When the
English designer Damian Williamson creates the successful upholstered William
series for Zanotta in 2010, it’s clear that a new season is beginning in terms
of the company’s contemporary collection: beautiful, functional products, in
line with modern aesthetic tendencies, with a calibrated quality-price ratio.
The request to design a new bed along these lines produces Talamo. “Zanotta
asked me to imagine a bed that was comfortable and simple, solid and of high
quality, but without excess structural weight, and that had the least number of
assembled components. Using its ‘cousin’ William as a starting point was
natural: I reused the polished aluminum-alloy legs which give it a light,
modern look ; I researched a perimetric structure in steel with the firm’s
Technical Department, with curved beechwood slats. And added a simple padded
headboard with a removable cover”. Zanotta’s Technical Department confirms,
“The challenge has been to produce a bed that has all the requisites of the top
designs without any of the accessorial elements that increase costs. The
ergonomic slats for example, are installed in a single line: this avoids extra
costs that substantially don’t add anything to an already well-constructed
support. A polyurethane border around the steel structure was found to be the
solution for attaching the fabric cover”. A good example of reaching
objectives, in times when an all-Italian product is still desired, with high
quality material and excellent design, but economic investment is limited. The
designer adds, “Talamo isn’t trying to be what it isn’t. It’s a bed that is
quite clearly related to the William collection and is therefore modern, with
the same much-appreciated features and proportions of its forerunner – the
sofa. It’s a project that offers the fundamental elements which make a bed a
comfortable and robust dais on which to dream, rest and make love”.