These are the REAL things.
Manufacturers whose products are selected for REALfurniture are selected because they are at the top of the industry. Everything is extremely well made. All of these companies produce product to the most rigorous industry standards, they have excellent reputations, they have been around for awhile, they respect and support design and they have wonderful customer support.
Bulo
Industriezonr Nootf II
B-2800 Mechelen
+32 (0) 15 28 28 28
Established in 1963 near Antwerp, Belgium by Walter Busschop, Bulo has since expanded into a 538,000 sf factory in nearby Mechelen. From its roots as a producer of mobile file cabinets, Bulo has branched out considerably and is now in the forefront of European office furniture design. They have also recently launched the Carte Blanche collection which features the work of noted European designers such as Jean Nouvel, Maarten van Severan, Ann Demeulemeester.
ICF
Clarkstown Executive Park
704 Executive Boulevard
Valley Cottage, NY 10989
(800) 237-1625
Founded by Sam Friedman in the fifties as a vehicle to bring the Alvar Aalto designed line of furniture made by Artek into the US, ICF has become noted for introducing modern European design to the US market. Today most of the products are still imported, although a few are made or finished in the US. The line has expanded to include Unika Vaev textiles.
Hackman Designer Oy Ab
Hameentie 135
Fin-00560 Helsinki 0204 3911
Finland
Founded as a company to manufacture Finnish glass, Iittala's first product was Alvar Aalto's glass vase of 1936. Many of the major Finnish designers have become known for the glass objects that they made at Iittala. This is a company whose high level of craftsmanship, minimalist design, and practicality has lifted the Finns to the forefront of modern glass design. In the 1940's many of the objects designed by Tapio Wirkkala, Kaj Franck and Timo Sarpaneva have become Finnish classics; more recently iIttala has featured younger designers such as Harri Koskinenen, Annaleena Hakatie and even Marc Newson.
20082 Noviglio
Via delle Industrie 1
Italy
+39. 0290012/1
Founded in 1949 in Milan as a plastic factory primarily manufacturing plastic supplies for laboratories and research institutions, they branched out into the production of accessories and furniture in the 60's. Then Anna Castelli Ferrieri became involved with the company and began to design some of the first plastic objects with each new plastic Kartell invented. The first chairs were made of ABS plastic; they became very popular. Since then, Kartell has involved some of the best contemporary designers in their product development ranging from Gae Aulenti, Vico Magistretti and Joe Columbo to Philippe Stark. Recently, they opened a museum in Milan to document their company history
1450 Birchmount Road
Scarborough, Ontario
Canada M1P 2E3
(416) 759-5665
Keilhauer was started as a small manufacturer of fine upholstered furniture in the fifties. Still a family business, all 5 sons work together in what has become a large business almost exclusively devoted to the manufacture of seating. About ten years ago they expanded into office seating first with a traditional line that incorporated ergonomic features and then with more modern chairs which has grown into a major part of their business.
257 Finchdome Square
Scarborough, Ontario
Canada M1X 189
(800) 668-9318
Founded in 1968 by Klaus Nienkamper in Toronto and still run by him, Nienkamper has grown into a company noted for the handcrafted quality of working with wood, metal and high quality leathers and manufacturing one of a kind quality products. Since its inception, Nienkamper furniture has consistently been in the forefront of modern furniture design in Canada.
via Isonzo, 1
22078 Turato (CO)
Italy
02.967191
Begun as the division of Molteni & Co., a large well known residential furniture manufacturer in 1969 to create furniture for the workplace, the Unifor name has since become synonomous with the contemporary workspace in Europe. Unifor is especially noted for the clean lines incorporated into the furniture. They have also worked with many major European furniture designers.
Charles-Eames-Strasse 2
D-79576
Weil am Rhein, Germany
+07621 7023208
In 1934 Willi Fehlbaum bought a store fixture factory in Basel Switzerland. Relocated in 1950 to nearby Germany, Vitra began manufacturing furniture a few years later. In 1957 Vitra began manufacturing the Eames furniture in Europe, and in 1966, the Panton chair. In 1977 Rolf Fehlbaum became Chairman. In 1981, following a fire in their factory, a new factory was constructed with Nicholas Grimshaw as the architect. The 1980's saw the launch of office furniture with collections by Mario Bellini, Dieter Thiel and Antonio Citterio, and ended in 1989 with the opening of the Frank Gehry designed Vitra Design Museum. An addition of a fire station by Zaha Hadid and a conference center designed by Tadao Ando to the to the campus in 1993 was followed in 1996 by a production facility by Alvaro Siza and an administration building by Frank Gehry. The furniture offerings also expanded during the 90's with more office systems, ergonomic seating, and Vitra Edition models.