As one of the most appreciated design brands in the world thanks to its architectural viewpoint in the design of space and to an ideal of beauty made of pure shapes, extremely accurate workmanship and research on materials and technologies, Porro celebrates the inauguration of the new showroom in Chongqing, a fascinating Chinese city of mountains and rivers with a millenary history behind it, but also a gigantic metropolis that tells of the incredible development that the country is experiencing and speaks of a future to be built.

"This space was created to dialogue with the architects, interior designers and end customers in Chongqing who want a home in which space and furniture are thought of according to space: a tailor-made project where the artisan attention to detail is combined with the precision, reliability and quality of industry" - explains Maria Porro, marketing and communication director of the family company.
The architectural project was entrusted to Italian architect and designer Piero Lissoni, Porro's Art Director since 1989, who coordinates the brand's image and has signed its most representative products over the years.

"Lissoni chose to characterize Porro's new home in Chongqing with an elegant arched entrance door in blue crystal, an oblique wooden handle as a geometric sign, resin floors and natural materials such as the wooden slats for the ceiling and the ecological paint made from the waste of rice processing for the walls: a concept that will be repeated in other strategic cities in China to strengthen the brand's recognizability."

Thanks to a revolutionary and cutting-edge production plant that has eliminated warehouse stocks by working just-in-time with excellent results in terms of quality of cut and coating of panels, customization capacity, waste reduction and sustainability, Porro offers a home that is always different, unique, as demonstrated by this store, where the company's systems, complex but flexible architectures, design the spaces in an original way, dialoguing with the collections: objects characterized by pure geometric shapes, technological details, research on materials and finishes, designed by leading figures on the design scene.

The large living area at the entrance is gathered around the pure lines of the Panca Left by Piero Lissoni with a sophisticated pale moon wood top and Left metal foot. A pleasant conversation takes place on the Kite Sofa by GamFratesi that fits perfectly into the living space with its plastic fan shape. Wide and compact volume, Kite Sofa reveals to a careful eye its refined details: calibrated thicknesses, accurate proportions and the elegant curvature of the tubular structure that surrounds the internal padding, a sort of coat with a raised collar of haute couture spirit. The Savannah-colored Kite armchairs are accompanied by the Palladio coffee table by GamFratesi, with trapezoidal top in Calacatta Oro marble and anodized brass structure.
A large System composition designed by Piero Lissoni + Porro Research Centre in eucalyptus combines an elegant and convenient base element with drawers with a long shelf on top, where you can place your TV set and various objects as you wish or sit comfortably on the optional quilted leather cushion, an empty space in the middle with a back panel covered in woven straw – featuring a delicate and non-invasive texture that perfectly matches wood – and the transparent glass elements with an iron frame above, perfect for displaying rich collections inside. The LED lighting creates a magical interplay of light and shadow, enhancing the impact of this small piece of home architecture.

In the dining room beyond the Ex Libris bookcase by Piero Lissoni, in the Materic table by Piero Lissoni the black-stained ash typically used for the base is now used for the top, a dark textured surface interrupted only by the flush tray in the middle, while the conical base is skilfully made of stainless steel, resulting in an extraordinary visual impact in-between glamour, industrial and futurist look. Around it, the Frank chairs by Piero Lissoni in grey fabric, freely inspired by a French-styled déco, bring new comfort and expressive possibilities.
A Modern floor-to-ceiling composition in black stained hemlock designed by Piero Lissoni + Porro Research Centre plays with the emptying of its central part featuring a Calacatta oro marble shelf, that separates the lower area with suspended drawers and marble top from the black stained canneté hanging units above with tortora lacquered interiors. Between them, 4 glass cabinets with transparent glass doors, transparent lighted shelves and a marble back panel, with spotlights embedded in their base panels that illuminate the worktop.

