Maxalto at 50: Amid the Noise, Only the Timeless Endures
Against the inevitability of material decay, how do we measure the length of time? Fireworks illuminate the night in a fleeting instant, yet when set against the vastness of the stars, even the longest night feels brief. Time cannot be chased. Within the limits of human life, how we make choices, what we choose to preserve, and the values we deem enduring remain an inescapable philosophical question.
Looking back to the 1970s—an era marked by material excess—B&B Italia founder Piero Ambrogio Busnelli stood amid a wave of plastic experimentation and a broader liberation of form. Rather than uncritically embracing change, he also turned to a deeper reflection on the value of traditional craftsmanship. With the ambition to safeguard, advance, and extend the legacy of artisanal making, Maxalto was born as a response to the surrounding clamor—emerging as a quietly resolute anomaly within a rapidly shifting design landscape.
The Busnelli family has long held that tradition continues to hold relevance for the future. This conviction led to a seminal collaboration with Afra and Tobia Scarpa. Through the hands of master artisans—marked by time, labor, and experience—the warmth of handcraft is carried forward. In the tactile encounter with burl wood, one senses the traces of a tree’s self-healing process, a quiet record embedded within the material itself. Such sensitivity—this refusal to treat material lightly—shapes the enduring character of each piece. From the meticulous precision of saddle-stitched leather seams, to the generous softness of French-style down cushions, and the subtly lustrous textures of lacquer finishes with an Oriental sensibility, each detail reflects a lineage of craftsmanship. These works transcend their functional role as furnishings, becoming vessels of memory and expressions of distinct identity.
Following the Scarpas’ foundational contribution of artisanal depth, from 1993 onward Antonio Citterio gradually came to define and reshape the brand’s design language. A leading figure in Italian architecture and industrial design, Citterio introduced a composed, introspective sensibility—one that draws from early 20th-century bourgeois interiors while speaking to an inner, cultivated calm. Under his direction, design returns to its fundamentals: form, structure, and material. Each piece articulates its intrinsic function, paying homage to a measured and enduring ritual of living. Over more than three decades of sustained focus, Maxalto has remained committed to the refinement of materials and craftsmanship, using design as a means to construct a coherent spatial vision. In time, this singular and disciplined path has given rise to a quietly distilled aesthetic—one in which each work expresses its own logic of craft and function, echoing the pure, self-explanatory essence long championed by Gio Ponti.
Since 2021, Maxalto has gradually deepened its cross-disciplinary collaborations with artists, translating creative expression into forms that can inhabit the domestic realm. To mark its 50th anniversary, the brand partnered with Dutch artist Patrick Van Riemsdijk, who renders calligraphic gestures across the iconic Lilum chaise longue. His work seeks to capture a moment of distilled stillness—an almost meditative state—through restrained yet expressive marks. These gestures are translated onto a specially developed fine linen upholstery, allowing the creative process to unfold as if painting directly onto the furniture. As the artist notes, “Art and life are inherently connected—balance exists both in contrast and in resonance.” By approaching the Lilum chaise longue as a sculptural object rather than a flat canvas, the work simultaneously reveals a structural aesthetic defined by tension and balance.
➤ Lilum 50 Maxalto 50th Anniversary
➤ Lilum 50 Maxalto 50th Anniversary
Similarly, a special edition of the Pathos dining table—also designed by Antonio Citterio—presents a renewed material expression. Its Italian walnut top retains deliberately unrefined edges, preserving the raw weight and primal character of the material, and is paired with a precisely laser-cut bronze structure. In the interplay of light and shadow, a quiet sense of luxury emerges, awaiting validation through time. Both 50th anniversary editions are produced in a limited series of 50 pieces worldwide, each accompanied by Antonio Citterio’s signature and a numbered certificate of authenticity. Their singular identity recalls the stars that define our coordinates—unmoved by the turning world, yet enduring in their brilliance. They stand as enduring markers of value, worthy of preservation and reverence across time.
