Bespoke Doors and Furniture president Andrew Ng was looking for a brand to bring to Manila when he first saw the products of Rimadesio at Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan in 2013, the biggest furniture trade fair in the world.
“I’m not an interior designer but furniture and home are my greatest interest and love,” Ng says. “I found that there’s a niche market for this category and there’s no competition for Rimadesio in Manila. I visited more than 10 companies in Italy and nothing comes close to Rimadesio.”
Rimadesio is a pioneer in systems for sub-dividing environments and for the architectural definition of internal spaces — swing doors, sliding panels, bookcases, shelving units, walk-in wardrobes and a collection of complementary furniture.
It recently opened its showroom at the ground floor of MDI Corporate Center in Bonifacio Global City with CEO Davide Malberti in attendance. Malberti’s father was a co-founder of the company in 1956, during post-war Italy when many of today’s high-end furniture companies were founded and they are now run by these families’ second generation.
Rimadesio started by producing glass and when the company was handed over to Malberti — he was only 26 years old at the time — he said, ‘We do glass, why don’t we match it with aluminum?’”
Rimadesio pioneered residential glass and aluminum doors, the pairing of which was previously used only for windows, doors in commercial spaces and façades.
“I remember that when our designer, Giuseppe Bavuso, designed Rimadesio’s first sliding door made of glass and aluminum and we presented it at Salone del Mobile in 1992, the market was shocked. This was done only for windows. My dealers told me, ‘You will never sell this product, it’s impossible.’”
But it was possible — well, it took about three years to get accepted — because Rimadesio was making products that were technically innovative and beautiful.
“A lot of companies tried to copy us but they couldn’t,” Malberti says. “Giuseppe Bavuso is an interesting designer because he is both an architect and an engineer. Coherence is one of the key words of our philosophy and Bavuso, who designs the whole Rimadesio collection, makes these systems co-exist together.”
“At the time, the only color of aluminum was silver, now you see white, brown and other warm colors,” says Rimadesio Asia Pacific regional manager Giuseppe Gaviraghi. “Both aluminum and glass are unchanging materials — you can put aluminum in the sea and it doesn’t rust whereas wood and leather change with time and weather.”
Today, aluminum and glass are icon materials for Rimadesio. The company interprets the glass in 80 different finishes through its signature eColor system. Aluminum, a metal alloy of exceptional versatility, and through the technology of extrusion and die-casting, can take new shapes and make possible the technical and functional innovations that define all the proposals of the collection.
Under Malberti, Rimadesio has quickly expanded and gone global with showrooms in 65 countries. He says it was an easy decision to open in Manila. “I liked Andrew immediately and it’s important for our company to share the values and to know our partners. It’s crucial to find the partner that shares our philosophy, vision and qualities of technical innovation, original aesthetics, and advanced functionality.”
All customizable, Rimadesio products are made in Italy and it continues the country’s tradition of creating beautiful designs.
“We have high technology plants, powered by solar energy, planned to meet the necessity of our production in order to be able to realize custom-made products. The design of the product, the whole production — from the cut of the aluminum and the glass, the coloring process to the assembly — is done by us.
“The ‘Made in Italy’ is a guarantee of high quality, innovation and elegance in the world. Bringing our products abroad was a natural step of our evolution. Plus, the internationalization is the only way to expand. Why only now? Because to go global and to reach the whole world requires to be ready for this with a solid network, services and reaction to the market.
Rimadesio’ s aim is to continue to develop its own design culture and production technology in order to be able to offer functionally innovative ideas which are exclusive from an aesthetic point of view and can ensure maximum reliability over time. ”
The Rimadesio collection explores the living area in all its diverse forms, from modular systems to furnishing accessories. The exclusive aesthetic qualities of glass and the exceptional versatility of its composition possibilities offer new possibilities for designing living areas. From the architectural concept to the stylistic definition of environments: a comprehensive vision that offers the possibility of creating complete and aesthetically consistent furniture designs.
If not their furniture pieces, Malberti says, “We like to match Rimadesio with some iconic design brands such as Knoll, Carl Hansen and Vitra, which we think are perfect with us. Bulthaup and Boffi as prestigious kitchen brands, for their high quality and the design. Minotti, B&B Italia, Flexform thinking of the upholstery. The home is anyway made by million other things so the list would be never ending.”
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The Rimadesio showroom, is located on the ground floor of the MDI Corporate Center at the corner of 39th St. and 10th Avenue in Bonifacio Global City. For more information, visit http://www.rimadesio.com.