11       haute interieur boffi stands for italian design at its best: uncompromisingly modern, aesthetic but still functional. if a brand name has become synonymous for the best of its class, you have definitely made it. and without a doubt that’s the case for the italian brand boffi. particularly when talk turns to luxurious kitchens, the name of the joiner’s workshop founded in 1934 quickly comes to mind. and this fact is due to 70 hard-working years of boffi company history. after ww2, the brothers dino, pier ugo and paolo boffi founded their first kitchen factory: research and development, the perfection of handcrafted production steps, technical progress and last but not least the cooperation with visionary designers have made boffi what they are today: a company that doesn’t follow but sets new trends. at the milan furniture fair, the company noticeably sets the global tone with their novelty products. after all, in the core competence of kitchen design boffi are seen as a reference that other designers look up to. the extremely puristic lines, the plain and simple design and the borrowings from professional gastronomy kitchens have become trademarks of the italian kitchen manufacturer. fittings that are reduced to a minimum, seamlessly integrated sinks and visually adapted, built-in kitchen appliances are several more characteristics of the milan-based company. well-known designers like joe colombo, luigi massoni, antonio citterio, paolo nava, piero lissoni and marc sadler have – all at their time - translated the aesthetic visions of the boffi founders into trend-setting design sketches. boffi was one of the first companies to break with the classic l-shape of kitchens and deliberately sympathized with the design of functional canteen kitchens. currently, boffi kitchens are characterised by two central lines. the back line serves as storage space and houses the electric appliances. the front line is formed by the cooking unit with the integrated stove and work surface. this cooking unit serves as a kind of communication centre of the living room. solutions like these are especially popular when guests come around or when the whole family gathers in the kitchen. without a doubt, this popularity is also due to the fact that this solution not only meets aesthetic but also social trends. in the meantime, boffi has also included bathrooms into their program as a second line of business. also in this field, the goal is the market leader position in terms of ideas and design. their bathtub made of sandstone by claudio silvestrin brought the company instant success – after all, the extravagantly luxurious bathtub is only made to order and has made boffi a model company also in the field of bathroom design when it comes to modern luxury that makes do without dainty embellishments. martina müllner