Design Issue
June 2020 - Year XIV - www.ifdm.design
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Palo Alto walk-in closet _ ph. Michele Poli _ MisuraEmmeÂŽ studio_ misuraemme.it
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We respect food, down to the very essence of its flavor. Fresh foods have finally found a place in which to be protected. With this philosophy, Signature Kitchen Suite has created a range of excellent appliances with modular design: columns for the conservation and freezing of foods, wine cellars. Because for us, the sense of taste comes first.
SHOWROOM MILANO PIAZZA CAVOUR, MILANO
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features
ifdmdesign
29 PEOPLE&PROJECTS GamFratesi
YEAR XIV
DESIGN ISSUE TREND 32 Color Stories PEOPLE &OPINIONS 40 VENINI Interview with Silvia Damiani GOOD LIKES 20 Refining dialogue Design Issue
June 2020 - Year XIV - www.ifdm.design
SIX NEWS FROM IFDM.DESIGN
22 A selection from web ECONOMY &MARKETS
PEOPLE &PROJECTS 43 Interview with David Lopez Quincoces 24HOURS IN MILAN 46 The city that never sleeps
RISING TALENTS 86 Budding stars
PUBLISHING COORDINATOR
Matteo De Bartolomeis matteo@ifdm.it
ARCH &INTERIOR 90 Extreme luxury PEOPLE &PROJECTS
EDITORS
INTERNATIONAL CONTRIBUTORS
EVOLVED RETAIL
London | Francesca Gugliotta
100 The international trade starts again
SIGNATURE UPGRADE
Boffi
New York Anna Casotti | nyc@ifdm.it Los Angeles Jessica Ritz | lax@ifdm.it WEB DEPARTMENT
redazione@ifdm.it
DIGITAL DEPARTMENT
Federica Riccardi | web@ifdm.it PR & MARKETING MANAGER
Marta Ballabio | marketing@ifdm.it
26 CASSINA Interview with Luca Fuso & Patricia Urquiola
BRAND RELATIONS
Camilla Guffanti Annalisa Invernizzi camilla@ifdm.it, annalisa@ifdm.it GRAPHIC DEPARTMENT
PEOPLE &PROJECTS 29 Interview with GamFratesi
MANAGING EDITOR
Veronica Orsi | orsi@ifdm.it Alessandra Bergamini, Valentina Costa, Manuela Di Mari, Cristina Ferrari, Rachele Frigerio, Francisco Marea, Cinzia Meoni
97 Interview with Studio Klass
PEOPLE &OPINIONS
Illustration by Mathieu Persan
Paolo Bleve bleve@ifdm.it
66 FOCUS ON
24 Design in the POST-COVID19 era
on cover: the design comedy
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Sara Battistutta, Marco Parisi grafica@ifdm.it TRANSLATIONS
FOCUS ON
PRIMA 56 An overview of the major FILA international companies 104 Design on screen PEOPLE &OPINIONS 80 BAXTER Interview with Paolo Bestetti PEOPLE &PROJECTS 83 Interview with Draga&Aurel
DESIGN DISTRICTS 106 Virtual&real: fairs are changing
Stephen Piccolo ADVERTISING
Marble/ADV Tel. +39 0362 551455 - info@ifdm.it CLOSED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF
17th June 2020
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HEAD OFFICE & ADMINISTRATION
Via Milano, 39 - 20821 - Meda, Italy Tel. +39 0362 551455 www.ifdm.design PRINTED BY
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90 ARCH&INTERIOR
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Extreme luxury IFDM 14 June 2020
GIORGETTI.EU • PH. TIZIANO SARTORIO
SKYLINE SOFA AND LOW TABLES MOVE ROCKING ARMCHAIR CORALLO LOW TABLES GRADIENT REFLEX RUG KENDAMA LAMP
VERSACE.COM
editorial
PAOLO BLEVE | Editor-in-chief
Re-designing the present
I
will take possession of this somewhat abused phrase, because the times require it. Especially recent times, when the world – the entire globe, not just the metaphorical world of design that is our closer context – has experienced widespread instability, a sense of bewilderment not only about tomorrow but also, directly, about the present. We’ve been sailing without instruments for some time now. If we want to be optimistic and find the positive side of all this, we can say that we have been obliged to rethink ourselves, our values, priorities and approaches, and thus our ways of living and – even more – our methods of working. In other words, we have had to re-design ourselves. And getting out of our comfort zone has become the only way to look to the future and to create opportunities. A comfort zone that also contained the Salone del Mobile, whose cancellation has necessarily prompted companies to find different showcases and alternative methods of communication.The result has been a feverish pace of events across different digital tools (previously seldom utilized in the world of design): instruments and services also activated by the retail network to ensure proximity to clients.
The results are collaborative initiatives that set out to create a system (just consider the many ‘manifestos’ and ‘white papers’). New furnishing products have been called into play, to make everyday reality more ‘livable.’ In our case, all this has meant taking on a new (graphic and distribution-based) identity to guarantee the mission IFDM has pursued for 13 years, with continuity and increasing innovation. We have thus experienced the most widespread, deepest form of the meaning of ‘design’: to reflect, to call into discussion, to analyze, to create, to innovate, to get past boundaries, to look beyond. All in a single word. This is the challenge and the great opportunity of the present.
IFDM 17 June 2020
Modular sofa PENELOPE Bookcase MINERVA
via Indipendenza, 194 20821 | MEDA (MB) | ITALY
www.elleduearredamenti.com
good LIKES
REFINING DIALOGUE SOMETIMES PARTICULAR EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES CAN CAUSE AN ACCELERATION OF PROCESSES THAT MIGHT SEEM LONG AND COMPLICATED BUT ACTUALLY ONLY NEEDED A SORT OF JUMPSTART. DIGITAL CONSULTING, PODCASTS, NEW WEBSITES, APPS, INNOVATIVE DIGITAL CAMPAIGNS: EVERY TOOL HAS THE AIM OF APPROACHING CLIENTS, IMPROVING COMMUNICATION, SHORTENING DISTANCES AND OFFERING IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES WITH NEW DIGITAL TOOLS
WWW.BEBITALIA.COM
THE COUCH, the new official podcast of B&B Italia, coordinated by the journalist David Plaisant, has the aim of narrating the company’s thinking for design lovers, including curiosities and fun facts regarding this brand that is a symbol of Made in Italy. An appointment programmed until September that also includes in-depth coverage of ‘design culture’ through the views of international personalities. The information of THE COUCH is found on the social network pages of B&B Italia and is available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts.
WWW.MOLTENI.IT
In step with the US market, Molteni&C|Dada announces the launch of a new digital consulting service for interior design. Molteni@Home fosters connection between points of sale and consumers, architects, interior designers and their clients, facilitating the achievement of shared objectives with direct consulting services. Starting in September, in the United States, an exclusive pilot project of e-commerce will be launched to bring clients closer to the firm, through various digital touch points. Another recent development is the company’s decision to join the 1stDibs platform, a key player for online sales on the American market.
WWW.GLAMORA.IT
Don’t miss the new online platform spreading the word on the collections of wallpapers and coverings created by Glamora. New graphic design and new contents with more functions, and a dedicated design area. The new sections include the curious Glamora Diary, a novel voyage to discover the sources of inspiration and the aesthetic of the brand, with news, in-depth coverage, technical info and monthly project updates.
