To celebrate Boffi’s first Australian showroom, IndesignLive was granted a first-look at the space where we met with Boffi Asia Pacific’s Nicolo Gavazzi and the Director of Boffi Studio Sydney, Edwina Withers.
May 7th, 2013
The opening of the first standalone Boffi Studio in Sydney brings the brand back to our shores after a decades absence.
Establishing themselves in the trendy inner-city suburb of Darlinghurst serves as an indication that the market is hungry for the best in contemporary European interiors. Boffi’s name is synonymous with innovation and excellence in kitchens and bathrooms and in 2010 the company also turned its attention and to wardrobes and bespoke cabinetry solutions.
Like New York’s SoHo and London’s Chelsea stores before it, the settlement in the newly refurbished Liverpool Street Exchange Building was the result of months spent searching for the right location.
Facilitating this reintroduction is Edwina Withers, formerly of Pike Withers, a leading Interior Architecture firm that she co-founded in 1999. Bringing extensive design and construction experience to her new role as Director, Withers enjoys a unique position able to invest her sound design knowledge to deliver fully customised Boffi solutions.
On board with her is Property Developer Andrew Towzell as co-Director and Annie Kim, also formerly of Pike Withers – Annie joins Boffi as Sydney’s General Manager and Senior Designer, she too brings a wealth of design experience to the role, helping to steer clients through the intricacies of the design and installation process.
To match the exacting standards of their products and services, the importance of a showroom that demonstrated the brand’s capabilities and attention to detail was paramount. To achieve this, the interior of the studio was fitted out by Italian specialists who flew to Australia to oversee all aspects of the build.
“We flew our guys out from Italy and they installed the showroom and simultaneously taught the Australian installers how to assemble each product in the entire collection,” explains Nicolo Gavazzi, the Boffi Area Manager for the Asia Pacific region.
Previously grounded in New York, Nicolo Gavazzi will now be based between Shanghai and Singapore, overseeing all regional affairs and logistics for his family’s business – his father Roberto still serves as CEO.
The marriage of old design values with modern technology allows Boffi to stay at the forefront of its market – with a key focus on doors and drawers with no handles, their unique, sleek‘polyester finish’ is a manufacturing process that has been perfected over 60 years, “The polyester finish is something that is strictly ‘Boffi’, it was first introduced into our collection in 1950 with the ‘Xila09’”, Explains Nicolo.
The Sydney showroom offers systems that can be installed and ready to use within 12-16 weeks with the assurance that Boffi’s quality and Edwina and Annie’s expertise in this field will deliver an exemplary outcome.
From kitchen cupboards to bench and sinks, each systems radiates elegance and demonstrates design intelligence which after 70 years leading the sector is now well and truly at home in Australia.
Click through to view the Boffi Studio Sydney opening night gallery.
Boffi
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