Riva 1920. Projects and Passion

Rho, Design Week 2015. The Riva 1920 stand at the entrance to the first pavilions greets visitors with a whole host of ideas.

Cantilevered warehouse shelves and pallets lining its inner and outer walls to exploit all the vertical exhibition space said more than a thousand words on the corporate identity and values of this Brianza company which has turned the production of quality solid-wood designs into a sophisticated industrial activity. The exhibition space did not offer a staged selection from the “2015new products catalogue” as is the norm for many furniture exhibitors but a snapshot of a company with an incredible number of wide-ranging designs under its belt, a hive of activity and an open workshop where longstanding and fledgling designs are promoted and cultivated – all strictly ethical, with a low environmental impact and perfectly in tune with each other.

Riva does, of course, propose new designs: the latest outdoor line in cedar; the Cube table made from a unique piece of Kauri wood and finished with clear resin inserts; the latest table design by Terry Dwan, the company’s art director, made by recycling and assembling hundreds of small wood offcuts; and the new Rialto sideboard.

But all this is merely a fraction of the work produced over the years by a company that makes wood furniture but is also always involved in social projects. People have, for years now, been fascinated by the Kauri project linked to the New Zealand swamps and the Venetian Briccole project for their exotic and historic references but they are primarily driven by the desire to limit the indiscriminate felling of living trees and to recycle raw materials left after natural cataclysms and human activities.

The Barrique recycling project uses the barrels employed to age the wine produced by the San Patrignano community and the tables for the Ambrosiano refectory express a virtuous approach that favours care for the environment, social commitment and the promotion of good design.

These are but recent Riva 1920 examples and, as we stroll past sideboards, tables, stools and chairs all in natural wood, Maurizio Riva, with his brother Davide –  co-owner of the company –  the head and heart behind all these adventures, is keen to illustrate many other projects that promote and support the local area and young people.

Maurizio Riva enthusiastically describes another two projects that currently occupy his time:  the first is Brianza Design, displayed not far from us; and the other is the second Design Award about to celebrate its results.

The Brianza Design project supports crafts in the Como and Milan areas where Riva brings together young designers and the world of fine craftsmanship, those small but precious manufacturers at risk of being lost in the cogs of the global macro-economies. The single theme “furnishings for dining spaces” (with a concrete craft focus that is topical and in keeping with the Expo theme) produced 34 new furnishings, exhibited at design Week and contained in a catalogue that will be promoted on the media and in furniture showrooms at home and abroad.  The basic idea is that Brianza itself must become a quality trademark. Only with shared purpose and efforts is it possible to stop the economic recession inexorably stamping out longstanding craft skills.

  The second project is the small but much-followed Design Award competition. It attracted nearly 700 young designers, engaged in developing the design of a new bed for the company catalogue. As the competition reached its peak, Maurizio Riva thanked and encouraged everyone just before the six winners were announced, especially the young designers before him, urging them not to stray from their chosen path, whatever the outcome of the competition, and to remember that the world’s young generations are the main drive behind positive renewal.

The unstoppable flow of Riva 1920 designs carries you off into an approach to business that does not focus on, albeit pressing, financial and industrial dictates. These projects do benefit from incredibly strong communication and the company return is undisputed but the insight, new ideas and constantly fuelled energy do not come about and develop without enthusiasm, passion and personal conviction. So, we enjoyed being carried away by this current as we looked forward to the completion of the company’s forthcoming challenge: Pangea, the hugely secret new project for Expo.

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