Opinion Ciatti - Tab.u chrome stool

Take a wooden structure, cover it with aluminum and then shape the surface, "wrinkle" by hand, until you give it a ruched profile. This is the basic workmanship of Tab. u Collection, a family of stools, coffee tables and mirrors - designed by Bruno Rainaldi - with an absolutely unmistakable line.

The low stool Tab. u, the first born of the family, is a real "wild" object. Perfect in any environment and for any use: at the table for the unexpected guest, in the bathroom to lay objects or towels, in the sitting area when there is no more room on the sofa or in the bedroom instead of the usual bedside table.

Big Tab. u is the classic high bar stool. Beautiful around a counter or a kitchen island. At home as in the most glamorous place.

Bruno Rainaldi

Bruno Rainaldi was born in Milan in 1952. His training was hands-on, having started at a young age to work in design communication. In his early years in Milan he managed the first High-Tech emporium in Corso di Porta Ticinese, moving on to work first alongside Maddalena De Padova in the historical showroom in Corso Venezia and then with Enrico Baleri as partner in Baleri & Associati, where he was in charge of defining communication strategies for design companies and stores. His beginnings as an autodidact encouraged him in later life to ironically and anti-celebratively define himself as a “street designer” and his style as “chaotically rigorous”.

In the mid-1980s he founded Studio Rari – of which he became the soul and creative director. He also started working as art director with some of the top Italian design companies, leading his name to be associated, amongst others, with Alivar, Casprini, MDF Italia, Mussi Italy, Sintesi, Slamp, Terzani. His encounter, in those same years, with the Ciatti family marked the beginning of an important personal and artistic alliance, that led to the establishment first of CCR and then of Opinion Ciatti.

In the early 2000s, his career took a turn towards the world of design. In 2002, together with Marta Giardini, he founded ENTRATALIBERA, a very special space in the heart of Milan dedicated to design and design culture, sales and encounters. At the same time, his focus shifted to studying and creating objects, furnishing accessories and lamps, where the expertise gained over the years in this sector mingled with design inventions.

Amongst the numerous pieced designed there is the Ptolomeo bookshelf, for which, in 2004, he was awarded the Compasso d’Oro. In 2006, together with the very young Lapo Ciatti, who had just entered the family business, he founded Opinion Ciatti, of which Bruno Rainaldi was President, partner and art director.

He passed away prematurely in February 2011.

Opinion Ciatti

Opinion Ciatti is a company founded in 1950 in Florence that produces accessories and design furnishing including bookcases, tables and chairs; for the home, work and common spaces. A wide range of concrete and very identifiable objects, able with their presence, their touch, to characterise an atmosphere, personalise an environment. It all begins with an intuition of Rolando Ciatti. As a curious and attentive observer of a world that is changing so fast around him, he understands that a place in the house must be found for that strange, new object – the television - which was about to shake the Italians habit. That’s how Ciatti was founded, in Borgo San Frediano, in Florence Oltrarno, as the first company in Italy to produce TV benches. In 2003  the Ciatti family meets Bruno Rainaldi. Along they found CCR design, a new company focused on the development of home objects and accessories. Under the art direction of Mr Rainaldi, important names in Italian design start creating storage objects, chairs, mirrors, all characterized by a strong and bold personality. In 2004, Original Ptolomeo, the free-standing bookshelf by Bruno Rainaldi, wins the Compasso d’Oro award. Basic but revolutionary, new and with a great impact, as sudden as an intuition; Ptolomeo soon becomes the company’s best-selling item and an icon of contemporary design.