The glitter of Metals: Metal Details and Finishes from Bellavista Collection

It’s difficult to imagine a furniture piece without a single metal detail. Screws and nails, handles and door hinges, coil or sinuous springs, hooks, knobs, and many more – all these elements are made of metals.

Being a well-known manufacturer of Italian luxury furniture, Bellavista Collection uses lots of metal parts when producing its pieces. Entire structures, of, say, coffee tables or lamps could be made of metal, not to mention legs or bases.

What’s special about metal details from Bellavista Collection is that they come from its own design. Unlike lots of other furniture makers who buy spare parts from third-party firms, Bellavista Collection designs and manufactures every detail for its pieces. Otherwise, how could a brand call its pieces custom-made?

Varnishes and Finishes

Although brass, steel, and aluminum are beautiful in themselves, a coat of varnish or finish is applied onto metal surfaces, and not for decorative purposes alone.

It serves as a protective covering that prevents metals from oxidizing due to oxygen in the air. For example, aluminum, which is a pretty chemically active metal, quickly loses its lovely glitter and develops tarnish. So-called ‘red metals’ – copper, brass, and bronze (although two of them are actually alloys) – are prone to patina, which forms due to oxidation or other chemical reactions. Not everybody appreciates, say, greenish shade of natural patina on copper. It means that the metal surface should be protected from the air – say, by applying transparent protective varnish or some kind of finish.

When it comes to finishes, they come in a variety of colors and shades, which gives more choice to designers and customers alike. Finishes could be applied either similarly to paint, sometimes by hand (paint finishes), and by means of the galvanic process (galvanic finishes.)

If you wonder what Bellavista Collection painted finishes look like, take a glance at metal details of BONAPARTE coffee table (bronze finish), RETRO console table (brandy finish), the structure of CORINNE chair (dull champagne finish), and APOLLO coffee table (gold finish).

Galvanic finishes give smooth and even layer of coating, like antique bronze finish in CALIFORNIA bedside table and EIFFEL bookcase. The galvanic process, known as electroplating, takes place in special electrolytic baths, where a thin layer of metal is deposited onto the surface of details during an electrochemical process.

As to the range of finishes available, Bellavista Collection has a number of favorites, so to speak. For example, a special antique bronze finish, applied by hand, usually on pieces in cast brass, is used most often. Its noble and elegant look harmonizes with most of Bellavista’s designs.

By the way, if you really want some furniture piece to have metal details with some finish not on the list, Bellavista Collection can produce it on your request.

Now let’s take a quick look at the metals Bellavista Collection makes use of and at the items produced out of them.

Brass

Strictly speaking, bronze and brass are alloys, rather than metals. Brass consists mostly of copper and zinc and melts at 900 degrees centigrade; bronze mostly contains copper and tin, with a melting point at 950 degrees. Other elements may be present in little amounts. Bellavista loves brass for being relatively easy to work with and, of course, for their attractive look.

In Bellavista, cast brass is used both for details (e.g. handles of LONDON sideboard) or an entire structure, like in the table lamp named DALIA, designed in 2020.

By the way, this lamp looks really amazing. The shape of its metal structure it resembles petals of an unusual flower or aerial roots of some tropical plant. Cast brass is covered with either of the two equally beautiful finishes: bronze and black patina, applied by hand.

Brass is commonly used in Bellavista. Cast brass sculptures of animals with a variety of finishes have already become Bellavista’s hallmark as the lighting fixtures. For example, CAROL and FAROLITO floor lamps, SYRUS and YWKO candle holders, AMANDA and 4STAGIONI table lamps all are made of cast brass. This material is also often chosen in sheets and profiles for a base (e.g. ZEUS and ASPEN cabinets).

Frontals of MILANO credenza, designed in 2019, are also made of a brass sheet. What makes it special is the Nuvola finish (which means ‘a cloud’ in Italian), which Bellavista recently started to use.

Copper

Chemically pure copper is of pinkish-orange color. This metal is relatively easy to cast; it melts at 1085°C, which is well below iron or steel. Copper is a rather soft and corrosion resistant metal, which has been widely used for millennia.

Take a look at two grand-looking tables from Bellavista Collection with copper details. STEWART is a rectangular console table made of blackened copper or in steel with an attractive finish of the color named ‘brandy’.

The name of the second piece – COPPER – is quite self-explanatory. The wooden structure of this coffee table is cladded with sheets of blackened copper and coated with a transparent protective varnish.

Aluminum

Aluminum is a strong but lightweight metal of silvery color. Easily fusible (melts at 660.32 °C) and corrosion resistant, aluminum is widely applied in lots of industries, and furniture making is no exception.

Bellavista’s all metal three-legged round coffee table named BATISTA can be made of cast brass (with black patina finish) or cast aluminum (with Batista Copper or Batista Black). Structure of DARIUS round coffee table is made of cast aluminum with a bronze finish. Along with furniture, there are other things made of this metal and MARTA mirror frame (with antique bronze finish).

Stainless steel

Strong, durable, resistant to corrosion, stainless steel is a really versatile material. A talented designer can reveal the beauty of this material and prove that steel is quite suitable for high-end furniture. Look at HOLE coffee table, that along with other options could be made out of brushed steel. Its unusual cylinder-like shape with a hole in its side instantly attracts attention. TUDOR bar unit also looks magnificent, with its sides and top cladded in a sheet of brushed stainless steel, with a special Tudor finish, that is a bronzed one. The steel inner tank of the lovely DAFNE planter looks gorgeous and will last for decades.

As you can see, Bellavista Collection makes use of a variety of metals, skillfully combining them with other materials and revealing their natural beauty.