WWW.SNAIDERO.IT
#TheKitchenIsThePlace is the slogan of the new digital communication campaign created by Fabrizio Vagliasindi of Eupragma for Snaidero brand. The aim is to get beyond the product, to offer consumers an experience of what the kitchen represents in the lives of people. A virtual reality voyage that combines physical and digital dimensions, through the Snaidero app, the mini-site https://thekitchenistheplace. snaidero.com, the new interactive catalogue and a digital campaign on Instagram and Facebook. IFDM 20 June 2020
WWW.MAISON-OBJET.COM
2020 is an important year for the Maison&Objet trade fair, which celebrates its 25th anniversary with a new look for its website. (RE)GENERATION is the theme chosen for this edition, with the idea of looking to the future, analyzing attitudes, desires and expectations of digital natives in the generations Y and Z. The site, in step with the new ad campaigns and change of image, becomes more contemporary and practical, ready to meet consumers who are revolutionizing their approach to the home sector and lifestyle in general.
www.flexform.it
six news FROM IFDM.DESIGN EVERYDAY
live on IFDM.design
5,673 | 01:27 min | 2,381
INTERIOR
2,807 | 01.16 min | 1,880
DESIGN
The two sides of Paolo Castelli, in new creations for 2020 Paolo Castelli presents Inspiration and GREENKISS, two new 2020 catalogues that respectively narrate the refined allure and the contemporary green approach of the brand.
Outdoor surfaces: live material Strong, frostproof, skidproof, resistant to mold and mildew. Pure or ‘technologized,’ material is the strong point of outdoor surfaces, ready for all kinds of weather… and use.
RESTAURANT
Lost in lockdown. The other face of New York
Iyo Aalto: material and design in correspondence
Images that narrate a surreal, suspended Manhattan, where the shops are closed and their windows protected by strong panels. By the Architectural Photographer Marco Petrini.
In the recent work by Maurizio Lai, the complicity is strong between form and material, thanks to an indispensable understanding between the architect and Poliform Contract.
3,693 | 01:28 min | 1,306
DESIGN
4,242 | 01:58 min | 1,110
5,685 | 02:04 min | 953
ECONOMY
4,754 | 01:44 min | 1,147
INTERIOR
Luxury Living Group headed for acquisition by Haworth LLG will become part of the Lifestyle Design division of the Haworth Group. The objective is to reinforce and financially stabilize the luxury group, which remains under the management of Roberto Spada.
IFDM 22 June 2020
Flou in progress The 2020 collection by Flou draws on nature and its way of being in constant flux. Matter and Space, Movement and Form become the values around which to shape not just new products, but also a true philosophy ‘in progress’.
economy&MARKETS
DESIGN IN THE POST-COVID19 ERA THE PANDEMIC MAY COST UP TO 8 BILLION IN SALES, ACCORDING TO FEDERLEGNO. BUT BESIDES THE CHALLENGES, THERE ARE ALSO OPPORTUNITIES FOR ONE OF THE EMBLEMS OF MADE IN ITALY IN THE WORLD, WITH AN OVERALL VALUE OF 42.5 BILLION. THE REBOUND IS POSSIBLE text by Cinzia Meoni
LEMA, living setting with Selecta system, Faroe storage bench, Taiki armchair
I
talian design is ready for Phase 3. The scenario is complex, but a restart is possible, relying on the quality of raw materials, the ability to innovate, a solid chain of supply and production, and the reputation of brands that have orchestrated the success of our high-end products in the world (equal to 10.4% of the market, according to a study released a few months ago by Intesa Sanpaolo). There are many challenges, but also opportunities for growth, if we examine the trends brought to the surface by Covid19.
Minotti headquarters
THE NUMBERS “Covid19 has had a serious impact on design. The high-end market is expected to shrink at a double-digits rate in 2020, due to the blocks of production in various countries and the dynamics of slumping consumption,” says Claudia D’Arpizio, partner of Bain & Company Italia and global head of the area on fashion and luxury. In Italy, the entire system of supply and production chains includes 74,800 companies, most small or of medium size, with 314,000 employees, and revenues of 42.5 billion euros. In greater detail, the furniture macro-system is worth 27.59 billion (of which 14.48 billion in exports), while the wood and construction macro-system is worth 12.2 billion (of which 1.9 in exports). “The economic impacts of Covid19 are clearly negative. The risk, according to the simulations, is a loss of about 20% of sales, i.e. about 8 billion euros. For every billion lost, 8000 jobs vanish,” FederLegno claims.
IFDM 24 June 2020
EXPORTS For the post-Covid rebound it will be essential for companies to intercept new generational and geographical markets, relying on the appeal of Made in Italy in the world. The study conducted by Intesa Sanpaolo calculated the sum of 700 million as the potential export increase from 2017 to 2022 in the high-end sector alone. Among the companies already active on the export market Visionnaire, the Bologna-based company founded 60 years ago by the Cavalli family, stands out, producing articles in Italy but generating nearly all its sales elsewhere, with a focus on China, Russia and the Middle East. Other leaders include Poliform (exports nearing 80%), Minotti (84%), Flexform (79%), Gruppo Calligaris (68%), iGuzzini Illuminazione (83%) and Lifestyle Design, at the helm of brands like Poltrona Frau, Cassina and Cappellini (74%). HEADING FOR CHINA In greater detail, according to D’Arpizio, “China can be the motor of growth for the coming years, as it was for luxury personal goods downstream from the crisis of 2009, thanks to the active real estate market and a breakthrough towards more contemporary tastes in a market previously underpenetrated by high-end design brands.” Among those wagering on Beijing, we can mention Natuzzi (with over 200 stores in the country), Gruppo Calligaris that has just opened a space in Guangzhou, and IDB-Italian Design Brands (which includes Gruppo Gervasoni and Meridiani), with a recent affiliate in Shanghai.
THE TOTAL VALUE OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN OF ITALIAN FURNITURE INDUSTRY
Claudia D’Arpizio
KITCHENS
BATHROOM FURNITURE
BEDROOMS
BED SOLUTIONS**
OFFICE
LIGHTING
FLOORS
EXPORTS BY CATEGORY (%)*
ACCESSORIES
“
THIS TREND WILL LEAD TO A REORGANIZATION OF SPACES AND FURNISHINGS, IN A MORE FLEXIBLE, MODULAR PERSPECTIVE THAT OFFERS OPPORTUNITIES FOR COMPANIES ABLE TO INTERPRET THE NEW NEEDS OF CONSUMERS.
