A Century of Italian Design Arrives in Jakarta: Porro at Bika Living
A Century of Italian Design Arrives in Jakarta: Porro at Bika Living
Sept 16, 2026
Karina Cheung & Maria Porro
On 16 September, Bika Living welcomed Maria Porro to its Kemang showroom for“Aperitivo at Bika Living,” an evening introducing Jakarta’s design community to Porro, one of Italy’s most storied furniture houses. Maria Porro, the brand’s Marketing & Communication Director, joined Karina Cheung, Managing Director of Bika Living, to host the gathering.
Aperitivo at Bika Living
Porro was founded in 1925 in Brianza, Italy’s traditional heartland of fine furniture-making, by brothers Giulio and Stefano Porro. In 2025, the company marked its 100th anniversary — a century built on mastery of wood, refined lacquer finishes, and architecturally-minded modular systems. Piero Lissoni has served as art director since 1989, shaping the brand’s clean, essential language alongside the family’s own material expertise.
Maria Porro
Maria Porro represents the family’s fourth generation, joining the company in 2014 after more than a decade in theatre and set design. She now leads Porro’s global communications and, since 2021, has served as the first woman elected President of Salone del Mobile.Milano, the world’s leading design fair. Her cousins are equally involved: Giovanni Porro oversees management and quality, while Giulio and Beatrice Porro lead procurement — a family whose combined expertise across every function continues to drive the brand’s growth.
Porro’s collections
At the showroom, Porro’s collections came alive through fully dressed room settings — a dining room, a living area, a bedroom, and a walk-in closet with its own storage system — letting guests experience the furniture as it would live in a real home.
Origata
Many pieces on display carried their own stories. The Origata console table, in burnt-orange lacquer, was designed by Japanese designer Nao Tamura, who won the very first SaloneSatellite Award in New York in 2010 before debuting the piece with Porro fourteen years later, in 2024. Inspired by how a kimono is cut from a single flat piece of fabric with almost nothing wasted, Origata has since won Interior Design’s Best of Year Award, the Archiproducts Design Award, and, in 2026, an Honourable Mention at the Compasso d’Oro ADI Award — Italy’s highest design honour. Nearby stood Front Design’s sculptural Balancing Boxes, its stacked wooden forms frozen mid-fall. Just as celebrated was Porro’s bookshelf and cabinet system, a longtime bestseller whose clean geometry has made it one of the most referenced — and imitated — designs by other furniture makers.
Aperitivo at Bika Living
The evening drew a strong crowd from across Jakarta’s design world: interior designers, architects, product designers, and other industry professionals, all eager to see a century of Italian craftsmanship find a new home in Indonesia through Bika Living.
