BONACINA: The Beauty of Rattan

For more than 135 years, Bonacina has made rattan furniture famous and desirable through its presence in the most sophisticated residences worldwide. This book chronicles the firm’s long history of collaborating with renowned furniture designers and decorators of note.

Emblematic of Italian excellence since its founding in 1889, Bonacina is a family-owned design brand that has defined a unique and timeless style, embodying an artistic sensibility, attention to detail, and the superior workmanship of rattan—a natural raw material that grows in the Far East. The story begins in remote lands where the natural material grows before traveling to Italy and then, in the hands of some of the best interior designers, to stylish residences, gardens, hotels, and restaurants around the world.

Collaborations have always been a part of the company’s focus, keeping an age-old material current. Design masters of their times—including Gae Aulenti, Mattia Bonetti, Federico Forquet, Piero Lissoni, Renzo Mongiardino, and Gio Ponti—have worked with Bonacina in creating both traditional and forward-thinking models. The history of the company unfolds in this book with archival images, newly commissioned photographs of superb interiors, and commentaries from people who live with Bonacina furnishings and who use them in their interior-design practices."Marella Caracchiolo Chia has dispatched gorgeous Italian interiors for us time and time again. Her long-term commitment to documenting this aesthetic has made her an expert in Bonacina, a family-owned Italian design company committed to rattan since 1889. This title—which contains contributions from Guido Taroni, Aerin Lauder, Martina Mondadori, Francis Sultana, and other A-listers—is a celebration and careful study of the material via Bonacina, from its harvest in Asia to its continuously evolving craft for worldwide luxury residences and hospitality projects. Over the years, Bonacina has collaborated with design legends like Gae Aulenti and Gio Ponti to push rattan’s boundaries, which Chia catalogues like a true design historian." — Architectural DigestMarella Caracciolo Chia is a design journalist for the World of Interiors, Architectural Digest, and T: The New York Times Style Magazine, among other publications. Madison Cox is an American garden designer, director of the Saint Laurent museums in Paris and Marrakech, and president of the Pierre Bergé–Yves Saint Laurent Foundation. Guido Taroni is a Milan-based photographer of still life, fashion, and interiors.