An ottoman with wheels, a soft cube to be used everywhere as an additional seat is needed or as a service element placed by tables, writing desks and shelves.
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.
Production at B&B Italia's Novedrate (Como) headquarters is covered by an ISO 9001 quality-management certification, audited annually by an independent body.
