Bonaldo chairs: creativity, design and innovation

ArredaClick has been collaborating with Bonaldo for a very long time, during these years we madly fell in love with their products, and for this reason we would like to dedicate an article of one of their most important pieces: Bonaldo chairs.

In 1996 the company won Young & Design Award thanks to Più chair and from that moment on they kept designing and creating new chairs by following three main values: creativity, quality and innovation. With each project, Bonaldo matches its passion to technique, technological and handicraft processes, simplicity and materials experimentation; all these things can be managed also thanks to the collaboration with national and international designers such as Alain Gilles, Karim Rashid and Mauro Lipparini.

My Time chair is an upholstered chair whose materials and colours follow the latest market trends. Customize the chair following your taste and by choosing from a huge selection of leather, eco-leather or fabric colours. Completely removable fabric cover together with modern and trendy lines make My Time a perfect choice for young flats.

Are you looking for a simple practical chair but you still want to have something elegant to show to your friends? Kamar chair is perfect, an upholstered chair with a decorative zip, a slightly curved backrest which follow the line of the body and an opening which makes the design lighter. A mix of elements joined together in harmony.

Bonaldo researches on design and on the use of different materials brought to the creation of Loto and Razor chairs.

Loto chair is the example of how the research on materials and a beautiful aesthetic can be merged together to compose a useful and functional furniture piece.

A single structure in plastic material matched with wooden legs create a chair with a sturdy structure but with a graceful line. 

Razor chair with its crossed sled base well expresses the creative approach of Bonaldo chairs. The seat padding is only apparently in contrast with the metal structure, since the two materials are as a matter of fact in harmony with each other. The modern and original design, the combination of materials as well as the refined shapes are yet another example of Bonaldo values.

Filly chair shows another strong characteristic of this firm: its eclecticism. In order to satisfy the needs of everyone this chair is available in a standard model, with high back, large seat, in an armchair model with armrests and also as a stool, all three versions coming with an elegant and modern design, visible stitching and a great seat comfort.

Bonaldo chairs are so great we could keep on talking about them for hours... however it's time to say goodbye and I would love to do it with one last model By chair. This chair matches classic with modern and

gathers several features in one single piece: care for details, a matching of different materials, a study on the shapes, selection of colours and models, elegance, refined design as well as convenience.

Outdoor Furniture: let's start with chairs

I know, it's still winter and you might think it's a little too early to talk about garden and outdoor furniture but you know what? It's never too early. First of all if we want to renovate our balcony or our garden we should start beforehand, in this way when the warm days arrive we will perfectly ready to enjoy it comfortably seated outside.

What is the key element of your precious outdoor space? But of course the chair!

Outdoor chairs are usually essential, simple, they take just a little space, they are stackable or folding; outdoor and garden chairs can be held inside your house during the winter or when you are not using them. Moreover some garden chairs are so nice that they can also be used indoor, maybe when you have more guests that expected.

I suggest you to start thinking about the appearance you want to give to your outdoor dining and relax space: I'm thinking about bright strong colours, with a very determined character, in a way that they can convey joy and cheerfulness during parties and at the same time warmth and ease during our relaxing moments.

After the aesthetic, another very important element in order to decide which kind of garden chairs and tables buy is the functionality. A chairs and a table are functional when are first of all easy to clean and then water and weather resistant; these characteristics are indispensable for pieces of furniture that will stay outside most of the time.

Then we have comfort: a comfortable seat and a comfortable folding system are two very important features to look for. Backs should be rigid enough, seats soft enough, stacking and folding system easy enough and the presence of armrests should guarantee a comfort a little bit closer to standard armchairs.

As you can see there are many elements you should value before purchasing outdoor furniture: appearance, colours, materials, functionality, comfort. Often is the material that defines how much comfortable a seat is going to be, how your furniture is going to look like and how easy it will be to maintain them.

Last but not least the purpose of your furniture could be another interesting point to take into consideration, there are so many activities you can do outside: parties, brunches, both formal and informal events or you can just chill out with friends.