TOTAL EXPORT TURNOVER
AREA LIVING
SUSTAINABILITY To reinforce the bond with clients and attract new generations, it is also important to focus on themes of environmental, social and economic sustainability. “Covid19 will lead to greater impact of questions of sustainability,” D’Arpizio comments. The focus will be on safety, the use of recycled materials and energy savings, as in the case of Boffi, which combines technical aspects with safeguarding of social and environmental aspects; Minotti, which is investing in ecosustainable production; Starpool, wagering on the recycling of packing; Listone Giordano and Terratinta in the area of finishes, offering total green corporate structure as well as
€ 14.48b
CHAIRS
THE COMPANIES OF THE CHAIN OF PRODUCTION IN ITALY
€ 42.5b
UPHOLSTERY
74,800
58%
70%
38%
56%
36%
47%
27%
19%
41%
76%
23%
* Preliminary report for 2019. By the Centro Studi FederlegnoArredo ** Mattresses, box-springs, pillows, etc
Partner of Bain & Company Italia
products; and Salvatori, for which the challenge lies in the application of innovative production techniques for natural stone. COCOON HOUSES As in product lines, the pandemic has also changed the center of gravity of everyday life, D’Arpizio points out, shifting it inside the domestic walls. During the lockdown, homes have adapted to also act as places of work, fitness, education, online socializing and contact with the outside world. And there is no turning back, at least not on all fronts. This is the theme of Scavolini’s latest communication campaign. “This trend will lead to a reorganization of spaces and furnishings, in a more flexible, modular perspective that offers opportunities for companies able to interpret the new needs of consumers,” says the expert from Bain & Company, who underlines how “the growing use of remote working requires products that combine design, comfort and technology.” As for lighting, which is evolving in a “smart” direction, with companies like
Artemide, Martinelli Luce, Luceplan and Penta Light Group, among others.
FLEXFORM
iGUZZINI ILLUMINAZIONE
LIFESTYLE DESIGN
MINOTTI
POLIFORM
68%
79%
83%
74%
84%
80%
THE ITALIAN FURNITURE INDUSTRY IN FIGURES (billions of euro)
DOMOTICS With the house playing an increasingly central role in life, home automation will be reinforced. “With the introduction of the Internet of Things, big data and artificial intelligence, technology will be a bigger part of the evolution of products and spaces, to ensure better quality of life,” D’Arpizio says. Among the companies most involved in this field, we can mention BTicino, Gewiss, EasyDom, Ave, Ke Outdoor Design and Plexiform. NEW DIGITAL FRONTIERS As for distribution, “Covid19 has accelerated digitalization and has led to a series of initiatives that until a short time ago didn’t seem to be making much progress in this sector: the presentation of products on digital platforms, online training programs for partners and architects, webinars for consumers and clients,” D’Arpizio comments,
GRUPPO CALLIGARIS
ITALIAN LEADER BRANDS FOR EXPORTS
Turnover
27,594
Exports
14,483
Exports (%) Sales in Italy Imports Furniture domestic consumption
adding that these new habits are destined to continue. Lago, for example, has created a series of online services, for an 80% increase in site visits over last year; Martinelli Luce, Scavolini and Luce have launched remote consulting services, and Visionnaire has presented its first live show to introduce the new collection.
IFDM 25 June 2020
52% 13,111 4,505 17,616
people&OPINIONS
Luca Fuso & Patricia Urquiola CEO & ART DIRECTOR of CASSINA
text by Veronica Orsi
Cassina is about to mark its 100th anniversary. How do you see its path over the short, medium and long term, also in relation to the present situation and its consequences? Cassina has an enormous heritage, which should be respected. Our strategy is to add value to the past, while conserving the company’s pioneering approach to the creation of welcoming, complete settings for the entire home. In this present situation we have all deeply understood the importance of the home. The home takes care of us and we have to do the same for it, allowing it to evolve on the basis of new needs, such as smart working, for example, or the care for outdoor spaces which become a true extension of the home, in terms of both space and style.
The Cassina Perspective has given rise to a new pathway for the company: what is the starting point, and how is the project evolving? The starting point was the advantage of having the history of design gathered in a single collection. Cassina is a very eclectic brand, and thanks to its variegated collection it is possible to furnish all kinds of spaces, combining the icons of modernism with products created more recently by contemporary architects and designers. The Cassina Perspective expresses this concept, creating appealing rooms that are complete with carpets, lighting, accessories, and so on. After having presented this holistic approach for the living and dining areas of the home, this year we have transferred exactly the same concept to the outdoors, with “The Cassina Perspective Goes Outdoor.” Icons by Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand are joined by new proposals by Patricia Urquiola, Rodolfo Dordoni and Philippe Starck. This is a project that continues to evolve throughout the home, and with the 2020 collection we are also presenting “The Cassina Perspective at Night,” a complete line for the bedroom area.
How will the launch of new products for 2020 happen, along with their distribution and promotion? We have decided to undertake an initial digital launch. The 2020 collection will be presented on our website in mid-June. Visitors to the site can discovery the new projects through storytelling, photographs and videos. Aware of the importance of ‘touch and feel’ in this sector, we will be setting up the Cassina showroom in Milan with a project by Patricia Urquiola, which will remain in place until the end of the year. This will permit a more personal approach to new developments, through a series of appointments with our stakeholders. Has the time come for the furniture industry to fully embrace the potential of digital media? And, at the same time, of e-commerce (which might facilitate distribution in the present phase of ‘slowdown’)? Undoubtedly this period has convinced us even further about the potential of digital means, though we are still aware of the importance of physical contact. E-commerce is a theme we are approaching together with our sales network. I believe it is an important tool, and it can help above all in the process of choice of products. In January you launched the Outdoor collection, and before that you acquired the brand Karakter: Cassina is becoming a 360-degree player. How does the company interact with the world of contract projects? What are the next steps in this direction? The world of projects on a residential level is important, and the strategy we have implemented over the last year and a half allows us to offer complete settings. The Cassina Custom Interiors division specializes in the creation of ‘turnkey’ spaces for the contract market, from luxury hotels to fashion boutiques. Expanding into new areas like outdoor, we have the possibility of offering solutions for all project contexts.
CAPITOL COMPLEX chairs
LC4 chaise longue
BLACK RED AND BLUE armchair
MARALUNGA MAXI sofa
IFDM 26 June 2020
photo products © DePasquale+Maffini
From Ferrari – without overlooking Safilo and Diesel – to Cassina: is there a thread that connects these experiences of yours? Definitely. After working inside large multinational corporations, I have had the chance to work for some leading Italian brands. Ferrari and Cassina, for example, are two cases of excellence in the great tradition of manufacturing, in different fields. They represent the creativity and knowhow of our country, with a strong focus on design, where aesthetics are never the main objective.
TWO PERSONALITIES, TWO SPIRITS OF THE SAME COMPANY. LUCA FUSO EMBRACES THE CORPORATE ASPECT; PATRICIA URQUIOLA REPRESENTS THE CREATIVE VISION. TOGETHER, THE RESULTS ARE EXPLOSIVE: AS CAN BE SEEN IN THE NEW COLLECTIONS, AND TANGIBLY IN THE CONCEPT, THE CASSINA PERSPECTIVE, A PHILOSOPHY THAT PERMEATES THE COMPANY’S NARRATIVE IN THE WORLD AND RATIFIES ITS FARSIGHTED, TOTAL VISION, CAPABLE OF ESTABLISHING A HARMONIOUS DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE MOST INNOVATIVE DESIGN AND THE ICONS OF THE MODERN. HERE’S AN EXCLUSIVE DOUBLE INTERVIEW, TO DISCOVER THE ‘PERSPECTIVE’ OF CASSINA THROUGH THOSE WHO MAKE IT HAPPEN
The present situation has led, or in any case will lead, to rethinking of commercial strategies and relations. What will be the main thrust of this reprogramming? What are the key assets? Of course in this period we have been relying on digital assets to move forward with commercial relations and to create a closer bond with distribution, especially due to the lack of Design Week in Milan. Today it is fundamental to support the network and to exchange views frequently with dealers and the partners who most firmly believe in Cassina, so we can continue to grow together, in a context of shared values.
