In the next movie in our Bolon at Heart video series, Cappellini director Giulio Cappellini reveals how the Italian brand is experimenting with a new material by Swedish flooring company Bolon to upholster furniture.
Bolon is famous for its woven vinyl flooring, but at Stockholm Design Week last month the Swedish brand presented a series of experimental furniture pieces upholstered with Bolon material.
One such piece was a version of a product called Anemos, a coffee table with four retractable seats that Italian designer Antonio Facco originally designed for Cappellini in 2015.
"At the moment we are experimenting with some new materials from Bolon on our furniture," Cappellini explains in the movie, which was filmed at the Italian furniture brand's showroom and factory in Milan.
"We experimented with this new Bolon material on the Anemos table and seats by Antonio Facco."
The original Anemos comprises a wood table and four padded seats with curved wood backs, which slide underneath the table to create a unified, monolithic form.
Cappellini and Facco wanted to create a version of the product with fully upholstered seats and chose to experiment with a new hybrid material developed by Bolon called Villa La Madonna.
Originally designed for a collection of experimental rugs that Bolon unveiled at Stockholm Design Week, the material combines strips of vinyl with other textiles such as wool and polyester.
"We wanted to create a new version of Anemos, softer than the original," explains Facco. "We decided to use the Villa La Madonna material because we really loved the square texture."
Facco says that because the material is much more hard wearing than traditional upholstery fabrics, he was able to retain the unified look of the original product by using the material on the tabletop as well as the seats.
"At the beginning, our idea was to use the material just for the seats, but we learned that it could be very interesting to have it also on the top of the table," he says.
"This new material could give you the possibility to unify walls, floor and furniture in a space."
Cappellini has worked with Bolon for a number of years. He used Bolon flooring in an installation for Stockholm Design Week in 2008, as well as in Cappellini showrooms around the world.
However, this is the first time he has tried to use Bolon's material to upholster a piece of furniture.
So far the Italian furniture company has only produced one prototype version of Anemos upholstered with Bolon's material. But Cappellini says he is serious about continuing to develop furniture with the Swedish brand in future.
"We are at the beginning of this process," he says. "This is an experimental project for Bolon and an experimental project for Cappellini. But from this prototype, maybe in one year, we can arrive to have a real, final product produced with Bolon."
This movie was filmed by Dezeen for Bolon in Milan, Italy. It is the sixth in a 12-part series exploring Bolon's history, design and technology. Music is by Tobias Lindén of Fry Communications.
Watch all the movies at: www.dezeen.com/bolonatheart