Before Bombo, the stool was
something else
Commercial Triumph
Italian designer Stefano Giovannoni loves comic books. No surprise there—not if you’ve ever seen the whimsical household products he has designed for Alessi—the monkey that is sometimes a corkscrew and sometimes a sugar bowl and sometimes bottle stoppers, or his bunny and carrot paper towel holder. His furniture designs are similarly playful and not overly serious.
But Giovannoni is very serious about commercial success. He says that seeing how well his products sell is even more satisfying than the many awards his work has won over the years. “It’s my job to think about how a product will be received in the marketplace,” he says, “and that is something I take very seriously.” When asked to name the project that has given him the most satisfaction, he answers candidly, “The hit selling.”
The Bombo Stool would certainly be one of those, although it was not an instant success when Magis Design introduced it in 1996. A smart set designer caught the futuristic feel of the stools and installed them on the sets of Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise, and they were also used to dress the set of the movie Lost in Space. Giovannoni, who is also a big sci-fi fan, must have been thrilled. And even more thrilling for the designer, following those appearances, numerous favorable reviews began to appear, and Bombo became—and remains—one of Magis’s best-selling items.
Original Bombo
Giovannoni says that, when Bombo was first introduced, “some people looked at it as an object coming out of ‘The Flintstones,’ but it’s a product that creates a knew kind of imagery, a new typology…because before Bombo, the stool was another thing.”
“Another thing,” indeed. In contrast to static stools that just sit there, Bombo moves up and down, powered by an internal gas piston, and the seat swivels 360 degrees.
The unusual—and very comfortable—seat is made by a process called rotational molding—or rotomolding, which is used to make everything from oil drums to road cones to pink yard flamingos. Rotomolding uses rotational movement to force material to the outside of a mold, leaving a void in the center. The result is a finished seat that is lighter—and material use that is more efficient. The process produces a seat whose color is integral throughout, rather than spray-painted on.
Bombo is the stool par excellence
- Magis
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