Family furniture BILLIANI
Italian tradition for your home
BILLIANI is one of the leaders among the Italian manufacturers known by the name "triangolo della sedia", characterised by its thorough material workmanship and experience in the production of chairs. Since its foundation in 1911, the company has been characterized by combining innovative designers with conservative elements, with an emphasis on the care for product quality. The company's reputation is already built by the third generation of the BILLIANI family, which currently offers a wide range of chairs, tables and furniture accessories made of different materials with the possibility of customisation (table dimensions, wood finishes, upholstery in the customer's fabric). The flexibility of the production is linked to its reliability confirmed by CATAS certificates.
History and culture of the BILLIANI chair
Billiani has been making chairs in Italy for over 100 years! The brand began in 1911 when the cabinetmaker Luigi and his wife Delina, who was the daughter of a chair maker from Mariano, opened a small factory together in Manzano. Although Manzano and Mariano were only ten kilometres apart, they were separated by the Austro-Hungarian border. This characterised and still characterises Billiani: a border crossing that became its key to design, for the company stood not only on the border between the Italian Kingdom and Austria-Hungary, but also on the border between tradition and experimentation. In the extremely long time it has been on the market, it has been able to produce high quality products on a small and industrial scale for contract and residential environments.
The company was founded in 1911 to manufacture wicker and wooden chairs. The small family-owned factory is located in the heart of what was to become the Presidential Quarter after World War II. Luigi's children - brothers Ottone, Orlando, Lino and Bruno - became the second generation of the company and helped it to establish itself in the market. In 1986, the third generation joined the company and Billiani became a brand of quality chairs that were particularly popular with clients from abroad. At the end of the 1990s, Luigi Billiani, a trained architect who shares the same name as his grandfather, decided to go down the design route and, together with his wife Veronik Romanutti , created the Billiani of today.
Designers at BILLIANI
The talent for creating quality design and the ability to work wood have always been a hallmark of Billiani products, but it was only in 1997 that its design began to be defined in concrete terms. It made its debut at the Milan Furniture Fair in 2002, where the Billiani brand shone with a provocative stand. While the connection with tradition was ensured by the projects of the master Werther Toffoloni, the partnership with Emilio Nanni opened a new era: colourful, trendy and carefree. As time went on, collaborations with designers grew and the brand worked with names such as Francesco Faccin, Harri Koskinen and Michael Geldmacher... this was matched by spectacular projects, some of which were exhibited in museums from MoMA in New York to the Milan Triennale. In 2019, the artistic direction has been entrusted to Cristina Celestino, who, compared to her predecessors, relies on warmer colours and new types of fabrics. But at the centre of it all remains the most traditional: chairs and wood.
Billiani produces all its products within the so-called chair triangle, an area of small specialist workshops, each with a deeply rooted woodworking culture. This unit is made up of companies with a centuries-old history of craftsmanship, each specialising in a particular phase of work. The company's activities are thus constantly intertwined with the local manufacturing sector. This form of production provides a guarantee of quality. The company also invests heavily in the overall supply chain, as each innovation enriches the know-how of the entire district. In this way, the Billiani's Made in Italy brand has acquired a value that goes beyond the product itself. The final product is not just a quality chair, it is an object of shared cultural and manufacturing heritage and a family business.