In the reception area, the Fractal table by Piero Lissoni is a passe-partout product that can fit perfectly into the home as well as the office. Its essential structure with black painted aluminium L-shaped reduced section legs houses a black stained oak top, perfectly matched with the Neve chairs by Piero Lissoni in black stained ash wood and seat covered in black leather. With its rigorous yet soft lines, Neve reinterprets the classic wooden chair in a contemporary key. If the support structure is characterized by a path of clear lines of different thicknesses, slightly inclined, the roundness of the spindle legs and the soft curvature of the backrest and the suspended seat soften its figure, making it extremely intimate and welcoming.
Boutique Mast is the system with a graphical linearity providing for the best and highest expression freedom. Inspired by the masts of a boat, it exhibits circular metal uprights where to fit cantilevered glider-wing shelves and equipped open modules.
The ambiance is illuminated in a scenographic way by the Gap hanging bookcases designed by Carlo Tamborini in the precious rosso cina and grigio piombo metal finishes: a strong aesthetic sign that acts as a book-end as well as a light source, thanks to the built-in LED lighting that runs along its perimeter.

The real core of the home, the Storage dressing room “for her” designed by Piero Lissoni + Porro Research Centre, features fully transparent, open or closed spaces with glass doors, alongside the transparent corner solution. The structure and the metal parts, like the new thinner 25x25mm profile, that contributes to making the composition look even lighter and allows to perfectly match the different types of systems, come in the cuvée finish, a sophisticated and precious colour. The back panels and fittings are in white cherry, the new Scandinavian-inspired light finishing that mimics the cherry wood grain, softening the rosy nuance with more neutral and universal tones. It is one the 6 exclusive textures for the Storage interiors, selected and manufactured exclusively for Porro, combining resistance and high aesthetic values.
Embedded in a niche, the shoe rack with lighted angled shelves and shoe stoppers is the quintessence of Porro’s tailoring skills and of its ability to create bespoke solutions for every space.
Timeless charm characterizes the Hinged Storage wardrobe with saddle leather doors, becoming unique thanks to sophisticated stitches and Boite Aux recessed handles. Their regular pace is interrupted by a transparent open module with white cherry shelves and a cuvée structure.
At the center of the room, the Hub central unit by Gabriele and Oscar Buratti in black stained ash wood combines the wooden drawers on one side and a corda leather bench solution with a large drawer on the other, to sit and quietly contemplate the wardrobe, the heart of the house and a must of Porro’s offering.

Fascinating lifestyles, special finishes, concrete emotions: Porro brings its very personal style to the bedroom as well. A textile bed with an intimate and compact shape, the Byron bed by Piero Lissoni consists of 3 elements: the padded bed frame slightly raised from the floor, the soft headboard cushions where you can linger reading before falling asleep, and the screen at the bottom of the bed that seems to embrace the space and protect the rest. The lines are soft, the edges rounded, with the sophisticated detail of the screen with a black stained solid ash frame that encloses a straw weave featuring a graphic black and white houndstooth pattern, in a balance between contemporaneity and memory.
The Offshore chest of drawers by Piero Lissoni in avorio open-pore stained ash wood, thanks to the continuity of the wood grain on all sides, is a continuous volume interrupted only by the detail of the negative handle: a hole entirely plated in metal with Iron finish.
The avorio lacquered Pull-Out Sliding Storage wardrobe with Boite Aux handle and “cenere” hemlock interiors highlights the superior ability achieved by Porro in furnishing the space, in streamlining the shapes and in ensuring maximum elegance and functionality in every project.
The Hinged Storage wardrobe features thick 32S avorio lacquered doors and Glove recessed handles in leather-covered metal, telling of Porro's meticulous attention to every smallest detail. The interiors in black sugi, the new richly veined dark finish, are coordinated with the grey fabric covered backs recalling the sober color of the door. Its stride is interrupted by a niche in which the Load-it bookcase with brass shelves, grey fabric wall panels and a mirror, is accessorized with a Modern black stained hemlock shelf, perfectly matching the Romby chair by GamFratesi, whose truncated cone base in solid ash wood, with an exquisite flared shape, is connected to a swivel upholstered seat, soft and compact, covered in fabric or leather.

