Although Bellavista Collection is known all over the world primarily as a producer of Italian luxury furniture, its lovey brass statuettes are also very popular with the company’s customers.
People love these nifty-looking rhinos, horses, greyhounds, and hippos. Especially hippos.
Bellavista’s longstanding customers also remember that this animal, or rather its brass statuette, has been the brand’s mascot for almost a decade.
Well, it looks like Attilio Zanni, Bellavista Collection’s designer (and the company’s co-founder) is keen on hippos. This brilliant designer has managed to show how attractive this seemingly clumsy animal is.
The mascot – a relatively small statuette of a hippopotamus, made of cast brass with antique bronze finish – accompanies Attilio Zanni on his business trips all over the world. This hippo has been to lots of cities in Europe, Asia, the USA and Central America. It has travelled more than the majority of people – and for a good reason. Its role is to support Mr. Zanni, inspire him, cheer him up after a busy day, reminding him of his home and family.
Want to have such a sculpture at home? No problem! You will easily find this statuette (called IPPO in the company’s catalog) at Bellavista Collection’s website. Just choose PRODUCTS in the main menu, then go to HOME DÉCOR category and choose BELLAVISTA DETAILS sub-category. IPPO will be waiting for you there – together with its twin brother RHINO, a cast brass statuette of a rhinoceros.
Both statuettes are rather miniature (18 x 8 x 8 centimeters, or 7.1 x 3.1 x 3.1 inches) and are available in four colors, depending on the finish: antique bronze finish, black patina, antique silver leaf, or antique gold leaf. Needless to say, all four are equally attractive.
Interestingly, in 2019 Attilio Zanni designed a piece with a bloat of brass hippopotamuses and showcased it at Salone del Mobile 2019. It is rectangular tray for candles named IPPO. Many visitors of this prestigious trade show said that the tray looked like a beautiful brass sculpture rather than just a candle holder.
This tray has four cups for thick candles placed in a row, among which brass hippopotamuses are walking and wallowing in the water. IPPO tray is special because you can pour some water into it, so hippos look really lifelike, especially when the candles are lit and you are gazing at the candlelight and its reflection in the water.
It makes IPPO a great solution for a candlelit dinner or even a party. Being large but low – it’s 88.5 centimeters (34.8 inches) long, 17 centimeters (6.7 inches) wide and only 7.3 centimeters (2.9 inches) high – IPPO tray will look grand if placed onto a large dining table.
Actually, during the fair, IPPO was placed near the entrance to the booth, on a QUATRO PASSI dining table, so that the attendees passing by Bellavista’s exhibitor booth could see it. Lots of people were attracted by those nifty-looking hippos and visited Bellavista’s stand. After iSaloni ended, IPPO tray replenished the assortment of Bellavista’s items available from the website and quickly became a bestseller.
As for other animals in cast brass from Bellavista, there also are a horse and a greyhound. A cast brass horse (named FURIA in the catalog) is available in the same four finishes as the hippo and rhino. Unlike other statuettes, which are lifelike, the greyhound statuette (named GREYHOUND in the catalog) looks kind of modernistic. This attractive statuette is not large – just 18 cm high (7 in.) and 21 cm long (8.3 in.) – and made of cast brass with the antique bronze finish.
Whatever of these statuettes you choose, it will add zest to your interior, making it unique-looking and cozy. Besides, these brass figures make a great present.
Besides, if you opt for some of these lovely statuettes, take a look at ARTE 1, a pedestal made of marble and metal to place the sculpture onto. Thanks to its dimensions, ARTE goes will with any of these statuettes really well. The pedestal is 90 cm (34,2 in.) high, 34 cm 13.4 in. wide, and 24 cm (9.4 in. deep).
The combination of marble with an antique bronze finish on the cast brass base looks really beautiful. You will be able to choose out of two kinds of this nice-looking stone: Emperador Dark Brown or Striato Grey marble. In the latest catalog, Bellavista collection introduced a new design of the structure: wood instead of marble and a coating choice between grey sukupira, rosewood and ebony. This can be a less showy solution to give higher emphasis to the sculptures themselves.
Decorations that look like artwork
Well, does Bellavista Collection offer only statuettes of animals? What about people? Of course, there are some, but not per se. There is a number of Bellavista’s pieces, which are decorated with cast metal figures of people or made in the form of a human body.
Take a look at table lamp named 4 STAGIONI (which means “four seasons”). Four lovely brass figurines depicting sitting women make this lamp kind of artwork rather than a lighting fixture. Pretty naked women, symbolizing four seasons of the year, are sitting on the brass base under the cylindrical lampshade, made of the combination of sandblasted and clear glass.
Lifelike brass figures decorating PEOPLE chandelier look really impressive. There is a variety of them: an old man walking with his dog, two standing girls, a young man sitting on the edge… With such a sophisticated decoration, this ceiling lamp really warrants its name.
There also are furniture details like handles that resemble real sculptures. For example, the handle named MAN 7 in the company’s catalog, is made in the form of a beautiful naked woman.
All metal details, including statuettes, are designed in Bellavista and cast in its own foundry. Each of these figures, cast using a millennia-old technique called sand casting, is carefully refined by hand. All these statuettes and details do remember the warmth of human hands – hands of skilled Bellavista’s craftsmen, who love their work a lot. It becomes clear when you look at any of these cast metal figures, be it a statuette, a decorative element for a lamp, or a just a furniture handle.
