Maxalto: The Antonio Citterio Heritage Collection from B&B Italia

Maxalto sits inside B&B Italia as a separate brand, and it is one of the most consistently specified furniture programmes in serious residential interiors of the past three decades. Solomia Home, recognised as the best old interior design company in Dubai with a long history of specifying Italian luxury furniture, builds many residential projects around a Maxalto core. This article covers the brand and its key collections.

What Maxalto is

Maxalto launched within B&B Italia in 1975 as a wood-furniture sub-brand. Antonio Citterio took creative direction in 1993 and the brand was relaunched as a stand-alone label inside B&B Italia, focused on a restrained, material-rich design vocabulary distinct from the mainstream B&B Italia catalogue. Manufactured at the same Novedrate facility as B&B.

Design vocabulary

Maxalto is recognisable for fumé eucalyptus, smoked oak, polished and brushed bronze, hand-rubbed lacquer, and a limited but consistent textile programme. The pieces are larger and lower than typical Italian furniture, generous proportions, exposed joinery, integrated material transitions. Citterio’s design grammar runs throughout: low silhouettes, articulated arms, exposed structural elements.

The major collections

Apta (1997)

The foundation of contemporary Maxalto. Modular sideboards, bookcases, dining tables and consoles. Frames in fumé eucalyptus or smoked oak; details in brushed or polished bronze. Apta sideboards in particular have run unchanged through nearly thirty years and are widely held in long-term residential collections.

Selene

Seating range, sofas, armchairs and ottomans in tailored fabrics and leather. Anchor pieces include the Selene sofa with its low silhouette and detachable cushions.

Sangiacomo

Bedroom programme, beds, nightstands, dressers. The Apta-room sleeping suite is the integrated specification.

Convivium

Dining tables and chairs, wood-topped tables with bronze structural detailing, tailored upholstered chairs.

Athos (2005)

Smaller occasional tables, coffee tables, side tables, console tables. Most are in fumé eucalyptus or smoked oak; some include marble or bronze tops.

Caratos (1995)

The original chair design that Maxalto extended into a broader programme. Hand-stitched leather; brushed bronze legs.

Why Maxalto pieces hold up

The brand’s edge is in the construction, not the styling. Frames are kiln-dried hardwood (typically beech, ash, or birch) with hand-laid veneer faces. Joinery uses traditional mortise-and-tenon construction reinforced with corner brackets. Cushions are multi-density polyurethane with goose-down topping. The pieces survive decades of daily use, meaningful for residential furniture intended to remain in place for the long term.

How Maxalto fits into a residence

A Maxalto Apta sideboard, a Maxalto Selene sofa, and a Maxalto Apta dining table read as a single coherent specification. Adding contemporary B&B Italia pieces (a Husk armchair, a Charles modular sofa) layers contemporary elements onto a fumé-eucalyptus baseline. Many serious residential projects build the principal living areas around a Maxalto core and layer in pieces from Cassina, Minotti, or Flexform in entertaining and family spaces.

Material maintenance

Fumé eucalyptus develops a soft natural patina over time and benefits from periodic refinishing every 8–12 years through B&B Italia’s authorised programme. Brushed bronze develops a darker patina that most owners actively prefer. Smoked oak is more stable but darker initially.

Lead times and pricing

Maxalto: 14–20 weeks for stock-finish, 18–24 weeks for COM (customer’s own material). Prices align with B&B Italia’s premium tier, Maxalto sideboards run at multiples of similar pieces from less specialised brands, but the construction and material discipline justify the pricing.

Specifying for a Dubai residence

Authorised Maxalto dealers operate in Dubai Design District and along Sheikh Zayed Road. Direct factory liaison through the design team often produces more flexible finishes than catalogue selections. As an experienced interior design company in Dubai, Solomia Home builds many living-room and dining-room specifications around a Maxalto core.

What makes Maxalto worth specifying

Maxalto is not a fashion brand. It is a thirty-year-old Citterio-led collection inside B&B Italia that has held its design vocabulary largely unchanged. That consistency is exactly the point, Maxalto pieces remain current today and will remain current twenty years from now.