COVO is an Italian design company, founded in 1997 by Stefano Fragapane — with the declared intention not simply to manufacture products, but to act as an "enlightened publisher of objects". The formula Fragapane chose for his programme is "not common things" — unusual, emotional design objects that operate beyond their function and address the fundamental human need to be surprised and moved. COVO describes itself as a company with "Italian DNA and international roots": the first design impulse came from the rigour of East Asian forms, whose clarity has flowed into all subsequent products — complemented by the play with irony, colour and material that characterises the collection today.
Key products: Latva coat stand (Mikko Laakkonen — discovered at the Salone del Mobile 2006, inspired by the branch forms of Finnish trees; immediate adoption into the programme), Seasons tray series (Nao Tamura — rollable, foldable, washable; Salone Satellite Award 2010), Tinello Italiano (Marcello Panza — storage furniture collection with decorations from southern Italian folk tradition), Nordico Verace stool (silk-screen printed wood, 14 decorative variants), Rebels poufs (Rosanna Contadini — hand-woven neoprene, each piece a unique item), Aureole shelves (Nicolas Bovesse — steel, wall-mounted), clocks (Aika, Tiuku), lamps, glasses (Bei, Obid). Designer partnership with the Finnish market through collaboration with Finnish Design Shop. Made in Italy.
For architects and interior designers seeking a furnishing accessories programme that has neither the coldness of pure industrial design nor the weight of representative luxury objects, COVO is the most precise Italian address — a kind of independent design publishing house that brings together talents from Finland, Japan, Belgium and Italy and allows them to design objects that want to be remembered.