Visionnaire, founded by the company IPE, based in Bologna since 1959, is a meta-luxury brand of reference in the sector of interior design Made in Italy, renowned for its one-of-a-kind design prowess tailored to respond to the desires of its clients.
Benefit company from 2021, Visionnaire defines its business as a promoter of positive value for the community and intends to pursue, in the exercise of economic activity, one or more positive effects – or reduce negative effects – towards people, communities, territories and environment.
The brand operates in over 55 countries, thanks to over 30 exclusive monobrand stores and a network of department store and multibrand showrooms all over the world.
Since 2004 Visionnaire has formulated a distinctive style, based on lively experimentation on materials, volumes of unexpected poise and inimitable motifs that reveal the totally Italian background of the company. Thanks to collaboration with a team of eclectic, visionary Italian and foreign designers, the company is an ideal partner for bespoke proposals in residential and contract applications, luxury hotellerie, as well as the yachting and aviation sectors.
The brand bases its activity on the value of knowledge and continuing research on the concept of contemporary beauty, confirming its exceptional ability to create design projects and products of outstanding sartorial workmanship, fostering and restoring value to the skills of local artisans located across the Italian territory.
The meta-luxury of contents and values is reflected in the responsible use of materials, through technological research conducted by the company and investments to boost the efficiency of its chain of production. Visionnaire relies on a network of over 30 crafts hubs located all over the country, enabling the company to create extraordinary, unique objects: mixing and matching materials, applying the skills of artisans to test, perfect and define new compositional and material solutions, defining the identity of every single product by making it unique and inimitable, though also ready for reproduction. Visionnaire also makes a rigorous, responsible commitment to its territory.
This desire to protect our natural heritage and human capital – outlined in the artbook-manifesto “Decàlogo” – leads to awareness that informs and orients the company’s cultural vision, from the selection of materials to the final touches of workmanship required by production cycles, taking on a precise, intense ethical position.
The new 2023 season for Visionnaire – is not just a collection, but a unique and all-around project of architecture and interior design.
Volare is the new residential concept, created to narrate a true philosophy of living and a sartorial approach to the production of one-of-a-kind objects. The project aims to enhance the Genius Loci – the soul of the place – through the use of natural materials and colors that dialogue with the palette of the land and respond to the climatic conditions of the place.
The concept we present in the collection during the Salone del Mobile 2023 is the same one we have applied to the Volare project in Dubai. Our stand is the starting point of this villa, and it is its extraordinary feature. A new collection is a design manifesto of the contemporary home, which is in the Visionnaire’s interpretation is a place of happiness, a theater of everyday beauty, a sanctuary for our personal rituals.
During the Fuorisalone, we introduce L’Impero dei sensi – immersive installation in the Wunderkammer of the Visionnaire Design Gallery, dedicated to the senses as tools of knowledge of the world. A synesthetic narrative, based on a vision of Studiopepe – Arianna Lelli Mami and Chiara Di Pinto – to describe a capsule collection of three pieces designed for Visionnaire: the Shibari chair, the Parade lighting system and the Blanche set of two mirrors.
The streak of international recognition continues in 2023: Leonardo bookshelf, designed by Alessandro La Spada, is a winner of 2023 Wallpaper* Design Awards in the Best Sleeper Hits category.
In May, the first and only Visionnaire Flagship Store Warsaw was opened in Poland. The salon is located in the building Dom Dochodowy with Three Fronts on the street Aleje Ujazdowskie 51.
Dom Dochodowy is a beautiful facility with unique and elegant interiors, as well as unquotable architecture: mosaics and paintings on the walls, decorations on the ceilings. At the beginning of the 21st century, the building was modernized in accordance with the conservation requirements, maintaining the historical character of the investment. Currently, it is composed of three buildings connected by an internal courtyard.
Dom Dochodowy is situated in the Śródmieście district at Plac Trzech Krzyży street. It is a prestigious location in the center of Warsaw, where the world of design and fashion meets cultural centers and diplomatic institutions. In the area you will find numerous government buildings, diplomatic embassies and many exclusive restaurants, shops and hotels.
The Visionnaire showroom presented an exhibition consisting of both new products and bestsellers of the brand. These are carefully selected models, which are the perfect solution for people looking for a unique, characteristic style, unusual details and finishes.
The first room presents a LEGO console and SPUTNIK wall lamps designed by Draga & Aurel duo. We will also see KERWAN marble table, a sofa and armchairs from the CA’FOSCARI family, as well as LEONARDO chest of drawers designed by Alessandro La Spada.
Our propositions for the living room are in the second room. The real star is the BABYLON RACK sofa, which comes from the latest collection. It is set together with BARRET tables and console. The exhibition also includes BASTIAN and ANTHEM sofas, which can be configured in any way depending on the place we have. The dot above in this room are paintings by Michele Astolfi made of glass, mother of pearl and Swarovski crystals.