How have you translated the concept The Cassina Perspective into a complete coordinated image? We’ve tried to offer another viewpoint. Not a preset image but the possibility of playing with the various aspects of Cassina: i Maestri, i Contemporanei, and the new designers. Not in just one context, but plausible in any space, depending on the personality of its inhabitants. Suggestions to demonstrate how to combine them, not orders. This is also the direction of the project for outdoor furnishings and the bedroom zone. The foundation is Cassina’s quality, research, desire to experiment.
The project introduces a rainbow of colors, textures and materials. What are the sources of inspiration? Which sensations and expressive languages do you want to transmit? Color and material are elements that work together, and I am interested precisely in their combination. The relationship of material and light determines the magic of color, because in the dark all colors are the same. Color often gets out of hand, at times it challenges and attacks the form. In any case, for me it is important to study the way light interacts with architecture, space and objects. We have replicated, for example, the original hues of the research of Le Corbusier, Jeanneret, Perriand, in both products and spaces. Inside Cassina, when we have returned to the themes of the great masters, the work has again involved the reinterpretation of color, to make it fresh and timely. The difficulty lies in combining tradition and the contemporary, with a vision that also looks to the future. But it is extraordinary to see how a color can transform an object. Where the research is concerned, I think it is interesting to understand how hues can have a positive influence on the use of upcycling materials, to give new life to scrap and to find a way to reutilize what is considered useless. The icons and the collections of the great masters are an integral part of Cassina’s DNA. What is the relationship, the balance, with contemporary offerings? How have you been able to bring out their value, case by case, initiative after initiative, in different ways? It’s a natural process. We are lucky to be able to draw on an extensive archive, with over 600 signature pieces. For the exhibition on Charlotte Perriand at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, Cassina has contributed with over 30 pieces from the collection, re-editions and museum pieces. The timely pertinence of many of the projects is incredible. The relationship with foundations, historians and critics of design is fundamental for this path. I am thinking, for example, of the reinterpretations for the outdoors of certain pieces by Charlotte Perriand. In keeping with the original design, the famous Doron Hotel chair and the Table à Plateau Interchangeable have been adapted for outdoor use. At the same time, we are working with designers in tune with the spirit of Cassina, like the Bouroullec brothers, Konstantin Grcic, Philippe Starck, Rodolfo Dordoni, Michael Anastassiades, who make the relationship more natural, never forced.
SAIL OUT sofa
This year you have launched the first Outdoor collection. Not a simple range of offerings, but an all-around project for spaces en plein air. What is the most interesting aspect? With “The Cassina Perspective Goes Outdoor” we have gotten beyond the classic conception of outdoor furniture, as a spontaneous, shared choice. We wanted to present pieces designed as a natural continuation of indoor furnishings, trying to achieve the same atmosphere of intimacy. I believe in the need for an intermediate zone. For “The Cassina Perspective Goes Outdoor” I designed the Trampoline Love Bed, inspired by a trip to Greenland and the trampolines I saw in the gardens of houses there. The fil rouge with the interiors is represented by the choice of graphics and patterns, with simple geometry, getting away from the typical decorative themes of outdoor furnishings. How do you think the relationship with the home and its objects will change (if indeed it does change)? We have to rethink domestic spaces to encourage flexibility. To use every square meter in an effective way. To think about how spaces change during the course of the day, the seasons, the various moments of life. The relationship with light, natural and artificial. With greenery, inside and outside the home. The relationship with time, sounds, odors. The home will become many things, a small spa, a small fitness club, a place to gather with friends. We have to understand which objects we really need and which ones we can do without. Among the fundamental items, there will be objects that have empathy, an emotional and not just functional value. What are the new developments in the collections for 2020? We are delving into the theme of the living area and the bedroom zone with projects envisioned as environments, not just as individual products. There will be a new collaboration around the collections of Rodolfo Dordoni, Neri & Hu and my collection, as well as a re-edition of the Mex Cube by Piero Lissoni, the Mex-Hi. The fundamental path of research with Cassina LAB will also move forward. We have used new ecosustainable materials for icons like the LC3 and in all the new products, including the Sengu Sofa which I designed. The constant work on the masters also expands. This year we are introducing a new name, Ico Parisi, and we will celebrate the centenary of the birth of Vico Magistretti, which is a great honor and evokes a strong emotion in me, since he was my mentor.
TRAMPOLINE love bed
IFDM 27 June 2020
people&PROJECTS
INTERVIEW WITH
GAMFRATESI text by Alessandra Bergamini
The long-term work of Stine Gam and Enrico Fratesi, with a studio founded in Copenhagen in 2006 and established collaborations with many brands of Italian and Nordic design, shows how impor-
tant it is to make use of diversities and points of contact between design histories, personal experiences and approaches, creative pathways and production systems. To achieve new balances.
IFDM 29 June 2020
people&PROJECTS
Your work “reflects a persistent exploration of the border zone between harmony and disharmony”. Could you explain this statement? Balance is a topic that has always fascinated us. Common but complex questions that we continually repeat, in everyday life and at work. One factor can suddenly unbalance the whole situation. We think carefully about the consequences and are aware of the subtle fragility of this balance, we want to emphasize and explore this theme. We work very careful, looking for a definition in the form and details. Many are the parameters, as in life, but sometimes it is simply changing an element, its proportions and meanings, modifying its balance, to give new connotations to an object. It takes just a small detail to achieve, or break, an expression, and we are very curious about that. We work intensely with the balance between harmony and disharmony of all the element in the project believing that somewhere in between you obtain reflection. It is as if we can get to know an object, but something different sets it apart. It is not a revolution, but small steps in a subtle and delicate space in search of new balances. You also work in a ‘border’ zone between Scandinavian and Italian design histories and distinguishing traits. Where are the points of connections between the two? And the points of divergence? Surely both cultures have relevant stories with a large number among the most interesting products in the design world, and we feel very lucky to be between these two universes. Quality and tradition are very strong components in both countries, which connect them even if the result is different. Tradition is in fact for both a starting point and an important reference to take in consideration. In Scandinavia, however, the link with the workshop and the selection of materials, usually natural ones, have guided the process throughout history and even today this link is very clear; to be able to create something humble with simplicity has always been the design value to follow and respect. On the contrary, in Italian design the industry has an important role, and innovation in production possibility has always generated new languages, developing unexplored territories, as well as always been very open in creating partnership between Italian entrepreneurs and international designers. Making a difference between the two design traditions, does it still make sense today? We are used to think that everything is deeply globalized and in part it is true, but while working we realize how
1. The compact design for the armchair Shelley, Minotti, plays on the perception of different materials and softness. The metal structure, connected by 3 parts in saddle leather, gives shape to a large basket to accomodate cushions. The front opens generously inviting to seat, the back side wraps the body creating intimacy and comfort.
