After a twenty-five-year absence, B&B Italia returns to Salone del Mobile 2026, marking an important step back into the heart of the international design industry. Framed as a strategic statement, the presentation features nine collections in total. At a time when many brands are projecting visions of the future through new concepts and innovations, B&B Italia’s return feels more like a reconsideration of its own design lineage. By placing new products alongside re-editions and contemporary reinterpretations of iconic works, the brand allows the objects themselves to become vehicles of discourse, articulating its position within the contemporary design landscape.
➤ Abaco. Design by Ronan Bouroullec
Designed by Formafantasma, the exhibition space seeks to foreground the intrinsic qualities of each piece—its form, materiality, and design logic. Rather than recreating a familiar domestic setting, the installation strips away decorative narratives in favour of a restrained architectural language that echoes the brand’s enduring commitment to craftsmanship. The space is reduced to light and geometric framing devices, creating a layered sense of depth between architectural planes. A coffered ceiling filters natural light from above, producing a calm and diffused atmosphere, while marble, timber, and natural fibres establish a measured visual rhythm, allowing the furniture itself to remain the primary focus. As visitors move through the exhibition, they enter an environment shaped by a distinctly curatorial sensibility. Among the highlights is Abaco, the seating and table collection designed by Ronan Bouroullec, which draws inspiration from the architecture of B&B Italia’s headquarters in Novedrate. Through the precise assembly of wood, glass, and concrete, the collection translates architectural principles into furniture, revealing a clear and rigorous structural language.
➤ Field & Field Outdoor coffee table
The new Untitled / Untitled Outdoor seating system, Field / Field Outdoor low tables, and Moor chaise longue by Vincent van Duysen explore the relationship between structure and comfort. Untitled is built around a solid wood frame softened by chamfered edges, while its modular configuration—true to its name—embraces openness and adaptability across a variety of spatial contexts. Field extends the language of the seating system through subtly curved silhouettes and chamfered details that modulate the way light interacts with the surfaces. Moor, meanwhile, combines a circular woven rattan frame with a continuous structural line that gently embraces the body, seeking a balance between material, construction, and physical experience.
➤ Untitled Outdoor
➤ Untitled Outdoor
➤ Moor
➤ Moor
Metric, designed by Michael Anastassiades, is an exploration of lightness. Composed of slender intersecting sections of solid oak, the chair reduces visual weight while allowing light to pass through its structure, with cross-bracing elements providing the necessary structural strength. Designed by Antonio Citterio, the Alvar armchair reinterprets the memory of wood through advanced manufacturing techniques. Drawing from Nordic traditions, it investigates the notion of continuity in woodworking, transforming a respect for craftsmanship into a durable contemporary object.
➤ Metric. Design by Michael Anastassiades
➤ Alvar. Design by Antonio Citterio
Jasper Morrison, who famously developed the concept of “Super Normal” alongside Naoto Fukasawa, presents Super Frame, a collection of outdoor sofas, armchairs, and low tables. Combining lightweight aluminium with natural rattan, the series is distinguished by its wide curved armrest and continuous structural line, creating an atmosphere of comfort, elegance, and relaxation.
➤ Super Frame
➤ Nena
➤ Nena
Alongside the new introductions, several iconic pieces return to the spotlight. Originally designed by Richard Sapper in 1984, the Nena folding chair is reissued with a tubular aluminium frame and die-cast aluminium joints, enhancing structural performance while preserving the mobility and flexibility that made it a landmark design of its time. The Catilina armchair, originally conceived by Luigi Caccia Dominioni in 1958, also returns in a polished chrome finish. For the occasion, it is paired with a limited-edition textile cushion developed in collaboration with Haus Nuller, whose primary colour palette of red, yellow, and blue pays tribute to Dominioni’s design methodology. Through this gesture of reduction and renewed attention to enduring values, B&B Italia’s return appears to embody the spirit of “Be the Project.” Rather than relying on grand narratives or elaborate emotional messaging, the exhibition focuses on what is essential. In doing so, it suggests that the details capable of withstanding the test of time may themselves offer the most compelling answer to the question of what design truly is.
