COLOURS IS LIFE  Interview with Biagio Cisotti and Sandra Laube One of the reasons why BRF, a Tuscan furniture manufacturer, is worth being taken into consideration is its effort to introduce young designers. That's what happened with the collection Tran Tran designed by Massimo Iosa Ghini, when the company was officially launched in 1992. Colour, supple shapes but also a sober building philosophy are the factors that have made Brf become a particular company in the world of design. With the leit-motiv of its last collection, Brf has managed to instil the nostalgia for a new living idea in everyday life. Extremely light translucent metal armchairs, coloured plastics that reminds of cartoons and cheerful objects that are contaminated by different cultures and tendencies at the same time are part of BRF collection. These are products that fit in a house that is both a place for "cuddling" and the right mirror of our contemporary sensibility. They are not simple objects anymore, but they've become specific signs easy to identify and fit to be used for design, fashion and cinema. We asked some questions about Brf world to Biagio Cisotti, art-director, and Sandra Laube, a young designer who co-operates with Brf. What is the main characteristic of "BRF colours is life"? We think that colour is not the style of a movement but one basic dimension of our life. Consequently, it's one integral part of the project. Our challenge is to manage to communicate the "animistic process" of the object through our products. This process stir up emotions spontaneously and it's through them that we can decide if we like the product or if we don't. We don't want to fulfil a basic need but we think it's possible to redesign our life beginning from the products which are around us everyday in order to make it more cheerful and easier. How did you start co-operating with BRF? Our relationship was born with a project. The subsequent aim of that project was to manufacture a range of products together with Fabio Biancucci, BRF president. Our first collection was created in co-operation with Massimo Iosa Ghini in 1992. BRF presented already a strong identity, focusing on colours and game and making them an everlasting sign of our time. We believe that BRF is always up-to-date when we propose new shapes, fresh functions, unusual materials and innovative signs. Who are your potential customers? BRF customers care about fashion, cinema, virtual reality and try to communicate their life style even through the objects. They don't have any specific nationality. They're able to interpret the new sensibilities that are appearing from the transformations of our socio-cultural reality. What's new for you and what does innovation represent to you? The armchair Play-station by Jerszy Seymour, for example, interpreted the changes in the world of furnishing very well. BRF has always cared for new trends and has tried to translate the sign perceived into new formal proposals. That's why Play-station is not only a simple armchair. Turning out into new shapes, it's an armchair that interprets the changes and becomes more and more comfortable. How would you imagine BRF collections in the new millennium? In general, we think that BRF will carry on with the same philosophy. It will be always ready to interpret the new trends of our living style and the contemporary language. It'll be necessary to analyse new materials that can be used for our products and also to study new technologies that belong to different design worlds in order to make them become strong symbols of BRF production. We have to realise that nowadays the place where the manufacturing process takes place doesn't constrain the production any longer. We just have to observe all the other collections to understand that we can propose new manufacturing processes more suitable for the specific characteristics of our own collections. BRF has always cared for changes and it'll try to keep reacting to every demand and requirement. BRF srl Loc. S. Marziale, 21 53034 - Colle Val d'Elsa - Siena - Italia tel. +39/0577 929418 fax +39/0577 929648 www.brfcolors.com biancucci@brfcolors.com

Text by: Angelo Minisci I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. VIII. In cooperation with: M.Angeles Fernández Alvarez Elena Granchi TOP