Boffi Turns 80, Debuts New Designs in Milan
“It’s all in the details,” says Boffi Georgetown's manager, Julia Walter. Fresh from Milan and the 2014 Euro Cucina, the International Kitchen Furniture Exhibition, this year’s celebration also marks Boffi’s 80th birthday.
For a company that literally invented the modern kitchen, to have its founder, Paolo Boffi at the weeklong celebration, was extroardinary.
From its inception, Boffi has focused on creativity, production and entrepreneurship, finding the best modernist designers and world-class art directors including Luigi Massoni, Antonio Citterio and Piero Lissoni.
This year, Lissoni debuted the first indoor/outdoor kitchen, aptly named ‘Open Kitchen.’ “A monobloc stainless steel kitchen, specifically engineered for outdoor use. Open is not a kitchen, it’s much more. It's a machine, for preparing dinner, having a drink, listening to music, chatting with friends, cooking a meal or enjoying a good dish."
These days, in addition to innovative kitchen and bathroom design, the company designs wardrobe systems, and, for the first time, a ‘fitness center.’ The idea of ‘Origine’ is to “combine the functionality and ‘charm of Swedish wall bars with the added asset of a full length mirror.” It’s also the perfect solution for a completely integrated modern bathroom and workout area.
“Always pioneers,” Julia explains, “Boffi is keen on improving current models, with an eye to eco-sustainablity, being super innovative, and constantly introducing new finishes.
Patricia Urquiola’s ‘Salinas’ kitchen is a great example. This totally original design has a gutter-shaped element providing useful storage space and all the connectivity needed to operate appliances, making the design sutiable for placing anywhere in a room. The modular elements are available in different finishes, including Urquiola’s exclusive Nerosicilia countertop with glazed lava.
What’s new in the bathroom? ‘DueC,’ a sink available as a single or as a double ‘C’ with an open storage unit between. ‘Eclipse’ is an elegantly designed tap system with “opening and water adjustment control swivels out of the vertical axis of the base.” Never need to worry that that the water drips again.
All 2014 Boffi designs will be arriving in Georgetown soon. In the meantime, check out the current designs, MaxAlto furnishings and Robert Shields' photographs.
Boffi is located at 3320 M Street. Tel: 202.337.7700
