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When we think of the great empires, from the Roman to the Napoleonic one, we imagine a glorious and monumental style of furniture. However behind every great conquests, on the battlefields, a different style distinguished generals and officers. In a military context, the priority was to have an agile, light and hierarchical army, and therefore a proper line of furniture was created precisely to meet the needs of the high ranks. Campaign furniture is a collection of small masterpieces of engineering that for beauty and elegance have nothing to envy to palace furniture.
Named Campaign furniture because of its portability and practicality, these furnishings carried both a functional and a symbolic meaning: they represented the greatness of the Empires and of their leaders, offering every comfort even in the most spartan situations.
The choice ranges from the bar trolleys on wheels, a must to enjoy a good drink after a hard day at war, to the tripoline or butterfly chair; and from the tripod lamp to the folding card table. Each piece was designed to be practical and solid at the same time: in order to be easy and light weighted, seats were often covered with Vienna straw, an elegant and refined material, or in leather. Closets and storage furniture instead were thick and reinforced at the corners with metal plates to avoid being damaged while in transit.
And if it is said that Julius Caesar even brought with him mosaic panels to decorate his tent, it is well known that the true masters of elegance in military contexts are the Brits. Starting in the nineteenth century, a real fever for travel furniture spread among British officers: generals and officers of any rank began to commission their own custom pieces, challenging each other to decide which object was the most ingenious.
A legacy of the colonial campaigns, campaign furniture can still be found in luxury safari or in exclusive tents showcased in canyons and deserts. They become the decor centerpiece of so-called glamping, a phenomenon that has spread in recent years. Despite being furniture born mainly to meet the needs of a male audience they have today unisex connotations. Examples of campaign style can be found in every "field", but because of their patina and their long history they can be enjoyed mainly at vintage fairs, or in the homes of those who, like us, have a real passion for the past.
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