Acerbis: quality and new icons in design

The furniture company Acerbis, today part of MDF Italia, is a benchmark for connoisseurs of Italian design. Founded in 1870 by Benvenuto Acerbis, in the 1960s Lodovico Acerbis introduced avant-garde industrial production and collaborations with some of Italy's iconic designers such as Vico Magistretti, Nanda Vigo, Gianfranco Frattini, Mario Bellini, Andrea Branzi. Today, the brand manager of Acerbis is Enrico Acerbis, the fourth generation of the family whose name the company bears. We talked to him thanks to the kind cooperation of Acerbis' representatives on the Bulgarian market, City Design Development.

By Maria Kasimova-Moase, photos Roisina Pencheva for CDD, Acerbis, MDF Italia

How does Sofia look to you?

Exciting. I find charm even in neglected buildings. I like to see the history - the good, the bad, and the drama. It's the same here - a living city with living people.

To see beauty everywhere is inherent in Italians. I guess it's an advantage to be born and raised in such a place.

I am mostly influenced by my family. My father is the third generation in the company, which started 150 years ago as an artisan furniture workshop. A boon to his foresight in the late 1960s, Acerbis established itself as a brand. He introduced new technologies in production and began working with talented young and interesting designers.
When I was ten, he and I went to New York for a week. We visited the studios of his colleagues. Eventually, I found out that I had met world names in design like Richard Mayer and Michael Graves. This trip shaped my interest and taste. I'm not a designer, I'm a businessman, but I have an eye for design. This is not taught, it is cultivated and acquired with experience.

Today, what provokes you in design?

As I get older, I become more and more nostalgic, especially towards design from the 70s and 80s. After the dark years of World War II, there was a longing for new technologies, for more light, pleasure, and joy. The 70s and 80s were a time of fun, of the joy of being alive. When you feel good, you are more creative. In recent decades, the focus has shifted to business and numbers. That kind of killed the joy of the process...
Great companies are run by managers, not startup enthusiasts. They don't take the risks that a newbie would. It's like when you're young and want to get a girlfriend - if you specifically look for her, you never find her! In my work it's like that - you find a new design icon when you travel, meet people, and challenge yourself.

What makes your company different?

All Italian design companies have a common heritage - we are all from the 1960s, from the time of the so-called Radical Italian Design Movement. Acerbis today is part of the MDF Italia group and together we work on design, innovation, and unique technologies. We look for the "miracle" in a product - it could be light, material, or some convenient and beautiful opening mechanism. The other important thing for us is to find the new icons in design.

How do you work with young designers?

In our business, there is something of a closed circle. It's hard to get into, especially if you're a young designer because companies prefer to work with established names. And I believe that young people are a different type of client and they need designers who understand their needs and demands. That's why we're collaborating with Francesco Meda and David Lopez Kinkosez - young but already popular creatives who nevertheless have respect for good design from the 70s and are recreating it. At Acerbis we do what is called remastering - the reimagining of iconic design objects through new colors, materials, or proportions. We are not nostalgic, for us the past is the basis of the future, a proactive path to new horizons.

How is your personal space organized?

A home is a private place and a compromise between partners. I think my wife and I live in a good balance - we own beautiful objects, but we certainly don't live in a showroom.

What is luxury?

Having time. To be with the kids, to travel, to read, to visit new places. Luxury is being at home, enjoying life - we call it dolce far niente...

What expectations do you have from Bulgaria and the market here?

I have witnessed absolute peaks as well as total market crashes. The new generation travels a lot, sees places, and has a different upbringing. People have realized that good design is a way to consume with a different attitude. It's not about buying for little money, it's about buying something with quality that will last. A product has to be beautiful, but it also has to work. The younger generation has an understanding of this. We're going back to a time when we were buying less but better quality. For us to offer exactly that is a mission.