In the city of “doing”, Portanuova hosts an example of “knowing how to do”, and “to do well”. Starting on Wednesday 25 May and until the start of the great International Furniture Show of Milan, Portanuova will welcome – in Piazza Alvar Aalto – the temporary showroom of Colleoni Roberto & C., a historic and family-run interior design and high-end furniture brand.
The history of the Colleoni family – now on its fourth generation of protagonists – is a great Italian story that could perfectly be adapted into a thrilling TV series. The curtain opened in the early 1900's after a caring Colleoni mother bequeathed a chest and chair to the future founder of the maison, back then an apprentice upholsterer and mattress maker for the great furniture manufacturers of the time in the Brianza (Milan) area. After years of imprisonment during the second world war, he reclaimed his passion and job, while conveying the knowledge of his youth to his 4 sons, launching a family business in a makeshift workshop in a cellar. It was 1954, and Colleoni Roberto &. C. Tappezzieri was born.
The company grew and strived with the economic boom of the 1960s, winning over elite customers among businessmen, builders, and publishers. Such important names paved the way for an expansion of the family firm through new hires and participation in trade shows and contests/exhibitions that gave Colleoni prestigious awards in the curtain, living room, armchair, and interior design fields. The marvellous 1980s propelled and affirmed the brand even abroad. Clients chose it to set up mansions and headquarters of prominent companies, inaugurating a dynamic period that would bring the Colleoni family more and more often away from its beloved Bergamo area to Monte Carlo, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, the United States, South Africa, and South America. The name ran wild, even without any advertisement.
“Clothes” made-to-measure to every demand or setting, up to 80%-handmade by tailors, upholsterers, and carpenters in the 3,000 m2 (just under 33,000 ft2) of the corporate premises. Lest we forget, there is the meticulous scouting activity to find partner accessories such as the lamps and tables by Filippo Feroldi @ Purho and Colleoni Arte, which are harmonically integrated to give life to the desired atmosphere. Just like the state-of-the-art setting created at Portanuova under the personal supervision of Roberto, Tullia, Giacomo, and Gianandrea Colleoni to pay tribute to the history of a self-made Italian family that, after 70 years of “doing, and doing well”, does not forget the humble cellar where it all started. Better still, it proudly preserves its memory, making good use of it every day to create exclusive concepts even for the most beautiful boats and homes in the world.
Colleoni Roberto & C, since 1954. Only the showroom is temporary. The style lasts forever.
Spazio Colleoni Roberto & C.
Open Monday to Friday, 2 p.m.-7 p.m., and Saturday, 10:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
Opening: Wednesday 25 May at 6 p.m. (through 9 p.m.)
www.colleoniroberto.it
