luxury interior design trends is a dark colour palette with rich tones of burgundy, blue and violet. It’s sets the mood not only for private residences, but also hotels and public spaces, for which the brand offers custom-made solutions.
Gallotti & Radice
First thing that always captures my attention whenever I visit the Gallotti & Radice showroom is their poetic, modern lighting from the Bolle collection designed by Massimo Castagna. The line features lamps composed of clusters of blown glass spheres linked by brass elements.
The focus on glass is not accidental as it goes back to the beginnings of the brand in 1956. Its founders, Pierangelo Gallotti and Luigi Radice, established a studio specialising in handmade light appliances, decorative glass and mirrors. The first glass table by Gallotti & Radice Studio has clean lines and minimal form that still look modern nearly 50 years after its creation in 1971. The brand has also gained global recognition for its glass office furniture collection called Air, characterised by a sleek, minimalist look.
Other essential features of the Gallotti & Radice aesthetic include soft, rounded shapes as in the Audrey sofa design (one of the most instagrammable sofas in recent months), round mirrors and coffee tables that produce the feeling of balance and harmony. Over the years the company has collaborated with many acclaimed (Patricia Urquiola, Massimo Castagna, Carlo Colombo) and up-and-coming designers (Artefatto, Federica Biasi) and opened showrooms in Milan, Miami and London.
Which style is your favourite? Can’t wait to see new products from these brands at Salone del Mobile next month.
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