Sity Sofa by Antonio Citterio for B&B Italian, 1980s

Born in 1950 in Meda, Italian designer-architect Antonio Citterio is admired for his multifaceted furniture designs, which span bold-colored plastic storage solutions for Kartell to luxury seating designs for B&B Italia and Maxalto.

Citterio opened his own studio in 1972, three years before he graduated from Milan’s Polytechnic School of Architecture. Since then, he has collaborated with major European design houses including Ansorg, Arclinea, Axor-Hansgrohe, B&B Italia, Flexform, Flos, Hermès, Iittala, Kartell, Sanitec Group, Technogym, Tre Più, and Vitra.

Citterio’s most notable furniture designs include the Sity Sofa (1986) for B&B Italia, which was awarded a Compasso d’Oro the following year; the extendable Battista Table (1991), Oxo Trolley (1992), and Mobil Container System (1993, Compasso d’Oro in 1994), all for Kartell, T-Chair (1996) for Vitra, Dolly Chair (1996) for Kartell, and the Luta and Ac Chairs (2006 and 2009) for B&B Italia. Since 1993, Antonio has worked as Head of Design at Maxalto, a subsidiary brand of B&B.

Between 1987 and 1996, he worked on many architectural projects in Europe and Japan with American architect Terry Dwan. Projects from this time include the redesign of a block in the historical center of Seregno, Italy (1987); the Esprit headquarters in Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Milan (1987); and industrial plants for Vitra in Germany (1992-2009) and Antonio Fusco in Milan (1993).

In 1999, he co-founded the architecture and design firm Antonio Citterio & Partners with Italian architect Patricia Viel (b. 1962). The firm—which was renamed Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel and Partners in 2009—specialises in the design of residential, commercial, hotel, office, and public spaces. Today, it remains the largest architectural firm in Italy, with an annual revenue of over 10 million euro. Notable projects include the premium passenger lounge at Qatar airport, Bulgari Hotels in Milan (2004), Bali (2006), and London (2012), Brooktorkai residential units and offices in Hamburg (2010), and the NOVE office building in Munich (2013-16).

Since 2006, Citterio has lectured in the Academy of Architecture in Mendrisio at the University of Lugano. Notably, Citterio has been the subject of three published biographies, Antonio Citterio Industrial Design (2004), Antonio Citterio (2005), and Antonio Citterio: Architettura e Design (2007). In 2008, he was honored by the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture & Commerce of London, earning the prestigious title ‘Royal Designer for Industry’.

His Mobil Container System is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, as is the Battista Table, Oxo Trolley, and Dolly Chair.

The international design company B&B Italia began in 1973 when Piero Ambrogio Busnelli took over C&B Italia, the company he had co-founded with Cesare Cassina. The renamed B&B was thus more of an evolution than a completely new enterprise. Busnelli—who was born in 1926 in Meda, in the northern province of Lombardy—was a true visionary in post-war Italy. As a young designer he surrounded himself with other like-minded artists, and later took chances on up-and-coming talents, like Mario Bellini and Gaetano Pesce, who later followed Busnelli to B&B. From the beginning, the company wanted to set itself apart as a strong, modern Italian brand that was based on an industrial model, utilizing both high-tech production methods and high-tech materials—including plastics and polyurethane foams. It quickly established itself as one of the leading manufacturers of modern Italian design in the second half of the 20th century.  

Busnelli located the headquarters in Novedrate in Como, near Milan. It was designed in 1972 by the architects Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, who had just finished jointly designing the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the influence is clear. The building’s brave industrial “inside out” aesthetic showcased Busnelli’s willingness to take risks, as well as predict future design stars.

In the mid-1970s, B&B Italia launched Mario Bellini’s Le Bambole sofa (1972). The structureless, yet plump couch pushed the boundaries of design and secured a place for B&B Italia at the forefront of the international design scene, and at the receiving end of many prestigious design prizes. The advertising campaign for Le Bambole provoked as many reactions as the design itself, featuring provocative images taken by photographer Oliviero Toscani of the bare-chested model Donna Jordan on top of Bellini's sofa, and was exhibited at Milan’s Salone del Mobile.

Since then, B&B Italia has collaborated with some of the world's most renowned designers and architects, including , Mario Bellini, Jeffrey Bernett, David Chipperfield, Antonio Citterio, Naoto Fukasawa, Zaha Hadid, Chris Howker, Vico Magistretti, Jean-Marie Massaud, Gaetano Pesce, Paolo Piva, Richard Sapper, Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Richard Schultz, Ettore Sottsass, Studio Kairos, Patricia Urquiola, Jakob Wahner, and Marcel Wanders, among others.

B&B Italia has won four Compasso d’Oro Awards. The first was for Studio Kairos’ Sisamo Wardrobe in 1974, and later Bellini’s Le Bambole in 1979, and Citterio’s Sity Sofa in 1987. In 1989 B&B Italia became the first design manufacturer to be awarded a Compasso d’Oro. The award was given to B&B Italia for "the constant work of integration carried out in order to combine the values of scientific and technological research with those necessary to the functionality and expressiveness of its products." Since the company’s inception in 1966, designers have created over 1000 designs and prototypes, many of which are still in production.

In 2011, Busnelli’s sons, Giorgio and Emanuele, bought the company back from the private equity firm Opera, who obtained a majority stake in 2002. The pair run the company since the death of their father in 2014. In 2016, B&B Italia celebrated its 50th anniversary by showcasing its latest range of limited-edition pieces at the Salone del Mobile furniture fair in Milan.

Images courtesy of B&B Italia