VANESSA

Tapio Wirkkala was a leading Finnish designer active in the Fifties; we love his poetic works and research on the qualities of laminated wood. We had that in mind when we envisioned the Vanessa table: the organic base shape, resembling the wings of a butterfly could be made from multilayered wood. The colours and veneers of different wood species are an important value of the material, both to touch and see, so we felt we had to underline the mix of species in the layers. We used the alternation of wood species also to mark the ovoidal section and make the woodden volume visible. It was our mind to invite the user to feel the tactile aspect with its eyes even before touching the smooth shape of the base. A trasparent glass top was the best to appreciate such base. It was a path of trial and error to get to the right mix of wood and layer thicknesses so that the stability, the design and the cost of the table would be right. We were worried that the machinery work to make each “wing” was too long, but we had a very good cooperation with Bonaldo’s technical department to reduce it. We knew Vanessa was not a simple product, both from the manufacturing and from the customer’s point of view: it has a strong personality and is meant for strong personalities.