Bonaveri Magazine

The mannequin is created like a real sculpture
and it has within itself the DNA of the artistic
product. And like all forms of art, it reflects the
time and historical changes which are obvious
looking at the collections starting in the ’50s.
Let’s move to the origins of this story and enter
the sculpture atelier, the centre of gravity you
could say, with respect to the rest of the factory
housing the sewing room and the photography
studio.
The story of
Bonaveri represents
the essence of
Italian heritage:
passion, art,
craftsmanship and
originality
A bit further on is a space populated with
miniatures, small clay figures that are the
prelude to creating the actual mannequins.
The miniature in fact is not a reduction of the
larger mannequin proportions but rather it is
the first thing to be created and acts as means
of exploring ideas, modelling visions and
defining postures.
In fact the many possible proclivities and
natures live in them as embryos which are then
fully expressed in the life sized mannequins:
a first approach to understanding the steps
Bonaveri takes in exploring the confines of
form, the aesthetics of the figure.
From these shadowy rooms that enhance the
evocativeness of the figures, we pass into the
actual atelier.
Buckets of clay, rods and poles, spatulas,
instruments… The sculptor, Marco Furlani is
busy at work. He is shaping a new body for the
Obsession collection. Scattered around him are
scads of clay models, both baked and unbaked,
sketches and a wall covered with a mood board
of images of women in supple poses. In the same
room other sculptors are preparing or finalising figures
between abstraction and realism.
As every morning, Guido Bonaveri, at the helm of
the company with his brother Andrea, and technical
director at the factory, came in. In him you can also
feel the force of the passion for the artistic aspect.
Marco Furlani is from Trent, he is 36 years old and
has been working for Bonaveri for more than 10 years,
when he was still a student at the Fine Arts Academy
of Bologna. We have talked with both of them.
In this room are found all the significant things that
bind Bonaveri history to its present.
Guido Bonaveri: The sculpture atelier was already
the heart of the activity when my father, Romano,
was there. The old story he always told was that in
the post war period, when he was a little more than
20 years old, he didn’t know what to do with his life.
The idea of making bust forms and mannequins came
from talking with a tailor who told him that the bust
forms he used for sewing suits were made of papier
mâché, the same material used to make Carnevale
allegorical floats. Since my father at that time already
made such floats, it was then that he got the idea to
make a profession out of his own talent and start up a
business. And there you have it!
Interpreting this tradition must be a great
responsibility.
Guido: See, of the many paths one could follow in life,
my lot was to make mannequins. By chance I was
born into a family that has dedicated it’s own life,
both personal and professional, to mannequins. But
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