2. In the Étiquette Sofa for DePadova, the Scandinavian-inspired structure dialogues with Italian craftsmanship. A cohesive matte black steel frame is completed with leather straps and a charcoal-coloured ash wood bar. The atypical sofa makes it an excellent solution for defining spaces, thanks to the stunning back view.
much our origins and traditions are rooted in our spirit and manage to bring out evident content and diversity. We’ve had very different family and educational experiences, as educated architects we have opposite methods, and our cultures have shaped us differently. Future generations will probably be more open and influenced by a more global spirit, but in our case we are happy to continually rediscover our differences, which are often the starting point for a new project. It is only by knowing the basics of the story, that it is possible to evolve. In the end we achieve a honest fusion of two cultures, a work process that leads to a hybrid, interesting result. When commissioning new products, the aims and approaches of design brands are actually diverse in different countries? For example, made in Italy and made in Danmark. It is truly a stimulating diversity, for this reason we have always been fond of working in both countries and in particular with Danish and Italian companies in the furniture field. Italian companies are always very tied to a conceptual approach, a bit as if towards communication, language or to technical detail. Innovation becomes the element to guide the process, activating a chain of incredible suppliers around the company, capable in a short time, with passion and dedication, to create unique projects. For the Nordics the process is different, researching a formal simplicity, a very targeted production strategy to create a highly competitive product on the market, while maintaining an average high quality level. History has shown us how the projects were communicated: for Hans Wegner and Poul Kjærholm it was a simple number, almost to record a new step and an aesthetic development however discreet, For Magistretti and Castiglioni, the name is enough to be able to imagine the project, as a metaphorical translation that took shape with the wisdom of the industry. And where are the points of connection between your approaches to design? We work very close through all the different stages of the creative and developing process. We share many of the same competences and interests, and appreciate a lot to be able to work in such a tight collaboration. Let’s say that we have the same goals and intentions but different methods and sensitivities to face it. This creates a stimulating, interesting and lively discussion, but always guided by common principles and values.
3. The interiors of the Harlan+Holden Glasshouse Café, Makati City, Philippines, is enhanced by lush vegetation and by the Targa sofas designed for Gebruder Thonet Vienna. The small collection reinterprets the tradition of bending wood and woven cane with contemporary aestethics and proportions.
4. “The Romby chair, recently designed for Porro, is made with two different elements, which are in balance with each other: the seat, made from an injected mould and upholstered with textile or leather, and the conical base in solid wood. To us the geometric effect of these two parts together was very important”. IFDM 30 June 2020
Your product design embeds stories. Could you tell us the latest ones? Everything takes shape between words. We love to have intimate and long conversation to understand the project, and how we can translate the story into physical design. Sometimes it is more abstract, considering peoples behaviour and how unexpected typologies can interact with the people. Sometimes it is more direct, materials and details can suggest a new direction. Important is not to have prejudices, but to remain free to be able to tell a story, at least with our thoughts, since the process will be hard, sometimes frustrating and sometimes full of satisfactions. During this journey we must preserve the story we want to tell. In recent projects we have focused a lot on intimate comfort thanks to the contrasts created with different materials. The leather and the saddle leather were the protagonists to tell stories of craftsmanship and honesty of the material. Regarding the new products which were supposed to be launched in Milan last April, how are you telling their stories and promoting them together with the brands? We were practically ready for the Milan show, following the last details and finishes of the products. We like to be in the process alongside the company until the last moment to the material selection and images. Some of the products have been in the pipeline for about two years so we were on the final design phase. In some cases we preferred to postpone, in particular where the project was not yet fully ready for the market or where it needed direct experience. When products were already well defined, we collaborated to create additional creating digital content, so that we can communicate and present the product at its best. How do you build relations with your clients? With some of them the collaboration has been long and constant. When we start a new collaboration, the hope is always of not facing a project and being able to deliver a product but creating a relationship. Working with the same brand over a longer period helps a lot the process, we get to know each other, we take each other’s strengths and we manage every time to push together to create an even better product. It is a pleasure from the working and personal point of view, in the end it is important to work with the people with whom you are in tune and pleasure in sharing a result together.
5. The minimalistic shape of the Soffi pendant, Poltrona Frau, captures the exact moment when the blowing technique by Venice’s master craftsmen gives the glass its shape. Delicate and irregular globes seem to float out of a slender leather arm suspended in the air.
6. From lounge chairs to sofas, to a sprawling double daybed with canopy, the full Rilly range for Dedon features parallel vertical strands of maritime rope, a new Fiber ‘Touch’. The result is a ‘transparent’ collection of friendly forms with distinctive faceting and a graphic quality.
7. The window display at Hermès Japan showroom for the Apple Watch Hermès drew inspiration in Nature as Hermès theme. A composition of metal wires interpreted the animal drawings by Robert Dallet, an artist and naturalist which had a long collaboration with the Hermès brand.
Photo © Courtesy of Hermès Japon - Ph. Nacása & Partners
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IFDM 31 June 2020
trend
Color Stories THANKS TO THE EXCLUSIVE COLLABORATION WITH COLORWORKS® WE CAN DISCOVER THE LATEST COLOR TRENDS FOR 2020. THE STUDIO RUN BY THE DESIGN & TECHNOLOGY CENTER OF THE MASTERBATCHES BUSINESS UNIT OF CLARIANT STARTS WITH BEHAVIORAL AND SOCIAL MACROTRENDS, ORIENTATIONS OF THE SOCIETY AND EMERGING MOVEMENTS ON A GLOBAL LEVEL, TO OUTLINE FOUR ‘STORIES’ ASSOCIATED WITH A PALETTE OF 5 HUES. WE CAN TRACK DOWN THE MANIFESTATIONS OF THIS RAINBOW IN NEW DÉCOR PRODUCTS FOR 2020. A UNIVERSE OF COLOR, FOR NEW INSPIRATIONS!
CARE-LESS
text by Cristina Ferrari
Human beings are at the center of the care-LESS theme, a story that focuses on their empathetic and emotional ability to cope with the negative developments and information of current events. While there is the fear that that ability is weakening, the solution lies in relationships and affections, and even more in the rediscovery (or learning) of how to live happily. The color range reflecting this trend features strong accents: an intense green balanced by a soft mint tone, a luminous yellow alongside soft red, all the way to an intense ice blue.
Sensorial gate
Full.Stop.
Aesthetics
Unshockable
SQUIRREL!
Hug me not
1. INKIOSTRO BIANCO | GOLDENWALL
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The Goldenwall collection, featuring supports coated with gold or pink gold leaf, has been expanded with new wallcoverings for 2020. A good example is the Brave model which conserves the distinctive character of the line, based on exploration of color on surfaces with a metallic effect, which depending on the hues and combinations, mixed with the glow of precious metals, bring unexpected effects of highlights and shadings. 2. KETTAL | BAND Patricia Urquiola has designed the Band collection, intentionally defying classic lines to give rise to a conceptual project: the basic idea of a seat seen as an assembly of pieces, with a structure formed by repetitive geometric angles. The collection, composed of a dining chair and a club armchair, can be produced entirely in aluminium or teak, or with the Terrain Fabrics. 3. DECASTELLI | FORMA Forma is available in 7 shape formats, from rectangular to square and even hexagonal. The distinctive feature of this line of compositional modules suitable for both small and large spaces is the great variety of formats and finishes. With the utmost attention to every detail, the modules are cut and finished by hand, ensuring the edges and corners of each piece are particularly smooth.
