Known for his love of what was new and next, industrial designer Joe Colombo was a futurist through and through. That’s why he seemed a most unlikely candidate back when manufacturer Pierantonio Bonacina tapped him to create the Basket collection, a line of furniture made from rattan, the most unfuturistic of materials (especially back in the future-obsessed 1960s). Apparently, Bonacina saw what the rest of his contemporaries couldn’t. Colombo’s modernist sensibilities injected new life to rattan’s organic lines, and aesthetes were delighted with the innovative balance he brought to the line.
This fall, Danish brand GUBI is relaunching the collection (out of circulation for decades) with three of its most popular pieces: a three-seater sofa, a two-seater sofa, and a lounge chair, all of which share the same construction. The items now feature a more environmentally responsible steel skeleton covered with woven rattan skin made from interlaced strips and oval stakes. “It’s a privilege to revive Joe Colombo’s extraordinary vision,” says Marie Kristine Schmidt, chief marketing officer at GUBI. “Rattan is not a material commonly associated with his work, so it’s wonderful to showcase the diversity of the output he achieved.”
On the Surface
Mosaic manufacturer New Ravenna has introduced five new additions to its Studio Line collection, bringing the total number of designs to a whopping 82. The selections, available for both residential and commercial installations, include Jute (a textile pattern in tumbled stone), Twill (which emulates a dried eucalyptus leaf), Arbus and Gridded Check (both of which feature geometric patterns and warm tones), and Orion (a reverse of the original black-and-white version honed with Thassos and accented with brass stars). The natural stone mosaics are all handcrafted at New Ravenna’s Virginia headquarters and available for shipping in two days. newravenna.com
Story Credits:
Text by Luis R. Rigual
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