Baxter and the alchemist’s lab
Italian brand Baxter is the combination of experience and passion, business know-how and a desire not to follow the rules. Working closely with designers from Piero Lissoni to Paola Navone and Studiopepe, Baxter bridges the tradition and innovation of Italian leather production to make the material the hero of every collection.
Evoking the spirit and feeling of the 'Made in Italy' philosophy, Baxter’s founders Luigi Bestetti and his nephew Paolo Bestetti, describe their work as ‘the story of encounters, ideas, but above all of people’. Drawing on the traditions of Italian leather making but transforming the craft through research and experimentation, Baxter brings the best out of the materials and the designers they collaborate with.
The first sofa was made from a unique leather considered too thick to use for furniture by the tanneries. It was this challenge that created the prototype for the first design called Alfred, a Chester-style sofa where the feel and comfort of thick leather is its defining feature. That discovery inside a tiny tannery in regional Italy would become the alchemy for every collection to follow.
‘So the tannery turns into an alchemist’s lab’, remarks Luigi Bestetti. ‘You try, you experiment, sometimes you are wrong, but then you start again. From that moment we would study the full potential of materials which have become the core of Baxter’s research.’
The So Good armchair designed by Studiopepe for Baxter. Photos c/o Baxter.
Milan-based Studiopepe's Chiara Di Pinto and Arianna Lelli Mami. Photo c/o Baxter.
Lazybones armchair by Studiopepe for Baxter. Photo c/o Baxter.
The Lagos table with a glossy Patagonia Granite top and varnished metal legs designed by the Baxter team. Photos c/o Baxter.
‘We can say that the ideas to develop new collections are born from a synthesis between the research that Baxter continuously does on treatments, colours and touches of these leathers on the one hand, and our desires to experiment with new forms and different directions on the other hand.’
Paola Navone, designer
‘So the tannery turns into an alchemist’s lab. You try, you experiment, sometimes you are wrong, but then you start again. From that moment we would study the full potential of materials which have become the core of Baxter’s research.’
Luigi Bestetti, cofounder, Baxter
Nepal chair designed by Paola Navone for Baxter. Photo c/o Baxter.
Tactile sofa designed by Vincenzo De Cotiis for Baxter. Photo c/o Baxter.
Himani rug by the Baxter design team. Photo c/o Baxter.
Jove side tables designed by Draga & Aurel for Baxter. Photo c/o Baxter.
Aegates table collection by the Baxter design team. Photo c/o Baxter.
Greta Special Edition lounge chair designed by Draga & Aurel. Photo c/o Baxter.
Experimentation at Baxter focuses on leather and the talents of tanners, designers and makers. With over 100 collaborators whose skills shape the nuances of each sofa, chair, bed, table and storage unit, members of the extensive Baxter team are described as ‘a large and not so ordinary family’. That family includes the celebrated designer Paola Navone whose intuitive and unconventional working method is perfectly matched with the Baxter brand.
It is Navone’s ability to open up new paths with leather, to make it come alive, and her design know-how that has shaped their collaboration. ‘When I met Baxter many years ago, more than 10 years I think, I didn’t like the items they carried out, but I immediately fell in love with that energy inside the company and reflected in the manufacture of leather. Leather with natural dyes and therefore leather in all its imperfections. It was really an extraordinary savour faire…' explains the designer who began her career working with Ettorre Sottsass, Andrea Branzi and Alessandro Mendini. Now in her 70s Paola Navone remains a design industry force.
‘I definitely think this leather has got an informal and very sensual aspect, being attractive also for all those people who have never loved leather,' Navone remarks. 'The ideas to develop new collections are born from a synthesis between the research that Baxter continuously does on treatments, colours, and touches of these leathers on the one hand, and our desires to experiment with new forms and different directions on the other.’
‘I definitely think this leather has got an informal and very sensual aspect…’
Paola Navone, designer
One of only a handful of family-run furniture manufacturers remaining in Italy, Baxter is a design company where the chemistry of friendship nurtures that success. Design collaborations with internationally celebrated architects and designers is central to shaping the brand. Paola Navone, Piero Lissoni, Hagit Pincovici, Federico Peri, Studiopepe and Roberto Lazzeroni are all encouraged to explore their unique and diverse skills in the quest to break new ground with form and leather.
For Studiopepe, that design vocabulary centres on the synthesis of forms, the exploration of material surfaces, and the study of patterns and colours through what the designers describe as ’the observation of nature and its manifestations.’ Founded by Italian designers Chiara Di Pinto and Arianna Lelli Mami whose roots lay in the architecture school at the Milan Polytechnic and hybrid experiences across journalism, fine art, styling, photography, research, and most recently astrology, their work explores the intersection between all of those things. Designs are soulful and familiar. For example, the sculptural chrome frame and puffy leather cushions of the So Good armchair is immediately relaxing, its seat and armrests softly ‘lounging’ over the frame, timeless and reminiscent of the modernists. Another, Lazy Bones, is a nubby armchair with an appeal that centres on its sensual form. Wrapped completely in leather, it’s a master stroke in form and balance with a referential nod to ancient artefacts.
Innovation with leather is a skill that Baxter has finessed. The colours, the feel, the way that leather is sculpted and tamed defines the brand. It’s what drew in Paola Navone and the Miami Soft sofa epitomises that mastery of the natural material. All about relaxed lounging and comfort, the design has flexible roller backrests making the sofa truly modular. Joining other highlights from the collection including the soft Piaf sofa by Baxter’s design team, the relaxed Marilyn and Greta chairs by Draga & Aurel, and the archipelago-inspired forms of the Aegates tables, each design shaped by curiosity and beauty, tradition and reinvention.
Baxter is available exclusively in South East Asia from Space – Australia and Space – Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