The Storage dressing room “for him” priviledges instead black sugi, the dark and enveloping finish, extremely sophisticated, at the same time ancient and modern chosen for Storage system of wardrobes and dressing rooms. Combined with a black painted metal structure, it offers a matte black-ink surface with marked veins, inspired by the ancient Japanese technique of Sou Sugi Ban, which protected the cedar wood by burning it with coal.
The Hinged Storage corner closet in black sugi alternates transparent modules with others closed by thick 32S doors in black stained hemlock with Oslo recessed handle made entirely of wood in an exercise in cabinet making.
At the center is Traveller, the elegant and original daybed by GamFratesi characterized by the black painted metal trestle structure and the the "saddle effect" leather sides and the iconic Balancing Boxes coffee table by Front, consisting of a series of metal or wooden boxes stacked with irregularity, balanced in space.
Halfway between the walk-in closet and the open wardrobe, characterised by distinctive wall panels to which the various modules can be fixed, is the Boiserie Storage, exposing gray fabric covered backs in the name of an impeccable masculine elegance from which emerge as architectural volumes the glass shelves and the elements in black sugi, such as the inclined shelves for shoes, the base, the big shelf for storing objects as well as the chest of drawers with crystal front.

For a moment of relaxation with superior comfort, the Jade lounge chair by Christophe Pillet upholstered in black leather appears elegantly suspended on the crossed structure in canaletto walnut. The 3Table coffee table by Front with glossy black metal legs is composed of 3 different moving tops, one round and one square in lauro preto essence and one oval in black back-painted crystal.
A scenographic System bookcase, design Piero Lissoni + Porro Research Centre, runs full height from floor to ceiling focusing on the strong graphic impact of its finish, black stained ash, combined with a transparent glass door with Iron frame, screening the next room.

A dining room with a strong character features the Metallico table by Piero Lissoni, characterized by the lightness of the top and legs, made from 12mm-thick solid aluminum, and by the particular rosso antico finishing, obtained by a catalysed high thickness painting and by following stages of polishing and waxing by hand. Next to it, are the Voyage chairs by GamFratesi with a natural or black stained maple structure and a close-fitting dress in saddle leather.
A Porro classic like the Load-It bookcase designed by Wolfgang Tolk in 1995 creates a materic picture on the wall, thanks to the steel shelves and wall panels in natural canneté, alternating horizontal and vertical stripes, with a writing surface in black stained hemlock. An ingenious project, now enhanced by lighting: the adjustable spotlight with an on-and-off touch system can be placed anywhere along the electrified profile under the shelf thanks to its magnetic connection, illuminating the objects displayed on the shelves in a technical and museum-like way.

Small object of desire with an off- plan shape, the Lullaby armchair by Nicola Gallizia revealing sophisticated details behind its apparent simplicity, such as the curved black stained ash solid structure and the covering in soft fabric, is accompanied by the Shahan coffee table by Christophe Pillet and the Inlay cupboard by Front that recovers the inlay precious tradition. Inlay is the result of an accurate processing technique, with 4 different oak colours and a black profile: a contour line separating the different faces of the texture while defining the design.

Finally, at the exit, a multifunctional composition combines the Storage hanging elements and the Load-it bookcase’s steel shelves and avorio lacquered panels, the same finishing chosen for the Modern drawer units. On the opposite wall, for a full immersion in the brand, the Porro Timeline is displayed: graphic pills that jump back and forth along the 95-year history of the brand, illustrating its values, characters and icons. It is accompanied by the two-tone Gentle chair by Front, a project matching the soft eco-leather of the back legs, which continue into the arc of the back, with the light wood of the front legs, which become armrests and back support.