Space invaders: Poliform Contract

Italian design has been a byword for quality and style since the middle of the 20th century, but in today’s increasingly globalised industry it has stiff competition. Storied Italian brand Poliform sees this as a challenge rather than a problem, inspiring the founding of a new division for the 21st century – Poliform Contract.

The idea behind Poliform Contract is to offer a complete service for large-scale projects around the world, combining existing Poliform products by famous designers with bespoke designs that respond to the vision of the architects and clients it works with internationally.

The division builds on the company’s reputation for innovation. Poliform began as a small family business in 1942 and was relaunched as a brand in 1970 with the aim of exploiting the full potential of serial production and modular design enabled by the latest technology. It quickly developed a reputation for creating elegant, modern furniture. Since then, it has constantly changed its offering in response to new technologies and aesthetic tastes as well as burgeoning markets, and has introduced products by renowned names like Marcel Wanders and Rodolfo Dordoni.

Poliform is still based in Brianza where the brand began – a region in northern Italy widely recognised for its rich history of furniture-making and skilled craftspeople. It is also still run by descendants of the families that founded the company, but it now employs more than 700 staff internationally and serves 85 countries, making it one of the world’s biggest brands.

“The Poliform brand is a very important business card for us,” explains Giovanni Anzani, CEO of Poliform. “The Poliform name is known everywhere, and the most important architects and designers come to us because they are looking for quality as well as organisational capacity.”

With a team that includes specialists in every role – from product designers to project managers – Poliform Contract promises everything that the Poliform brand is known for, merging elegance and practicality with responsiveness and creativity. A recent example of this approach can be found in the historic five-star hotel Lutetia on the Rive Gauche in Paris. Originally built in 1910 to a design by architects Louis-Hippolyte Boileau and Henri Tauzin, it is a landmark building within the city.

The hotel was first commissioned by the owners of department store Bon Marché to provide suitably opulent accommodation for its big spenders, but hadn’t been restored in over 100 years. The building was acquired by luxury hotel company Alrov, the organisation behind the recent relaunch of the Cafe Royal in London.

Alrov commissioned Wilmotte & Associés, the firm created by leading French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, to lead the project. Poliform Contract was tasked with providing furniture and millwork for all of the hotel’s 17 public areas including the lobby, meeting rooms, restaurants, cigar room and orangery.

“Lutetia Hotel Paris is a very special project – the building is full of history,” says Anzani. “All of the products we provided were custom drawn by Wilmotte and realised ad-hoc by Poliform Contract.”

Among the unique creations are a curved, metal bar with lines that are suggestive of an art-deco cruise ship, a quietly luxurious wood-panelled smoking room, and a spectacular tiled floor and matching mosaic ceiling in the lobby.

The project was completed in 2018. This year the hotel was named the best in Europe by the Prix Versailles, one of the world’s most significant architecture prizes, recognising the design’s successful combination of culture and commerce. “We are understandably very proud to be part of the fantastic refurbishment,” says Anzani. “It’s perfectly realised.”

© Architonic