The Ginepro table is made with an anthracite painted aluminium structure and a Serpentine stone top, extremely durable and precious. With its two shapes (round and rectangular with rounded corners) and different dimensions, it lends itself to be placed in different outdoor environments: terraces, verandas, patios and gardens.
Piero Ambrogio Busnelli founds the company in joint venture with Cesare Cassina under the name C&B Italia (Cassina + Busnelli), in Novedrate (Como), Italy. The new venture introduces cold-moulded polyurethane foam to the home-furniture sector.
Gaetano Pesce's UP series is launched: the first armchair born to be shipped flat in a vacuum-packed box. UP5_6 becomes one of the brand's signature pieces.
B&B Italia's purpose-built headquarters open in Novedrate, designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers on a free-plan, expandable modular structure — a full-scale prototype of the ideas the architects later realised at the Centre Pompidou.
Bellini's Le Bambole sofa series is launched: a metal frame wrapped in generous polyurethane padding that eliminates the rigid silhouette. Le Bambole goes on to win the Compasso d'Oro in 1979.
Busnelli buys Cassina out of the joint venture; the company is renamed B&B Italia. Folk etymology, attributed to Busnelli himself: the first "B" stands for the banks ("Banche") that funded the buyout, the second for Busnelli.
B&B Italia's wood components are sourced through the FSC® Chain-of-Custody licence FSC C142045 — a chain that documents wood from sustainably managed forests through to the finished piece.
