A visionary entrepreneur and an ambassador of "Made in Italy," B&B Italia founder Piero Ambrogio Busnelli died January 25, 2014, at age 87.
The funeral will be celebrated at 2:00 p.m. today, Tuesday, January 28, at the Church of Santa Maria Nascente, P.zza Chiesa Nuova, 9 in Busnelli's hometown of Meda (MB), Italy.
Busnelli created his first company C&B (Cassina & Busnelli) with Cesare Cassina in 1966, where he introduced new technologies such as cold polyurethane foam molding to the furniture sector. Partnerships with renowned designers including Afra and Tobia Scarpa, Mario Bellini, Gaetano Pesce, Ludovico Magistretti and Marco Zanuso brought the company to international recognition.
In 1973, the company converted to B&B Italia, where Busnelli introduced a new generation of designers—Antonio Citterio, Patricia Urquiola, Paolo Piva, Naoto Fukasawa, and Jeffrey Bernett—and iconic products such as Sisamo, Sity, Domus and Charles. He expanded the company's offerings beyond residential furnishings to include offices, contract furnishings and cruise liners.
The Compasso d'Oro Awards acknowledged Le Bambole in 1972, Sisamo in 1984, Sity in 1987, and in 1989, gave the first award to a company ... "for the constant work of integration carried out in order to combine the values of scientific and technological research with those necessary to the functionality and expressiveness of its products."
Today the company is managed by the second generation of the family.