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4. GERVASONI | JEKO Among the 12 collections of the new Gervasoni Outdoor line, the Jeko collection is a new entry composed of seats, sofas – also with a canopy – large and small tables, with structure in ECOTeak. The exotic charm is accentuated by the material: the teak comes from controlled and authorized demolition of traditional wooden houses on the island of Java. Design Paola Navone. 5. LISTONE GIORDANO | PERIGAL From the collaboration between the company and Paola Lenti, a brand of reference for outdoor furnishings, new variations of the Perigal collection in bright aqua, graphite, oil and teal tones, to create surfaces with brushstrokes of surprising color. Based on a 19th-century mathematical theorem, Perigal is composed of geometric modules that can now also be mounted on the wall, like paneling, as well as on the floor.
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6. MUTAFORMA | ANTHEMION Anthemion is the first collection created by floral designer Dylan Tripp for Mutaforma, a project that pays homage to the aristocratic charm of the planimetric vision of flowers, transforming their beauty on micro mosaic surfaces (made up of small-size tiles the TILLA® glass shingles) thanks to the company’s know-how and technologies. 7. AGAPE | IN-OUT A new solution in marble, for the bathtub series of the In-Out program (design Benedini Associati). The model in green Alpi marble stands out, but the item is also available in white Carrara, black Marquina and Emperador Dark. The steel sections combine multiple units in single products of remarkable size and play a decorative role as well. 8. ANDREU WORLD | DADO CURVE
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Dado Curve is the result of in-depth evolution of a sofa series designed by Alfredo Häberli. With versatile modular design, thanks to new items that expand compositional options – curves, corners, poufs – Dado becomes a complete system for insertion in private or collective spaces, offering enjoyable moments of relaxation.
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trend
GENEVOLUTION The personal dimension is turned upside down in Genevolution, a theme that brings up the topic of bio-chemistry and of the genetic mutations made possible by new developments in scientific technology. While humankind has always studied, altered and replicated any material or chemical process on a basic level, now the same passion is applied to the study of living organisms. Biochemistry guides progress at a molecular and genetic level, to discover what defines the codes of life, i.e. DNA. These are the colors identified with this emerging trend: a not-so-natural ‘bug green,’ a bright violet, a concrete gray, dark tones of red and a pink ‘stained by black.
.1 [/’punto/ /’uno/]
Morph it
Aesthetics
Breathing Matter
Chez in vitro
Pick and choose
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1. TRUSSARDI CASA | OVAL A variegated, sophisticated collection to interpret the living area in the perfect style of the Maison. The Oval family (designed by Carlo Colombo) is composed of an armchair, a pouf, a chair, a coffee and side table, featuring a uniform graphic sign, the metal oval, and the profile of the Trussardi logo, in a new galvanic finish. 2. MOLTENI&C | OCTAVE Designed by Vincent Van Duysen, Octave is a system of modular sofas featuring rigorous shapes. The project links back to the memorable design of the 1960s “made in USA” by leading architects and designers such as Mies van der Rohe, George Nelson and Charles and Ray Eames. An approach marked by geometrical lines, based on mix & match modular elements that come together in linear or corner compositions, and with the addition of trapezoidal or rectangular pieces.
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3. GALLOTTI&RADICE | LIVRE Conceived for lobbies and lounge areas, Livre embodies the finest Italian craftmanship, entirely manufactured in solid ash wood. Its ovoidal section gives a graceful touch to the base, that acquires a poetic nuance thanks to Japanese inspired graphics. A generous pillow sits on the base, adding a delicate wrapped feeling. Design Federica Biasi. 4. FAST | RIA A new entry in the brand’s large seating family, Ria comes from the creativity of Alberto Lievore. Light, stackable, available in 14 colors, it is ideal for outdoor spaces: the die-cast aluminium (accessorized with cushions in fabric or eco-leather) guarantees maximum resistance in time.
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5. ANTONIOLUPI | RAINDROP Designed by Calvi Brambilla, Raindrop is a shower head set into the ceiling (made in Flumood) that reproduces the image of the effect generated by a drop of rain hitting the surface of the water. The delicate concentric circles decrease their intensity as they increase their distance from the center, forming a sophisticated image on the ceiling, a natural decoration that wraps and protects the built-in shower head. Also coordinated in terms of color. 6. TACCHINI | FIVE TO NINE
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Inspired by the furnishings that traditionally appeared in the ateliers of artists in the early 1900s, especially the daybed. The Five to Nine model by the Milan-based creative duo Studiopepe reinterprets this classic with the contemporary touch of roller cushions along its entire length (covered in leather or mohair velvet); the structure is in natural or painted wood, joined by the roller cushions, an armrest or a round table.
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7. RIMADESIO | SELF BOLD In 2020 the Self Bold collection is enhanced by a version featuring an aluminum structure with platinum finish, platinum glass and a thick Calacatta marble top. Designed by Giuseppe Bavuso, the Self Bold sideboard is shaped by pure geometry. The design is based on different orthogonal pivots and coplanar details. 8. WALLPEPPER® | MACRO MIAMI Nature, color, art, design: a combination of inspirations and sensations for the new collection of WallPepper® Group. The Macro Miami proposal also belongs to this dimension, with clear, multicolored floral references. Made to measure and personalized, the wallpapers in the series are made only with natural eco-compatible materials, containing no PVC. 9. PROMEMORIA | CHELSEA A concentrate of modern comfort: this is the Chelsea chair designed by Romeo Sozzi. Starting with the structure, covered in black velvet with bronze details. A distinctive feature is the covering of the seat in needle punched silk with cashmere of the “Botanica e la Notte” collection, an upcycling project inspired by botany, developed by Promemoria in collaboration with Sergio Perrero, designer and textile artist. Photo © Emanuele Zamponi
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trend
Aesthetics
In Heather we trust
Shèhuì xìnyòng tǐxì (社会信用体系)
Catch me if you can
Eye in the sky
Yes, Sir!
EYE AM WATCHED Digital addicted! This is the outstanding aspect of everyday life, to the point of becoming invasive, influencing behavior rating systems (as was already happening in China, after a surprising preview provided by one episode of the TV series Black Mirror). Personal reliability shifts towards social networks and digital assessments. The story focuses on this tendency and identifies the colors of a balanced range that focuses on transparency (metaphorically and concretely): pale lilac, a transparency that reveals rainbow tones, a bright, almost fluo red, sky blue and military green. 1. NOVACOLOR | FLORENZIA
2. FIAM ITALIA | ECHO Echo takes form from the idea of creating a surface that physically extends towards the observer, engaging and surprising. To create this showcase, Marcel Wanders explores new techniques for shaping glass, in which crafts and technology join forces: the surface is composed of three-dimensional geometric forms, triangles, squares and rectangles, obtained through the brand’s unique technique of bending glass.
