B&B Italia Alanda ’18 Coffee Tables: Paolo Piva’s 1980s geometry, reissued in 2018
A 1980s silhouette, made current again
B&B Italia’s Alanda ’18 coffee tables return a familiar late-Modern vocabulary to the center of the room: a glass plane held above a gridded steel base. The form reads instantly as architectural—more framework than volume—and that’s precisely the point. For an overview of the piece in this edition, see the Product page.
B&B Italia’s way of reissuing icons
From the 1970s onward, B&B Italia built its reputation on industrial precision applied to expressive forms—often commissioning designers whose work sits between architecture and product design. Alanda ’18 follows that strategy: a recognizable historical object, kept structurally faithful, and placed back into a contemporary catalog as a small table system. B&B Italia describes the 2018 re-edition as a tribute to Paolo Piva and the original’s 1980s impact.
Paolo Piva and the Alanda timeline
Paolo Piva (1950–2017) worked across architecture and furniture, a dual practice that helps explain why Alanda feels like a miniature structure rather than a conventional table (Paolo Piva). B&B Italia dates Alanda ’18 to 2018 and frames it as a revisit of the 1980s original (Alanda ’18). Outside the brand context, Alanda is also documented as an early-1980s design in retail exhibition notes (Alanda, 1982).
What the geometry does in a room
The signature is the base: a network that recalls upturned pyramids, creating depth and shadow beneath a clear top. Because the structure is open, the table keeps sightlines moving—useful in seating groups where you want a strong center without visual blockage. In this edition, B&B Italia notes painted steel rod and a glass top, offered in two sizes (painted steel rod and glass).
An installation story from a December delivery
A customer report notes the Alanda ’18 arrived on December 1, 2025, specifying the square 120×120 format with an extra-light glass top. The photos show how the table’s framework reads differently from each angle—sometimes like a lattice, sometimes like a series of crisp diagonals. It lands best when the surrounding pieces stay quieter, letting the base do the graphic work.
Where it fits
Alanda ’18 suits living rooms that already rely on clean-lined upholstery and strong proportions, where one graphic object can anchor the composition. It also works in lobby-style layouts, because the structure reads clearly at a distance and holds its identity in open space. If you like architecture-forward furniture—objects that look engineered rather than upholstered—this is the kind of coffee table that can carry a whole seating group without adding bulk.
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