The last room was dedicated to the display of the bedrooms. We can find here CA’FOSCARI and ULTRASOUND beds in the large version, i.e. with an elongated headboard, as well as an OLIMPIA dressing table or a ROSEMARY armchair. The real treasure here is KOBOL SET, a double console with a washbasin. In 2018, it was awarded the Archiproducts Design Awards.
Benefit company from 2021, Visionnaire defines its business as a promoter of positive value for the community and intends to pursue, in the exercise of economic activity, one or more positive effects – or reduce negative effects – towards people, communities, territories and environment.
This year Visionnaire has inaugurated two new strategic flagship stores, located in London and Dubai, confirming and celebrating its presence with direct stores all over the world.
On December Visionnaire launch the Beauty Tales campaign, under the artistic direction of Eleonore Cavalli. Beauty Tales is not just a tale with a fifteenth-century atmosphere, but a reinterpretation of contemporary living, through a delicate photographic research that instills wonder.
During Milan Design Week of September, Visionnaire unveil a striking installation in its showroom named Insulae designed by Marco Bonelli and Marijana Radovic – aka m2atelier. Each island hosts a family of products from the Caprice collection designed by m2atelier. The main floor of the gallery also hosts products from the Babylon Rack collection designed by Alessandro La Spada, which are harmoniously integrated in the Insulae project.
Also, on the occasion of the Design Week, Visionnaire participates to Alcova, the traveling Kermesse of the Fuorisalone conceived by Joseph Grima and Valentina Ciuffi in 2018 and dedicated to designers, artists, galleries and institutions united by a pioneering vision of the culture of design, innovation and experimentation. Ideal stage for the installation “De Rerum Natura” by Gunilla Zamboni, known as Gupica.
Finally, 2021 is an year of international design awards for the brand: Admeto low table designed by Marco Piva winner of 2021 Wallpaper* Design Awards, Best Curves category; Imagine armchair designed by Mauro Lipparini results winner of the International Design & Architecture Awards Design Et Al, seating category. Lego low table and console designed by Draga&Aurel for have been selected for the ADI Design Index 2021; Basket Armchair designed by m2atelier winner of 2021 Archiproducts Design Awards, Outdoor category.
2020 is the year of the Beauty Collection, Beauty is a word with an intense, multifaceted meaning. Besides indicating an outlook of positive energy and hope, the contemporary beauty narrated by Visionnaire sums up an attitude, that of creating extraordinary, unique projects and objects. Constant technological research, experimentation with materials, the juxtaposition and mixing of element, the hands of our craftsmen that test, perfect and define a new material solution: these are the factors that go into every single product, making it unique, inimitable, yet reproducible.
In 2020, Visionnaire expands its Art Design offerings, approaching the great challenge of contextualizing them in a retail scenario and involving designers of artistic talent, with a vivid focus on experimentation with materials: almost “Renaissance” attitude, in terms of method and individual effort invested in the genesis and realization of the Brand’s creations.
The new Beauty collection is presented in June through a new digital format, the Visionnaire Live Shows.
Also 2020 is an year of international design awards for the brand: Camden Armchair, designed by Mauro Lipparini results Jury Winner in the 8th annual Architizer A+Awards “residential seating” category and Il Pavone designed by Marc Ange has conquered the jury for its concept and design and results Winner of the 2020 Archiproducts Design Awards!
Among the 2020 news, 3 new Collectable Books: Dreams, Beauty and Dehoor.
Mercury, the armchair and sofa model designed by sculptor Rito Valla in 1961 for IPE reissues by Visionnaire and available on 1stDibs!
The sequence of honors and awards continues: the Marty console designed by Marco Piva is honored in the “Best Dream Factory” category of the Wallpaper Design Awards. Thanks to an extraordinary policy of international growth, in 2019 the company has 31 exclusive stores around the world, and operates in 55 countries.
2019 is a year of anniversaries for IPE-Visionnaire: the mother company IPE celebrates the 60th anniversary of its founding, while Visionnaire, its exclusive brand, reaches its 15th year of success.
For the 58th edition of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan and the associated FuoriSalone 2019, these milestones will be commemorated with a sequence of extraordinary initiatives.They include the launch of a signature volume, which takes on particular strategic and programmatic value: Decalogue – this is the title of the project – is a precious book published in a limited edition, presenting the ten fundamental and indispensable values of the company, defined through an overall vision that has the force of a credo. The texts offer a narrative of the historical roots of the brand, taking stock of its present identity and outlining ambitious trajectories for its future.
In late 2019 Visionnaire presents The “Il Pavone” collection by Marc Ange, which made its debut in the new flaghship store of Miami during Art Basel, in the “haute couture throne” and “prêt-à-porter chair”.
