It looks like The Big Closure due to the notorious COVID-19 is coming to an end. People and businesses alike are deliriously happy about it, eagerly waiting for the moment to start to translate their ideas and plans into action. We all have had enough time for thinking things through, generating ideas, and making plans…
Bellavista Collection used the period of business interruption productively. In fact, the brand is returning from the quarantine with a surprise up its sleeve. A new collection of Italian luxury furniture is ready and soon will be added to the inventory on Bellavista’s website.
To be precise, some of these items were created earlier this year; they would have been displayed at iSaloni 2020, if it weren’t for the pandemic.
Unfortunately, this year’s edition of Salone Internazionale del Mobile – the most prestigious, the largest, and the oldest trade event in furniture making (not to mention a bunch of other industries) – won’t take place. This fair, initially scheduled for mid-April 2020, first was deferred to a later date, only to be cancelled altogether soon after.
That’s why the grand-looking Bellavista’s showpieces, prepared for the event, turned into just recently created furniture pieces (looking no less grand, though). All of them are about to be presented on the brand’s website.
Meet Aunt Maria
Let’s take a quick look at a few pieces from the new 2020 collection. The first one is ZIA MARIA sofa.
People who are familiar with Italian, know that Zia means ‘aunt’ in this language. Loyal Bellavista customers remember the remarkable ‘granny’ sofa (i.e. AVUELA, which is Spanish for Grandma). Designed in 2019, AVUELA scored a success at last year’s Salone del Mobile in Milan.
Bellavista has always been good at naming: both sofas well deserve their names. Design of the super-cozy AVUELA reminds of a sweet, loving, and nurturing granny, while ZIA MARIA resembles a joyful and chic-looking auntie. There clearly is something feminine in its design. ZIA MARIA prepared for the fair was upholstered in bright-red fabric; the sofa looked magnificent, leaving an impression of delight and happiness.
Well, let’s hope that it’s the start of a series…
ZIA MARIA’s wooden base is made of lovely moka stained beechwood. Its dark color perfectly harmonizes with texture of either leather or fabric upholstery – Bellavista Collection traditionally offers a choice between fabric and leather for almost all its upholstered pieces. This sofa comes with four back pillows, with covers made of the same material as the upholstery.
Besides, ZIA MARIA is available in two sizes: 220 and 260 centimeters wide (86.6 and 102.4 inches respectively.) Other dimensions are the same: both models are 80 cm (31.5 in.) high and 90 cm (35.4 in.) deep. Seat height is also the same in both variants – namely, 40 cm. (15.7 in.) As you see, the sofa is spacious enough for you to have a nap, if you wish – and even if you are very tall, the wider option will suit you well.
Using bright colors in upholstery is actually a new trend, which Bellavista Collection decided to follow in 2020. It’s not that the brand ignores trends, but Attilio Zanni, Bellavista’s chief designer, has always been focused at timeless beauty rather than on the following suit. So, it could be said that he chooses which ones to follow and which to disregard – with a brilliant result each time.
Shapes inspired by nature is one more common trait of the items created in 2020. In fact, it isn’t entirely new: just browse through Bellavista Collection’s website and you will see lots of such pieces in every product category.
As to this year’s additions to the collection, floral motifs are clearly recognizable in two more items designed in 2020: DALIA table lamp and OLIVER – a round dining table with a Lazy Susan. Cast brass structure of DALIA looks a lot like three petals of some beautiful exotic flower. As for OLIVER, the cast metal inlay on its top bears a resemblance to flower petals.
The sophisticated combination of wood, metal, and marble, which OLIVER is made of, looks really magnificent, so fine these materials harmonize with one another. Well, Bellavista’s craftsmen have always been good at revealing the natural beauty of materials and combining them.
It’s absolutely evident that design of these – and many more – pieces were inspired by Nature with a capital N. You will easily guess what the shape of a coffee table named CHAMPIGNON looks like…
Of course, it’s a pity that iSaloni 2020 was cancelled: otherwise, we could have already seen all these Bellavista’s remarkable pieces. But every cloud has a silver lining, you know. The next year’s Salone Internazionale del Mobile, which is scheduled for April 13 – 18, 2021, is going to be exceptional indeed.
It will be the 60th edition: for the first time ever since 1961, when the Salone was held for the first time, the trade fair skips a year. But it is not the thing that will make iSaloni 2021 stand out.
In 2021, all biennial collateral events of Salone del Mobile will take place at the same time – both those that take place in odd years, and the ones traditionally held in even years. Attendees of iSaloni 2021 will have a chance to attend Euroluce (International Lighting Exhibition), and EuroCucina FTK (Technology For the Kitchen) on one day, which is impossible in any other year.
2020 is a special year for Bellavista Collection, too: it marks the tenth anniversary of the brand. An extraordinary collection of pieces celebrating Beauty and Nature is about to be shown to the public – on Bellavista Collection’s website. No pandemic, quarantine, or cancellation of trade exhibitions can stop creativity and strive for perfection. So, Attilio Zanni will, by all means, impress us with lots of his new masterpieces.