Massimo Morozzi: Bois de Rose

This Tuscan company was founded 25 years ago and its president Valerio Mazzei has decided to celebrate in two different locations: at the Furniture Fair with the two armchairs Sfatto and Cipria by Francesco Binfaré and the Campana brothers, respectively, and a storage collection designed by Massimo Morozzi; and in the via Ciovassino showroom, with all eyes on just one type: the armchair, as seen over the last 25 years. We focus on Bois de Rose, a design by Morozzi that is square, 120 x 120 cm, storage furniture named after its Bois de Rose veneer decoration, that "forgotten" wood applied to Louis XV chests of drawers. Ignoring the rules of cabinet making, the veneer is laid vertically, slanting or inlaid, offering a chance to rediscover the importance of craftsmanship and tradition.

Bois de Rose is a Massimo Morozzi design, the first in quite a while...
Morozzi is our art director. Then, now and again, as well as the many stories, designs and things he oversees, he designs something. No, he hadn't done any for years and this is very much a "Morozzi" piece: perfectly square, 120 x 120 cm.

The piece has two small pedals at the bottom; what do they do?
We had to solve the problem of the opening, an issue that always arises in a perfect cube with hardly any edges. In the end, we came up with two pedals – like those on a piano – that push a lever. They provide access to the door so that it can be opened wider, without having to add any kind of handle.

So this opening is the distinguishing feature of the design...
Yes, but not the only one. Most importantly, this furniture has no edges and the veneer is continuous and applied at 45 degrees. It continues on all sides as a single panel and this makes every piece unique.

It almost looks as if it had been wrapped up.
Precisely, a sheet of veneer is cut on the object so not even a millimetre of error can be tolerated. If a piece breaks, we take the whole object and throw it away because it loses its continuity. It is like an object sculpted in a block of wood. It comes in four versions: the simplest is the vertical one, then the diagonal, random and leopard ones, created with inlays inserted into the veneer when applied vertically. Every piece is unique and has a numbered plate inside. This is a distinguishing feature of our whole company. Every industrial product is counterbalanced by a manual one. Or, as in this case, both aspects live side by side in the same piece. I believe that conserving the manual factor is hugely important in the retention of a certain type of quality. Take the Flap sofa, it has 144 pieces of polyurethane inside and is a complex structure that could not be moulded. It is all hand assembled. It takes approximately 167 man hours to make a sofa like that. It is a long time but the only way to achieve this quality level; 12 years on we have not found an alternative.

Is Bois de Rose manufactured to order?
Ours is a mass production and we don't do limited editions; the pieces are all different one from the other and are made to order.

We are in a recession, is your strategy to continue focusing on quality?
I have never had much time for strategies. We have always aimed for the very highest quality, which starts with a quality project, meaning intellectual quality leading to an appealing product that will last, not just because it is well made but because I hope our products are passed down through the generations. There is much talk about sustainability when the best form of recycling is to not produce waste. No one would dream of throwing away a piece of 13th-century furniture. Every year, we present one or two new designs at the most. When you make something, it really must be well thought through.