In the 1920s, Milan was growing at a fast pace. New inhabitants, new buildings, new homes to furnish. This was one of the big drivers in the development of the furniture manufacturing industry in Lombardy and in Brianza in particular, where there was already an established tradition for quality carpentry. This is backdrop against which two brothers, Guido and Stefano Porro, founded their workshop in 1925, with the idea of producing stylish furniture for the newly-emerging Milanese middle-class.
Storage by Porro, design Piero Lissoni & CRS Porro
With the 1950s came a turn towards the modern, through collaborations with renowned designers: Giulio Moscatelli, who in 1955 designed the new workshop; and then Bruno Munari, who was asked – this was in 1966 – to design the new logo for Porro: it was his idea to create the cut through the “o”s, making them look like screws, a reminder that the company worked with wood.
Over the years the reputation of the company grew and its language became linked more and more closely to producing design at the highest level. Furniture is linked to the overall design of the environment. Today this notion is further reinforced, with a collection for 2023 that is born out of a comprehensive and multi-faceted vision of the living space, that starts with an individual piece – perhaps a special piece – and goes on to embrace the whole environment.
Storage by Porro, design Piero Lissoni & CRS Porro
Linea by Porro, design Alessandro Mendini
Linea by Porro, design Alessandro Mendini
An ideal starting point for describing this new collection is Linea, three units by Alessandro Mendini, designed in 2015 and but only now put into production. An open-fronted unit, a closed unit and a writing desk: creations where colour and geometric patterns describe a vision of design that is free and unconventional. The result of research carried out together with Elisa and Fulvia Mendini, daughters of the great design intellectual, the furniture in this range is produced in a limited edition of fifty of each item.
“They are charming, energetic, bright. They have strong, primary colours: lines that cross over to create a kind of patchwork”, explains Elisa Mendini; “the challenge for Porro was to create an inlay in cellulose acetate that could give depth to the lines. I think that Lorenzo and Maria Porro wanted to pay homage to our father’s work, where colour was always the protagonist”.
Linea by Porro, design Alessandro Mendini
Another important arrival is the new version of what has become for Porro, in a way that was almost unexpected, something of a statement piece: it is Romby, a chair-sculpture designed in 2020 by Stine Gam and Enrico Fratesi (GamFratesi). A solid timber base made using twelve planks of solid wood jointed and then turned and brushed. A pure geometric form on which a soft and welcoming seat lightly rests. In three years this functional and charismatic object has become a best-seller and the time has come for it to grow.
Romby by Porro, design GamFratesi
Ex-Libris by Porro, design Piero Lissoni
Now Romby has also become an armchair, with a padded body that widens and rises up to create the armrests. The truncated conical base has four central wooden legs, a detail that increases functionality and opens up new possibilities for use in the contract sector. “The new base makes it seem like it were cut out of the cone” explains Stine Gam. “The form is the same but lighter. It is still an iconic chair, this is its natural evolution.
The Porro 2023 collection also includes the Ex-Libris display case (design Piero Lissoni) with a metal structure painted in antique red and doors in transparent glass, and the new version of the containers in the Modern system (design Piero Lissoni + CRS Porro) with glass sides.
Modern by Porro, design Piero Lissoni & CRS Porro
Storage by Porro, design Piero Lissoni & CRS Porro
At a larger scale we have the Storage system of cupboards (Piero Lissoni + CRS Porro) that articulates space with an invitation to take in the tactile and visual references of the woods from the Porro collection: here once more white ash, with its dusty whiteness that leaves the grain visible, is combined with elements in dark metal to create an infinite play of contrasts.
The collection also includes two product ranges designed to directly intervene on the furniture’s “container”: the Glide system of sliding partitions (Piero Lissoni + Iaco Design Studio), launched in 2021 and continually being expanded, and Layer, a panelling by the square metre that allows you to apply all the finishes in the Porro catalogue onto all surfaces in the home: lacquered colours, essences, fabrics, faux leather, straw, giving the interior designer the possibility to play with material effects as well. Layer is a wall covering that can be customised in size, thus offering maximum freedom in composition.
Glide by Porro, design Piero Lissoni & Iaco Design Studio
Layer by Porro, design CRS Porro