So, have you already decided how your outdoor space should be? I did! First of all it should be a simple and intimate corner, where I can have a relaxing conversation with my friends or with my loved one, I will choose without a doubt Pigalle outdoor chair in coloured lacquered steel. Characterized by a romantic look these chairs would create a perfect private zone, able to evoke atmospheres you can find in comedies like "The importance of being Earnest". Without mentioning how practical these chairs are: they are very easy to clean and they come in a smart folding model as well or in a more comfortable one with armrests (in this picture Pigalle chairs are matched with Pigalle table, both in a very romantic pink colour).

In order to plan a perfect party on a terrace or on a roof I will choose Air Folding Chair in coloured polypropylene; they are funny, informal, easy to use and to put away; perfect to find a place even for the people who show up unexpected!

For a lunch with friends and relatives I would opt for Break coloured stackable chair in painted zinc plated metal, ideal for their elegant line but at the same time easy and perfect around a wide and comfortable outdoor table.

Easy Chair in coloured polypropylene are perfect to create imaginative and original spaces. They come with armrests but they also are very practical, thanks to a material very easy to clean and the possibility to stack them up to a maximum of 20 units. Moreover their particular design, very catchy and unusual, makes Easy chairs perfect if you want to create a joyful and magic atmosphere.

Dining Room with a gothic and kitsch style

Furnishing a kitsch dining room, with Gothic and Noir tones, is not for everybody. You need a great deal of conviction, character and firmness, because a style like that can be misunderstood. Kitsch style is, infact, only for the people who know how to wear it; as a dress, as an attitude or as a posture. But it can, at the same time, generate intense feelings, sometimes even contrasting, but utterly and terribly strong. Because that's what it does, it plays with opposites and defies vanity.

A kitsch and Gothic style brings the shadows of the past in its shapes, it meets with the modernity of the materials and, in some particular decorations, it comes along with an extreme feminism that excludes the masculine taste and merges with the fascination for dark colours, mystery and an ironic horror. Do you remember the Addams Family?

Well in this kind of style there's a little bit of Morticia, but also a little bit of Audrey Hepburn, thanks to necessary frippery, a strong pictorial elegance and a little bit of sense of humour. Do you want to know what I'm talking about? Do you want to SEE what I'm talking about? Very well, here we go.

A dining room is perfect for this kind of stylistic interpretations, eccentric and out of the ordinary: it's an extremely hybrid zone, often lost between the kitchen, the living room and sitting room, confused inside an open space, hidden in a narrow corner. But with the help of a strong style, as the one we're talking about, it can easily become the protagonist of your house.

So, here it is the main character of a feminine dining room, defined by a quite classical verve, a luxury atmosphere and a touch of "noir". We can compare it to a black widow, eager and vengeful: that's the Cleo sideboard with Swarovski handles and pink ice dream fronts. Just imagine it together with a silver frame and a black chandelier, completing, in this way, the mystery of your dining room.

Another protagonist of a kitsch style dining room are the chairs: with high big backs, that almost give you a sort of reverential awe coming from past ages, or also with a round, oval shape like those frames used in the past to frame old pictures.

Vanilla upholstered chair in steel and leather, with a strong black colour, would be perfect as a throne contrasting the pink colour of the sideboard.

Berta chair from Louis XVI collection in beech solid wood clearly reminds, thanks to the name and material, the period of time stated by its name but not in a strictly way; infact the classic lines are combined with modern decorations and colours, perfectly suitable for a Gothic-kitsch style.

Last but not least, we need a design table, even if in this case it will merely act as a background. For this reason it will be characterized by simple and regular lines, but with one certain detail: it has to be black. Monday Big table with glass top , for example, would be the ideal choice.

Design table and chairs: love at first sight

The word table cannot exist without the word chair: the combination between the two words is as binding as that of the two furniture.

Can you imagine a room with a table but without chairs? And what about chairs without table? Don't they look like wandering entities in the most improbable rooms of your home?

Table and chairs are the two halves of the same essence: divided after the birth, forever joined in love. A love at first sight between table and chair but also between them and us as well. The first glance plays an important role, you know, but the result of this visual match comes from a structural analysis.

A perfect marriage between design tables and chairs originates from different factors; crucial elements are the materials, their visual effect, their solidity, the colours and lastly the shapes. Either contasting or matching, all these factors must fit together and at least two of them must be the same, even if the others strongly contrast.

