ALMOST 130 YEARS OF RUBELLI FABRICS
BUT, BE AWARE, WE AIN’T SEEN NOTHING YET!
It was in the romantic city of Paris, when I first met Rubelli. There, during the famous Paris Déco Off,
I had the privilege to see the professionals of Co van der Horst at work,
selecting the most exclusive fabrics for their showroom and their Home Couture Event in particular.
The Rubelli shop was our starting point that day, after we enjoyed a lovey cup of coffee
at a French restaurant in the middle of Saint Germain. I will never forget the excitement I felt
as well as my interest to see their collections!
Home Couture
Textiles have always been Co van der Horst’s ‘core business’. Every year, they organise the so called Home Couture Event, to inspire interior professionals and consumers with their impressive textile collections and special guest presentations. This year’s special guest was Nicolo Favaretto, who represents the 5thRubelli generation. The collaboration between these two family businesses resulted in a beautiful Rubelli shop-in-shop in the showroom of Co van der Horst, where Nicolo held his presentation and where VITA DI LUSSO had the interview.
Decoration Decades
Rubelli has been creating, producing and selling furnishing products, in particular decorative fabrics, for residential and contract use since 1889. In the stunning venue of Venice, Rubelli obviously gets inspired by the famous blue waters, the Roman architecture and the picturesque streets for many decades already.
And also nowadays, the Venice views are still integrated into the collection. For example, Nicolo showed the Pila 47 chair, which is upholstered with a ‘Toile de Venice’; a very nice looking fabric with images of historical buildings, subtly textured in delicate silk.
Pila refers to the former address of Rubelli’s headquarters, Street of Pila, number 47. However, recently the family company moved back to where it belongs: the family house at Ca’ Pisani, San Marco, where relatives of Nicolo Favaretto still live on the upper floor.
Rubelli Casa
The Venice heritage furnishing fabrics producer is consolidating its experience in the furniture world with the Rubelli Casa brand and is presenting a series of new features. Nicolo showed the Domino sofa and chair, as well as the Dogaressa bed. But also the Gillo mirrors with fabric in epoxy resin glass, which I just found amazing!
Next to that, Rubelli also launched furniture collections in cooperation with interior designer Paola Navone and fashion icon Giorgio Armani. Nicolo: “Although such cooperations are valuable, our key to success has always been research. Traditional companies cannot survive without being original and creative in thinking and yet you need strong roots to innovate.”
So let’s say, after so many years of traditional Italian fabrics, we ain’t seen nothing yet! Go Rubelli!