Photo © G. Cisternino
Joy Revolution is the new concept of colors for 2020 that accompanies the decorative finishes and coatings of the brand, as seen here in the Florenzia model. A green approach through healthful high-performance products. The application of Florenzia (a mineral stucco for interiors, with a base of pure slaked lime) permits creation of remarkable decorations with a glossy effect, in soft and vibrant tones. 1
3. SLAMP | HUGO FLOOR Solid yet fluid: a magical effect that relies on the use of an invisible steel skeleton wrapped by musculature in Lentiflex®, the innovative material by Slamp that liquefies LED light, making it soft and uniform, so the modules seem to float in space. Here we see Hugo Floor, the floor version of the family of lamps of the same name, new for 2020.
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IFDM 36 June 2020
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4. CASSINA | SENGU SOFA A delicate design with generous volumes declined in different compositions. This is Sengu Sofa, the latest proposal designed by Patricia Urquiola for “I Contemporanei”, a collection by Cassina. Its structure recalls a Japanese imaginary, but the most innovative aspect lies in the materials used (100% recycled fiber is introduced into the cushion padding), the result of a collaboration with Poli.design of the Polytechnic University of Milan. 5. FERMOB | BEBOP The Bebop family is getting bigger! For a lounge area on a terrace or an indoor living room, this minimal and occasional table adapts perfectly, even varying its function as a pedestal table, an ottoman or a bedside unit. Along with multifunctional performance its strong point is lightness: it is made in 100% ultra-light aluminium. Design Tristan Lohner. 6. ARPER | ASTON CLUB 5
The design of Aston evolves to offer even more comfort. The result is Aston Club by Jean-Marie Massaud, a seat of extraordinary yet discreet elegance. With an eye on sustainability: the internal parts of the seat are in recycled post-industrial plastic. At the end of its life, Aston Club – produced without glues – can be completely disassembled for recycling or reuse of all the materials.
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7. STELLAR WORKS | KITE Three collections mark the debut of the collaboration of the brand with Nendo. Alongside the Blend stools and the steel Frame system, we should mention the Kite line of seating: a compact chair created for commercial and hospitality spaces, thanks to its reduced structure. The back (in two heights) is the distinctive feature, embracing the whole chair to create a protective shell for greater privacy.
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IFDM 37 June 2020
trend
Aesthetics
Find your Karman
The junky Zone
Blastoff
Paradise this
The swooossh commuter
BE RIGHT THERE
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Spotlight on the great technological and scientific discoveries that will revolutionize (it’s already happening) the conquest of space, with the support of big international tycoons, from Elon Musk to Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson. This Story narrates the innate desire of human beings to go beyond familiar limits, especially those of space and speed; a desire we are seeing fulfilled thanks to the futuristic thinking of great visionaries, reflected in intense, energetic tones of blue, suggesting abstraction and imagination. In this palette orange is a ‘vibrant’ shade, along with dark blue and anthracite gray, as well as a synthetic green and a silvery lilac hue. 1. PAOLA LENTI | TELAR From the Aqua Collection, the Telar series has been designed by Lina Obregón. Composed of a chair with or without armrests, a chaise longue and a pouf, it stands out for its light structure in glossy coated stainless steel, covered by hand with woven elastic belting, in different sizes, using Rope, an exclusive material developed and produced by Paola Lenti for outdoor furnishings. 2. CC-TAPIS | SUPER FAKE HOT A perfect representative of the Story, Super Fake Hot is the new color-combination created by Bethan Laura Wood for her already well-known collection Super Fake. A new color palette of warm and vibrant tones for the Super Rock and Super Round rugs, which were originally launched in June 2019.
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3. GEBRÜDER THONET VIENNA | NYNY With a totemic spirit, NYNY relies on the asymmetrical stacking of geometric volumes with different functions (drawers, compartments with doors, desk) made in wood and Vienna straw, that are suspended thanks to the support of the wall-mounted metal structure. This multifaceted design by storagemilano, with its versatile personality, expresses an interdependence of design, architecture and art, also declared in the name NYNY, as in New York, New York. 4. IRIS CERAMICA WITH DIESEL LIVING CEMENT MEXICAN Cement Mexican combines the purity and solidity of cement with the chromatic power of the Mexican landscape. The color of tierras calientes, the sun, brightly decorated houses, the thousand hues of the ocean and the green of the olive trees: every shade is amplified, full, lived-in. A world that comes inside and colors space, adding personality and life.
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4. JANUS ET CIE | ANATRA Design icon Patricia Urquiola introduces modular seating to the award-winning Anatra collection along with two new lounge chair designs. Sophisticated and intricately designed, the new lounge elements are constructed using the same soft and inviting textured braiding as the other seating pieces in the collection, wrapping the frame gently to create a harmonious weave. 5. LAPALMA | AARON Two products in one: stool and table. This is the essence of Aaron. Pio & Tito Toso have investigated everyday gestures and needs, all the way to the stool as an object with a range of different uses: the result is a product that blends two identities (in its metal core) giving rise to a new typology: a comfortable padded seat, and a swivel top useful as a surface on which to put things. 6. ETHIMO | KNIT
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Knit, the collection resulting from collaboration with Patrick Norguet in 2015, now sees the addition of two new elements: a comfortable sofa and a cozy armchair. These two new outdoor creations match the characteristic ‘genetic matrix’ of the wider collection, interpreted in the combination of natural or pickled teak for the structure and the woven rope of the seat. 7. LUALDI | COMPASS 55 Belonging to the iconic Rasomuro 55 System – the evolution of the company’s historic Rasomuro – the Compass 55 pivoting door model offers an advanced mobile system built into the wall. Compass 55 has a pivoting panel and controlled self-closure device; perfectly aligned, it has the appearance of a silent stage curtain. Its width accentuates the theatrical impact of a spatial divider incorporated in the architectural structure. 8. TXXNTY BRAND DESIGN | CRYROCK
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Created by the designer Nunzia Acquaviva of Studio Inproject, the design studio of Euroluce - Light of Italy to which the brand belongs, Cryrock is a crystal ‘stone’ made in Tuscany in its natural state, enclosed in a metal cage, which together with the LED filament positioned at the base brings out the natural brilliance of the piece. Cryrock is a one-off.
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people&OPINIONS
Silvia Damiani PRESIDENT of VENINI
text by Veronica Orsi
RESPECT FOR HERITAGE HAS BEEN A KEY FACTOR AT VENINI FOR AN ENTIRE CENTURY; HONORING THE TRADITION, AN ART, A TECHNIQUE PASSED DOWN IN SECRET ON THE ISLAND OF MURANO, IN THE CREATION OF WORKS THAT ARE ALWAYS NEW, THANKS TO THE CUTTING-EDGE VISION OF THOSE WHO HAVE GUIDED THE BRAND FROM THE OUTSET. TODAY CREDIT IS DUE TO THE DAMIANI FAMILY AND ITS THIRD GENERATION, WHICH HAS GIVEN NEW LIFE TO VENINI, “BECAUSE OUR TASK IS TO IMPROVE, IMPLEMENT, AUGMENT AND CONTINUE THE PRESTIGE OF THE BRAND WE HAVE INHERITED, CREATING AN IMPROVED LEGACY FOR THE FUTURE,” IN THE WORDS OF THE PRESIDENT OF VENINI, SILVIA DAMIANI direct affiliates, and in China. The fact that we have already established Damiani affiliates offers Venini the possibility of direct support with buyers in those countries.
