GIORGIO BAGNARA,
FOUNDER AND CEO
OF GIOBAGNARA
Born into a family renowned for cultivating the Art
of Fine Living for three generations, Giorgio Bagnara
became passionate about his calling at a very early age.
At the end of the 1990s, after noticing that leather
utilized in the fashion industry was not considered
a suitable material for home accessories, he founded
GIOBAGNARA with the goal of applying leather
to a homewares collection.
Together with his wife, Vanessa, he decided to move
his design studio and workshops to the old docks
in the Port of Genoa where, surrounded by the essence
and beauty of that location, the company took
a signifcant step forward.
THE DYNAMICS OF A DUO
A real laboratory for ideas, Giorgio Bagnara coordinates
production in the Manufactura’s workshops.
He carries out projects and handles private orders, working
at the very core of production and enriching his repertory
of forms each day, being involved in all stages of creation.
His wife Vanessa harmonizes the collections, cultivating
elegance and contributing her chic feminine vision
to the creation of trendy accessories.
Together, with natural complicity and meticulous care,
they plan and select what will become the collections
of tomorrow. They combine expertise and intuition
to be fully attentive to their clients’ needs.
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The interior architect and designer Stéphane Parmentier began his career working
for Karl Lagerfeld before deciding to devote himself to architecture full-time
in 2002. Since then, he has created and developed numerous projects for an
international clientele attuned to his style of luxurious simplicity. The homes and
objects he designs reveal a vision that is deeply anchored in a modern everyday
lifestyle. Inspired by classical Greco-Roman antiquity, the beauty of the Puglian
landscape, the restraint of the Japanese aesthetic, and a desire to focus on the
essential, he cultivates elegant asceticism by associating noble materials with
subtly graphic lines.
GIOBAGNARA AND STÉPHANE PARMENTIER
Stéphane Parmentier frst met Giorgio Bagnara a few years ago in the aisles
of a professional trade show. Enamored of the beauty and the quality of the
leathers used, not to mention the meticulous attention to detail evident in each
piece, he regularly contacted GIOBAGNARA to realize the custom-made home
furnishings in leather or suede that he designed for private clients.
Very soon, the two built a rapport based on a shared sense of rigor, a quest for
excellence down to the smallest detail and a taste for modern elegance expressed
through sleek design, beautiful materials — and a mutual taste for audacity.
In 2017, their animated creative dialogue and a shared ambition to bring a new
perspective to the market naturally led Giorgio Bagnara to entrust Stéphane
Parmentier with the artistic direction of GIOBAGNARA. Since the beginning
of this collaboration, Stéphane Parmentier has designed a wide number of new
creations for the brand, from boxes, cases, desktop objects, storage units, change
trays, trays, candle holders and vases to furniture and leather — or suede —
trimmed lamps in a wide array of colours.
In blending tradition, aesthetic heritage and modernity, Stéphane Parmentier
brings a graphic and sensual sensibility to a typically Italian art of living of which
he is particularly fond.
Glenn Sestig, born in 1968 in Ghent, Belgium, graduated from the Henri Van De
Velde institute in Antwerp and in 1999 established a practice together with painter
Bvardk.
From the outset, their work focused on extreme precision, on a construction with
such mastery of the architectural line, proportions and perspective that it is easy to
forget the careful consideration that will have gone into their design and creation.
In addition to the material and its interpretation, transparency and the play of
refection suggest, rather than illustrate, the endeavors that have resulted in the real
grandeur of some projects, primarily places for public use.
Glenn Sestig Architects is synonymous with contemporary chic. His work can be
seen as unrelentingly urban and contemporary - materials are exclusive and its
combinations are renewing and unique.
Francesco Balzano was born and grew up in Paris, yet his visual culture is
imprinted with the images of Venice, Florence, Rome and Capri – where he used to
spend his summer holidays.
He studied interior design and architecture, and then joined the famed studio of
Joseph Dirand, working on prestigious projects.
In 2018, he opened his own studio and started designing custom and limited
editions of furniture pieces for art and design galleries all over the world, whilst
continuing his work as interior architect for private clients.
Simplicity as a means to ultimate sophistication.
The unparalleled mix of noble materials, pure lines and essential functions of
everyday lifestyle.
The singularity of each design conceived as a sort of monolithic, sculptural piece
that stands the test of time.
“My work is architectural and authentic; – says Francesco – it is a permanent tribute
to the beauty of timeless things”.