This is the year of international prizes. As many as six awards of the international design community are assigned to Visionnaire: the Kobol bathroom console designed by Alessandro La Spada wins the Archiproducts Design Award; the Opera dining table, also by the designer Alessandro La Spada, takes the AD USA Great Design Award 2018; the Tanya chairs by Roberto Lazzeroni receives the Architizer A+ Design Award; the Tea Party table is a winner in the Wallpaper Design Awards, both in UK and in China; and the Balin, Elmo, Galdor and Tareg mirrors by Armando Bruno receive the NYCxDesign Award.
Visionnaire continues its path of stylistic evolution, with the aim of extending its offerings to more sophisticated and complex markets, such as those of Europe and North America, as well as a new generation of clients. For the company, this is the moment to present a collection composed of furnishings that reflect the linguistic canons of “Art Design,” and to introduce – as one of the first companies in the sector – a complete “Greenery” range of materials with low environmental impact.
On display in the famous Harrods windows till May 10, 2017 Sandrino the Butcher is the first Art-Design project by Visionnaire, conceived by the designer Alessandro La Spada. The installation is involved in the Art Partners initiative by Harrods, aimed at celebrating the excellence of contemporary design, by fostering the cooperation between luxury brands and renowned creatives.
A second investment fund enters the array of stakeholders, Ergon Capital II: the ownership thus includes two funds, as well as the Cavalli family and a number of private partners. During the same year, the first Visionnaire monobrand store in the Middle East is opened in Dubai, along with the first in the United States, in Miami. To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the brand, the Nature Jewel Box capsule collection is introduced, featuring exclusive products that stand out for the use of precious materials and light forms: this very successful collection marks the beginning of a new phase in the Visionnaire story.
The company ownership, previously limited to the Cavalli family, expands to include the Altopartners fund. This important step brings new energy to the entrepreneurial logic of international growth already in progress, and leads to the opening of the first Russian Visionnaire store, in Moscow.
The Visionnaire flagship store in Milan opens its doors, welcoming visitors into an elegant building on Piazza Cavour. The striking space with its vivid identity has an area of 2000 square meters, organized on two levels inside what was previously the historic “Cinema Cavour.” The location fully conveys the potential of the brand’s project, including a restaurant area and a space for cultural programming – the Wunderkammer gallery – set aside for art exhibitions. Visionnaire has always been inspired by the world of art in all its expressions, from cinema to music, from dance to painting. Fine art has become a natural extension of the design project. The gallery is as a real “room of wonders” and it plunges one’s conceptual roots in the Baroque period, when the nobles exhibited and boasted their travel memorabilia to amaze guests in these private environments.
Leopoldo Cavalli met Samuele Mazza for the first time in 2003, inside his Milanese boutique of Art Design and Art De La Table called “Visionnaire”, which, at the time, was in front of the Besana monument in Viale Regina Margherita. Samuele Mazza, together with Luigi, Leopoldo and Eleonore Cavalli, with the collaboration of the designer Alessandro la Spada, decided, the following year, to give life and bring to the international market the new and revolutionary luxury design collection called Visionnaire, of which Samuele maintained the art direction until 2009, then definitively transferring the brand to the Cavalli family.
60’S, 70’S E 80’S
Late 1960s The second generation of the family enters the firm. Vittorio’s son, Luigi Cavalli, theorizes and guides the expansion of the brand on an international level, contributing to the creation of many collections of products, and acting as artistic co-director from the launch of Visionnaire to the arrival of the daughter Eleonore in the company. Halfway through the 1990s Luigi’s children – Leopold and Eleonore – are active in the company’s management, working together with their father on a series of important new initiatives.
At Zola Predosa (Bologna), the historic Italian company IPE was found by the brothers Carlo, Pompeo and Vittorio Cavalli. Their entrepreneurial adventure in the world of furnishings, specializing in the creation of upholstered pieces made with expanded polyurethane, takes on the character of a revolution of engineering and style, standing apart from the production processes of the time.
IPE bierze udział w pierwszej edycji Salone Internazionale del Mobile w Mediolanie z fotelem Mercury, zaprojektowanym przez rzeźbiarza Rito Valla. Połączenie sztuki z projektowaniem sprawdza się doskonale w tej wyjątkowej propozycji. Od tego roku firma sukcesywnie uczestniczy we wszystkich edycjach Salone del Mobile w Mediolanie aż do dzisiaj.
IPE takes part in the first edition of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan with the Mercury armchair, designed by the sculptor Rito Valla: art and design find a new, completely original formula of interaction in this unique proposal. From this year on, the company has participated consecutively in all the editions of the Salone del Mobile in Milan until today.
