One of the most enduring furniture companies in Italy, Acerbis stands as a connoisseur’s benchmark of Italian design — a pioneer with 150 years of expertise, whose continual search for modernity has produced creations of stunning innovation.
First founded in 1870 by Benvenuto Acerbis
in Bergamo’s Valle Seriana, Acerbis introduced cutting-edge industrial production and collaborations with some of Italy’s most trailblazing designers by the 1960s under Lodovico Acerbis
, including Giotto Stoppino
, Massimo and Lella Vignelli
, Vico Magistretti, Nanda Vigo and Gianfranco Frattini.
Acerbis impart a fundamental luxury experience of design for users to match the conceptual aesthetic solutions of the furnishings. Over these years of experimentation and industrialization, Acerbis forged its DNA of Italian ingenuity for a future-gazing clientele ever since
.
Today this mission continues with fresh vigor. With industry leader MDF Italia investing in Acerbis for a newly cemented partnership
, and recently appointed creative directors Francesco Meda and David Lopez Quincoces
helming a dynamic path forward, Acerbis affirms its family-led lineage of pace-setting vision, and its universe of designs that unite function and the avant-garde
.
Looking to the past to face the challenges of the future, Acerbis takes on the great changes of our era, and the need to create a more sustainable society — a future that returns to a time when objects were made to last, when we needed only a few things but things that were beautiful and high-quality, when design meant a radical break from tradition and creating innovative products with the latest technology and material developments.
Acerbis will continue to offer beauty and functionality, like that found in all the iconic products of the company, which in its 150 years of experience has created products whose modernity survives the decades and remains avant-garde even today, and for the future.
Continuing this mission means maintaining Acerbis as a place of research and experimentation, of new collaborations with both emerging and celebrated designers, and of breakthrough new products that will become future icons of design.
Benvenuto´s workshop in Albino
In 1870, Benvenuto Acerbis opened his carpenter’s workshop in Albino, Bergamo. “Benvenuto Acerbis Tappezzerie, Falegname e Carpentiere. Fabbrica Mobiglia a Motore Elettrico. Impianti Completi” [Benvenuto Acerbis Upholsterer, Joiner and Carpenter. Electric Motor Furniture Factory. Complete Systems], so said the sign, already hinting at one of the pillars of the Acerbis philosophy: the dialogue between technology, artisan skills and a profound knowledge of materials.
The revolution of Lodovico Acerbis
In 1963, the company moved to Seriate and Lodovico Acerbis took over the leadership of the company. It was he who created the trademark, Acerbis International: a brand that took its artisan inheritance and reinterpreted it in the new collections of finely designed objects. With the collaboration of the greatest architects and designers of the time he set off to conquer the international market.
The close association with Giotto Stoppino
The meeting between Lodovico Acerbis and Giotto Stoppino was one of the major historic moments for the company and for design: their affinity and creative harmony created products such as the Sheraton, Compasso d’Oro 1979, Hilton, Brooklyn and Quartetto. With them, the polyester lacquers and the study of new materials and technologies became the fulcrum of the company’s philosophy.
The modernity of artisan knowledge with the Vignelli family
Serenissimo, Lago Dorato, Creso: products that were winners of awards, such as the IBD Golden Award and an Honourable Mention in the Compasso d’Oro, were created in collaboration with Lella and Massimo Vignelli, who became part of the company’s history, thanks to their unmistakable approach to their projects. Their austere lines and volumes inspired by graphic design blended with the material processes and artisan decorations, according to the ancient techniques of encausto, and gold and silver leaf.
Innovative vision and avant-garde design
Imbued with precision production and a finely-honed heritage in high craftsmanship, Acerbis innovated creative solutions for contemporary living spaces — creating the vanguard in modern modular furnishings. Continually exploring novel material uses, Acerbis established a new touchstone in high-quality lacquers, imbuing them with previously unseen levels of gloss and durability.
The acquisition
As of 2019, MDF Italia acquired Acerbis in order to join the forces of these two powerful brands of bold Italian furnishings. Interconnected in their offerings, together the brands are able to explore new markets, reinforcing their sales vitality to stay robust amid the changing tides of the global market. “The alliance secures the strength and continuity of a brand that has always been a standard-bearer in the world of design,” says Enrico Acerbis.
A new creative path
Francesco Meda and David Lopez Quincoces, the new creative directors of Acerbis, have united their well-proven strengths in industrial design and architecture, and their considerable career accomplishments, to invigorate the future of design at Acerbis.
Remasters
In 2020 Acerbis introduces a selection of archive creations by the trailblazing talents who made the history of Italian design, now reinterpreted for the contemporary era by creative directors, who have imbued the works with an invigorated emphasis on the brand’s signature lacquers, along with the strength of materials, potent new proportions, and high-geared colors inspired by vintage racecars.
- Commercial invoice dated 1907
- Lodovico Acerbis
- Lodovico Acerbis and Giotto Stoppino
- Massimo and Lella Vignelli
- Sheraton sideboard detail
- MDF Italia and Acerbis together at the Salone del Mobile 2019
- Francesco Meda and David Lopez Quincoces
- Maestro Table in solid black ash wood