Set in stone: Salvatori opens Dutch flagship with Piet Boon
Salvatori throws open the doors to its first Dutch flagship, inside Piet Boon’s Amsterdam Headquarters
Tuscan stone design expert Salvatori has unveiled its first Dutch flagship showroom within Piet Boon’s Amsterdam Headquarters.
It was 2003 when Gabriele Salvatori first approached Piet Boon with hopes to collaborate, but it didn't work out. ‘They were not what they are today, and I wasn't what I am today,’ says Salvatori. Almost twenty years later, a chance encounter in Milan would finally unite the brands. ‘Salvatori are champions league in marble and bathroom design,’ says Boon. ‘We’re two different worlds, but we fit very well together.’
Multidisciplinary studio Piet Boon was first conceived as a construction company in 1982 and has since taken Dutch design to the global community, joining forces with the likes of, Rosewood Hotels and Resorts, Michelin star restaurant the Jane, and Jaguar Land Rover.
Third-generation CEO Gabriele Salvatori’s parents began involving him in the Querceta-based family business when he was fourteen. During school holidays, he would take to the production lines in Italy’s marble heartlands. ‘That gave me the opportunity to understand whether I was interested in the business or not,’ he says. He took the reins in 1996 and began steering the brand beyond a ‘stone company’, knocking on the doors of design-world greats including Vincent Van Duysen, Kengo Kuma and John Pawson. Some initial collaborations were successful, some less so. ‘Sometimes you make decisions that don’t make economic sense, but you do it because you love it,’ he says.
The striking Piet Boon headquarters is the size of an aircraft hangar and houses a design utopia. Forming part of a new 500 sq m bathroom, home and lighting showroom, the space accentuates Salvatori’s masterful command of stone.
Elisa Ossino’s statement Balnea bathtub, fashioned from a monolithic hunk of Bianco Carrara Marble, celebrates the material’s inherent characteristics. Her floating Ciane drawers defy gravity and pay direct homage to the strict geometry of minimalist artist, Donald Judd. Elsewhere, Piero Lissoni’s Colonnata bookcase uses ten different natural stones to punctuate a dark oak structure.
‘We’re very linked to our heritage and values so are strict about who we do business with,’ says Salvatori. We feel like we’ve found a partner who shares our values.’ With a joint appreciation for down-to-earth design, longevity, and the capabilities of raw materials, the new space fuses two family-owned brands with a bond set in stone.
INFORMATION
www.salvatori.it
www.pietboon.com
ADDRESS
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Piet Boon
Skoon 78
1511 HV Oostzaan
Netherlands
Harriet Lloyd-Smith was the Arts Editor of Wallpaper*, responsible for the art pages across digital and print, including profiles, exhibition reviews, and contemporary art collaborations. She started at Wallpaper* in 2017 and has written for leading contemporary art publications, auction houses and arts charities, and lectured on review writing and art journalism. When she’s not writing about art, she’s making her own.
-
Hella Jongerius’ ‘Angry Animals’ take a humorous and poignant bite out of the climate crisis
At Salon 94 in New York, Hella Jongerius presents animal ceramics, ‘Bead Tables’ and experimental ‘Textile Studies’ – three series that challenge traditional ideas about function, craft, and narrative
By Ali Morris Published
-
A photographic study of a family hi-fi store is a vivid portrait of a small business
Fashion photographer Nik Hartley looked behind the scenes at Wilkinson’s Hi-Fi, a longstanding part of its Lancashire community.
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
The Contestant: inside the dark and exploitative beginnings of reality TV
Clair Titley’s The Contestant examines a sensationalist moment in TV history, before Big Brother meant reality became an accepted part of popular culture
By Billie Walker Published
-
Cristina Celestino’s Bathscape is both luxurious and sustainable
Designer Cristina Celestino reimagines the bathroom as a series of oases for wellbeing, for Kaldewei’s Milan Design Week 2022 presentation
By Cristina Kiran Piotti Last updated
-
Making waves: Roca brings the Med to Milan
Roca’s immersive, Mediterranean-inspired installation by Cobalto Studio pulses with the rhythm of the sea at Milan Design Week 2022
By Cristina Kiran Piotti Last updated
-
Ten years of Muller Van Severen, at Design Museum Ghent
A new exhibition by Belgian design duo Muller Van Severen (until 6 March 2022) features a retrospective of the studio’s ten years as well as a curation of pieces from the Design Museum Ghent collections
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
Beyond bathrooms: VitrA opens new showroom in London
Recently opened in Clerkenwell, VitrA’s two-storey London flagship promises to be more multi-sensory bathroom social than a conventional show space
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
Get a flavour of modernist Mexico City at this new showroom
Virtually tour VIDIVIXI’s new Mexico City showroom, and explore locally-made designs
By Pei-Ru Keh Last updated
-
In LA, Molteni Group embraces midcentury modern heritage
Inside the new West Hollywood flagship, Molteni&C | Dada creative director Vincent Van Duysen creates an architectural transatlantic aura
By Sujata Burman Last updated
-
Inside Casa do Passadiço’s dynamic new interior boutique in Lisbon
By Sujata Burman Last updated
-
New Shoreditch store celebrates the physical experience of design
Through Instagram, industry contacts and their Hackney locale, co-founders Emma and Jade Shone-Sanders offer a crafted design edit
By Sujata Burman Last updated