Porro, the excellence of Made in Italy at the service of high-end design
Refinement of lines, sophistication of finishes and technical quality of details. These are just some of the characteristics of Porro, a company founded in 1925 in Brianza, the traditional Italian cradle of the production of quality furniture, which today has become an international symbol of made in Italy quality that combines technology, tradition and variety of solutions. It is in Montesolaro di Carimate that the Giulio and Stefano Porro brothers opened their workshop in 1925 aimed at producing stylish furnishings for the newborn Milanese bourgeoisie.
The transition to the second generation Porro, with his cousins Carlo, Arturo and Silvio, marked the turning point to the modern in the 1950s, also thanks to the long and rewarding collaboration with the architect Giulio Moscatelli, who in 1955 designed the new laboratory near the family's house. The company has been linked from its origins to some of the most important names in Italian design such as Bruno Munari, in charge of designing the corporate brand in 1966. From the mid-1980s with the entry into the company of the third generation, the cousins Lorenzo, Fabio, Giovanni and Danilo Porro, design took on a leading role: at this moment the collaboration with Piero Lissoni, art director since 1989, began. Over the years he has signed some of the corporate icons that perfectly reflect the formal cleanliness of the brand.
Participation in the Cologne Furniture Fair, collaboration with German designers Werner Aisslinger and Wolfgang Tolk and entry into the German market are the first steps in an internationalization process that was consolidated in the 1990s, with the creation of a worldwide agent network, and participation in exhibitions on 5 continents. The subsequent opening to external designers, including Christophe Pillet, Jean Marie Massaud, le Front, Alessandro Mendini, Soda Designers, GamFratesi, further enriched the Porro catalog: a choral offer where you can read more hands, different sensibilities but consistent in image and able to satisfy the most demanding tastes together.
The culture of furniture as a family heritage, together with the diktats that guide production, i.e. formal cleanliness, geometry of shapes and functionality, are the assets that have allowed Porro to conquer a large space on the international market on tiptoe, without betraying its their origins. Over the years, the company has also been able to reinterpret important traditions such as carving, curved wood, inlay and the combination of wooden strips in a modern and abstract vision, giving life to quality projects. Their products are immediately recognizable for an identifiable essential language, which favors the simplification of signs, geometries, shapes, without losing sight of simplicity even in the most complex production processes.
Byron, the bed by Lissoni where soft lines and geometries meet
Sophisticated, rigid but also romantic is the Byron bed by Porro, which carries the unmistakable touch of Piero Lissoni. It is a textile model with an intimate and compact shape, which is made up of 3 ingredients: the high and padded bed frame slightly raised from the ground, the soft headboard cushions and the screen on the bottom that seems to embrace the space and protect the rest.
The soft lines and rounded edges characterize the textile part of the bed while the screen displays a rigid geometry. Precisely the latter is Byron's sophisticated detail: a black-stained solid ash frame encloses a straw weave, available in different graphic patterns and colors, or wooden panels in a black-stained ash finish.
Inlay, a refined container between carvings and modern shapes
With Inlay, a series of containers for the home designed by Front, Porro recovers the refined inlay work of tradition and makes it an absolutely contemporary motif. Square surfaces, rectangles and trapezoids cut with sharp edges decorate the surfaces: meticulously combined, they form an intricate geometric design, a pattern where the alternation of 4 different natural shades of oak create three-dimensional effects and generate virtual volumes.
The sideboard has a particular opening with an asymmetrical cut and is internally equipped with simple shelves and dividers. The chest of drawers has 2 drawers each of which with 2 internal trays and a single front. The handles of Inlay are in solid oak: the interiors of the sideboard and dresser are in natural oak.
Load-it, the multitasking bookcase designed by Wolfgang Tolk
Versatile and material, with a modern and minimal flavor, Load-it is a multitasking bookcase, which can be diverse in various functions for daily use. It consists of thin L-shaped shelves made in high-strength steel finishes finished with wax, white painted or in the particular material finishes of burnished brass, porphyry gray or antique red.
The product is completed with wall panels available in various sizes, customizable to size, and in many variations of finish: starting from the matt and glossy lacquering, passing through the woods of the Porro Collection, the mirror, the wax-finished steel, the material finishes in burnished brass, porphyry gray and antique red up to the fabric, present with a selection of samples or with the possibility of using a customer's fabric, and natural and black dyed cannetè.
The product is completed by bookmarks always in steel sheet in the same finishes as the shelf. The peculiarity of this bookcase is also given by the possibility of mixing with the Modern system, to further expand its composition and use variants.
Romby by GamFratesi, geometric allure and vintage-inspired design
The Romby chairs made for Porro by GamFratesi have an abstract charm.
Perfect in a dining room or in a work environment, they are cocoon armchairs with impeccable proportions and workmanship, which welcome the body leaving it free to move, enveloping it with a feeling of great lightness. They consist of two structural elements in dimensional and material balance.
The truncated cone base in solid ash wood, natural sandblasted or black stained, connects to a soft and compact padded swivel seat. The revolving one is made up of 12 jointed solid wood boards and then turned and brushed through a skilful work of cabinet-making to obtain a perfect truncated cone on which the natural veins of the solid wood stand out. The padded seat is the result of a foamed mold and a snug and perfectly finished upholstery that creates a soft and enveloping shell.
Materic, the sculptural table by Piero Lissoni with refined materials
The Materic table, designed by Piero Lissoni, is a sculptural object that contrasts the absolute simplicity of the form with the refinement of materials and workmanship.
It consists of a circular and cone-shaped top, resting on a truncated cone base and is available in 2 variants: marble top with wooden base, or wooden top with metal base. The marble top is available in 7 variants ranging from shades of copper green to the more traditional white Carrara marble. This top is also available in the version equipped with a central rotating tray.
The base is made up of 12 solid sandblasted, dark brown and black stained natural ash boards joined together by comb and turned to obtain a perfect truncated cone with marked veins. The wooden top is available in all the woods of the collection, while the metal base is available in a stainless steel and burnished brass finish.