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Italian furniture brand Zanotta has been responsible for multiple icons, a legacy it’s likely to continue with the release of its 2024 collection, available in Australia at Cult.
It’s been 70 years since Zanotta, a then-small Italian furniture company, was founded by Aurelio Zanotta, a visionary who looked beyond the ordinary to imagine an approach to furniture design that was centred around artistic expression. In the decades since, Zanotta has built a legacy based on excellence and innovation, influencing furniture design around the world.
Along the way, the company has collaborated with many of the 20th and 21st century’s most revered design minds, from industrial design pioneers Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni to legendary modernist Marco Zanuso and leading Turin-born realist Gabriele Mucchi. Hand in hand with aesthetic possibilities, technological advances have long been the lodestar of its work: Zanotta introduced the world to removable covers for upholstered furniture and welded together crystal and steel to form the timeless Marcuso table.
In its 71st year, Zanotta continues to lead the way in singular Italian design and craftsmanship, as exemplified by its 2024 collection, launched at Salone del Mobile last year. A highlight is the eye-catching Za:Za Max, a modular sofa made in partnership with Venetian design duo Zaven. It’s a plush evolution of the 2022 Za:Za model, doubling down on sustainability with recycled and recyclable materials.
Zanotta’s signature innovation shines in the Ta.Ba.Ce. collection, which harnesses ceramics for a range of tables inspired by the patina of the unglazed bases of ceramic vases.
Sustainability is also a key element of the landmark Gomma armchair, with its foam rubber frame and removable fabric upholstery. Zanotta’s decades of innovation take centrestage in the re-release of this classic collaboration with Jonathan De Pas, Donato D’Urbino and Paolo Lomazzi, which first made waves for its radical design in 1970.
The Giuno armchair, a striking sculptural piece buttressed by a sustainable seat cushion stuffed with regenerated polyester spheres, also boasts removable upholstery. And Zanotta’s signature innovation shines in the cutting-edge Ta.Ba.Ce. collection, which harnesses ceramics for a range of tables inspired by the patina of the unglazed bases of ceramic vases.
Another collection of note is Z24, a partnership with Belgian studio Muller Van Severen that comprises a series of versatile designs: a sideboard that complements the kitchen or dining area, and versatile low storage units that can be used in different spaces. Meanwhile, two distinctive new tables have expanded Zanotta’s already extensive range: the Tidone riffs on the traditional four-legged dining table, with moveable cone-shaped legs, while the Zavolo line of coffee tables and consoles has been inspired by the precise lines and shapes of aviation design.
As Zanotta looks to the future, it continues to pay tribute to its past. With the help of designers and their heirs, it has re-edited watershed designs from its back catalogue, including Alessandro Mendini’s two-tone polyurethane Cuculia bowl from 1985 and his artful Dealbata vases. Also re-released are Ugo La Pietra’s 1982 bevelled crystal Sosia mirror, decorated with a digital print and available with the option of integrating an LED light source at the back, and Piero Bottoni’s Ara Fenice centrepiece from 1936, re-created using modern materials such as cement resin and Polimex. All these past and future icons are available to view at Cult’s showrooms.
