Black, white & MDF Italia: Molto bene!

With very few exceptions, these two colors may very well describe the palette of MDF Italia. The entire archives of the company founded in 1992 in Milan exhibit a modern, spare aesthetic.

The name of the shelving system may be called “Random” yet it is anything but random. Three units standing side by side in the new showroom of MDF Italia at Bonifacio High Street in Taguig, covering the entire expanse of one wall. 

Designed by the German designers Neuland Industriedesign in 2005, it is a bookcase with compartments of different widths, positioned at different heights for the homeowner to arrange not just books, but also objects in between to create a visual montage.

Unlike other shelving systems from other companies, Random cannot be customized. The buyer cannot dictate the sizes or heights of the shelves; they cannot be adjusted either.

It is as if MDF Italia is saying: this is already perfectly designed, perfect in its randomness — no need to mess with it.

Umberto Cassina, MDF Italia vice president, describes the shelving as an “innovation on the concept of traditional bookcases. It is a ‘sculpture’ bookcase.”

True, it does look like one — very pristine in white, very dramatic in black. In fact, with very few exceptions, those two colors may very well describe the palette of MDF Italia. The entire archives of the company founded in 1992 in Milan, and which is now in more than 50 countries, exhibit that modern, spare aesthetic.

One more surprising thing about Random and other MDF designs, whether it’s the chairs or tables, sofas or beds — is both the strength and “thinness” of the material. With shelves, you would think wood would be thicker to be able to hold the weight of books but the technology and design behind it make its thinness a non-issue. The shelves are locked into each other, not just held and supported by pegs.

One of the dining tables, Tense by P.&M. Cazzaniga, displays the same thinness in an almost gravity-defying length. The table can go up to four meters with just four legs and no supporting brackets. It looks clean and sculptural with its horizontal and vertical lines.

The corporate and design philosophy of MDF Italia is, after all, “simplicity at the basis of every project — thus contributing to the development of new ideas and products recognized as new icons of the collection.” 

This philosophy continues even after the acquisition of MDF Italia in 2007 by two families that have been historically active in Italy’s high-end furnishing-design sector: Cassina and Fratus. 

“Research and manufacturing quality are the strengths at the basis of both MDF Italia and the entrepreneurial success of its collection. MDF Italia has based its own success on the capability of representing contemporary culture, on sensing and anticipating trends, thus adapting to the transformations of taste and modern living requirements.”

International architects and designers have also been collaborating with MDF Italia, such as French designer Jean-Marie Massaud and the German duo Jehs+Laub.  Also, the Belgian designer Xavier Lust with his folded aluminum foils to form a bench, a coffee table and a graceful table “La Grande Table,”which got a special mention at Compasso D’Oro Award, and the German duo Neuland Industriedesign. 

The company has also collaborated with  Piergiorgio and Michele Cazzaniga, James Irvine, Francesco Bettoni, Massimo Mariani with Aedas R&D, Bruno Fattorini & Partners and Victor Vasilev.

 â€œSimplicity is the starting point for each product from the collection and for the company identity. It is above all a cultural approach, a way of sensing change and of seeing how even complex problems have simple solutions. Giving value to objects is an unusual skill, since it works by subtraction and not by addition. In projects focusing on the signs of change, a reduction work adds value to the object: its identity is stronger as well as its meaning. Removing the superfluous in order to emphasize what is really important, and leaving the ‘minimum.’” 

And yet the company doesn’t like to be known as “minimalist.”

“Every product of the MDF Italia collection is the result of constant research. The company philosophy invades every aspect of the production cycle, from the choice of the materials used and the technological and technical solutions and processes adopted, to the standards of quality declared — which are pursued to the last detail.”

It is perhaps this attention to detail and the cleanliness of its designs that inspired Ben Chan to bring the brand to the Philippines. His office at the Bench Tower in BGC is furnished with MDF Italia pieces.

You can easily imagine the Bench big boss holding a meeting in a conference room with his very creative people seated in Flow chairs, around the four-meter-long Tense table. Or visitors in Bend chairs consulting with his empire’s managers in their offices, behind Ceramic and Robin tables.

Frederik Billiau, MDF Italia general sales director, says that Ben “chose” them out of thousands of furniture/home manufacturers based in Italy. In less than two years of Chan seeing their exhibit in Milan, everything happened in hyper speed —  negotiations, planning, and final talks in a hotel near Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport — the Filipinos having come from Paris, the Italians from Cologne and Milan — and building the showroom in Manila with Italian designers.

And so the MDF Italia was launched last week at BGC.

To which we raise our glasses of prosecco and say: Benvenuti in Manila!

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MDF Italia is located at Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City.