For example, if they differ for colour and materials, they must share at least a common shape (with a round or oval table, the chairs will slightly curve on the back and on the legs); on the other hand, if shape and materials are different, the colours should homogenize, drawing on furniture accessories or shades, that offer us a great choice of nuances.

But table and chairs can also share the same features: at this point, we are talking about the two halves of the same essence anymore, but about an undivided essence! Let me explain you: if tables and chairs are chacterized by the same style, same materials, same colours, same shape, probably they will be born from the same collection, from the same designer's mind.

Performance table and Irony sled chairs by Calligaris are a perfect example: materials, wood and glossy white lacquer, the colours and shapes (linear but softned by some roundensses), combine perfectly and the harmony is guaranteed.

In spite of their "marriage", Crossroad extensible table by Calligaris and Irony chairs can join with other different furniture, without loosing their glamour: as outstanding example keep in mind Crossroad table with Irony chairs.

On the other hand, if you are looking for contrast, Barone round table by Bontempi with crossed sabre and Shark stackable chairs by Bontempi fit properly: same materials for the chromed structure, same square shape, but contrasting colours thanks to the glass table top and the upholstered chairs.

Lastly, if you prefer a strong contrast, where the unique common element between the two elements is practically imperceptible, Valentinox marble table and Margot hide leather chair by Cattelan are what you need: light and transparent glass, stainless steel and Carrara marble contrast with coloured hide leather. For an absolutely elegant mix!

Transparent plastic chairs: lightness, resistance and beauty

Transparent chairs have always been very attractive. Maybe because we imagine to see, through them, another world that probably doesn't even exist. A world we don't properly see but that we can imagine through the transparency of the chair structure, and that it can make us experience fascinating feelings.

Needless to say, for a transparent chair traditional materials are useless: there's always glass and crystal, yes, but just try to imagine for a moment a house full of glass chairs! Glass is a rather fragile, heavy and, let's face it, dangerous material for an object as a chair, that we always move around and use in the most different contexts. Glass and crystal are fantastic materials for tables tough, as they are static and usually better treated.

For this reason, transparent chairs can by definition be realized only with plastic materials: only these materials, infact, allow chairs to be practical and pleasant to see at the same time.

Despite nowadays we are quite used to plastic materials which, from the second half of the 20th century brought real revolutions in our life, we still treat them with skepticism. We treat plastic as an inferior category, with less quality and not particular resistant. These are obviously all urban myths: the technical progress of the last decades made plastic materials extremely resistant and functional, absolutely suitable for accessories and furnishing objects.

Polycarbonate, technopolymer, methacrylate: difficult names, with very complex compositions and manufacturing processes, but with extremely positive things in common. Strength of material, shock resistance, waterproof, very easy to clean: all these characteristics are exceptional and extremely useful for objects as chairs, that are often moved from indoor to outdoor, that have to support sometimes high weights, that are subject to shocks and potential damages in every moment.

It's also important to say that plastic materials are harder to dispose of, but technical progress is already working on it and probably these materials are going to be ecologic soon (some of them already are).

At any rate, it's not just a question of practicality and technical characteristics: plastic materials really are good-looking. I know a lot of people find aesthetic beauty only in wood, stone or iron (materials with a great and long history and obviously with an everlasting charm) but I can firmly say that plastic can create surprising visual effects that are not only pleasant but also spectacular!

Joining plastic to the lightness of transparency, maybe with touches of elusive yet strong colours, gives life to an incomparable marriage, with a charm that is completely different from wood or iron.

For example L'Eau transparent chair by Calligaris is an aesthetic and emotional masterpiece: a vision able to evoke almost physical sensations, L'Eau concretely communicate the meaning of its name.

Alchemia stackable chair by Calligaris in polycarbonate or nylon shows once more plastic materials versatility in realizing different and engaging shapes.

La Marie transparent chair by Kartell in polycarbonate exalts the beauty of coloured plastic together with its formal simplicity, making this chair the protagonist of a minimal dining room.

Aria chair in transparent polycarbonate by Bontempi greatly represents how plastic can evoke natural elements, with their movement but also with their static nature, with their fluidity and lightness.