Damiani is to jewelry what Venini is to the art of glass. What is the outcome of this relationship? There is a deep synergy between the two brands. Both are concerned with excellent craftsmanship (one with glass, the other in jewelry), meaning master artisans – goldsmiths and glassmakers – who pass on their art. They are two companies with the same historical background, founded in the same time period (1924 for Damiani, 1921 for Venini). There are many points of contact between them, in terms of production philosophy, Italian identity, highest quality, and even in terms of target, because those who seek beauty for their homes also desire it for their bodies, wearing jewelry and precious stones. The relationship gives us the possibility of displaying Venini products to Damiani customers, and vice versa, in our stores. Therefore, also from a commercial standpoint, the two brands support each other.
Another important milestone with Venini will be the centenary next year. What is the firm’s secret of ‘eternal youth’? Innovating inside the tradition. My brothers and I represent a third generation, so we can embrace this concept as a way of thinking. We have always felt the tenets of Paolo Venini should be the cornerstone, along with the technique that represents an Italian heritage that has to remain unique; then, in design, we try to bring factors of ongoing innovation. This path is not so difficult, because it has always been part of the brand’s DNA. Venini was born in a moment in which its very clean forms (like those designed by Carlo Scarpa) were far from ordinary. We are very lucky because we have worked with the great masters and others who are less famous, but have the same artistic force. We have managed to create an in-house museum thanks to the archive of all the original drawings and pieces, and we hope to open it to the public soon. It will undoubtedly be a way to narrate the upcoming 100th anniversary. Photo © courtesy of Bvlgari
Starting in February Gruppo Damiani has become the sole owner of Venini: what projects do you have in mind for the brand? My brothers and I immediately believed in Venini. After the acquisition of the majority share in 2016, we have recently acquired 100% of the shares, wagering on the collaboration of the brand in the group. We are attempting to develop this in the foreign affiliates of Gruppo Damiani: starting with the US market, which has always been important for Venini; we have recently invested in Korea and Japan, where we have
Does the brand’s growth also involve the contract sector? Absolutely. For us, contract represents a very important aspect, regarding the production of artistic objects for lighting. Various interesting projects and collaborations are getting started, relying precisely on the historical background of the company, which already in the 1960s and 1970s was involved in major contract productions. We focus on 360-degree hospitality, with prestigious clients like Bulgari and Louis Vuitton, who choose Venini for their stores around the world. We want to continue the positive exploration of this theme: besides one-offs and customized items, we are planning modular elements that can be easily reinterpreted or changed to meet different needs, while still being immediately recognizable as Venini.
Who purchases Venini today? Over the years Venini has gained new fans, also among young people. But in general, Venini has two types of consumers: those who love the brand for decorating the home and, on the other hand, the Venini collectors, since we have introduced collections by Italian and international designers or artists over the years, in limited editions. These are products that gain in value over time; we have always worked to give a value to design as an expression of the present that will remain in the future. Venini is the brand that has reached the highest values in auctions: one of the highest bids for a work in Murano glass in history went to “La Sentinella di Venezia” designed by Thomas Stearns in 1962: 737,000 dollars. The collaboration with Peter Marino is one of the most recent, and it has led to surprising results.. It all began when Peter Marino chose Venini to furnish the Louis Vuitton stores he was designing. We asked him to design the pieces himself, which we would then produce. This led to the Black Belt collection of vases, into which he put not only his creative style, but also a useful function he felt was missing: he did not want to make objects to show off, but vases that should always be filled with flowers! The forms are simple, of great elegance, featuring one of his favorite things, a belt made with the age-old “sommerso” technique. We will definitely continue to work with him, also for the new items in 2020.
BVLGARI, Rome
ART GLASS collection
BLACK BELT collection
IFDM 40 June 2020
people&PROJECTS
INTERVIEW WITH
DAVID LOPEZ QUINCOCES text by Francesca Gugliotta
From Madrid to Milan, where he took a masters at the Polytechnic and began to work with Piero Lissoni, then opening his own studio. Eye to eye with the Spanish designer David Lopez
Quincoces, one of the young talents who is helping to shape the image of Living Divani (and other brands) with a pure, essential but never predictable style.
IFDM 43 June 2020
people&PROJECTS
He’s always on the phone. Talking with his collaborators, paying attention to details and precision. David Lopez Quincoces, the Spanish designer born in 1980 – who speaks perfect Italian – bursts with ideas. But his most outstanding work is one, dated May 2019, “when I became a father, my best project of all”. With his delicate minimal style, never predictable, and the passion for research and materials, he is helping to shape the contemporary image of Living Divani (and many other brands), and much in demand for the creation of interiors of private residences, shops and hotels, “with projects personalized around the desires of clients, deep respect for places, always in tune with our style.” Let’s start at the beginning: in Madrid, where you took a degree in art in 2004 at the Complutense University, and in Milan, the capital of design. I came to Milan to do a masters program in Interior Design at the Polytechnic. I was fascinated by the style of Piero Lissoni, so I applied to do an internship in his studio. I thought it would be a short experience, one year at the most, but instead I wound up working for Piero for 13 years, of which the last 6 were as a partner of the Lissoni Architettura division, in charge together with Miguel Casal Ribeiro of interior design and architecture. At the same time, in 2008 I opened my own studio, first on my own, and then – when I met my partner – as a “family affair”. Your studio, Quincoces-Dragò&partners, has offices in Madrid and Milan, working on architecture, graphics, interiors, industrial design. But you also curate a gallery. Yes, the Six Gallery in Milan, a space that came about in a very natural way. It was a project we were working on for one of our clients, who had taken over this space (Via Scaldasole 7), with offices, a bistro and a florist’s shop. The idea gradually became more complete, so we decided to make this gallery, which for us is a workshop for research and experimentation. For the gallery we select historic design products while also offering our pieces by request, the ones that are a bit more handmade, outside the industrial world. Sources of inspiration? In the design part I let myself be guided by the briefing and the DNA of the company, respecting its tradition and spirit, but always in keeping with my own style. I try to be very focused, to respond to the requests of the brands; I study their
1. From the family of the same name launched in 2017 and expanded in 2018, the Era Scrittoio for Living Divani has graphic lines and painstaking combinations of materials and colors: the top in wood veneer, the colored sides and drawer fronts, the structure in gunmetal-color steel tubing and the foot in contrasting brass.
2. The LT40 modular living system designed by David Lopez Quincoces for Lema, for personalized measurements, colors and accessories, available with the LT Frame to hang on the wall, in two sizes and six preset configurations, with internal LED lighting to enhance the perimeter.
history, values, aesthetics, collections, to produce specific solutions that round out and enhance their lines, while meeting the needs of the market. It is important to propose not just beautiful and functional projects, but also things that are commercially valid and feasible at a reasonable cost. You have to push forward with innovation and beauty, while trying to respond to the marketing side, which is not always easy. You like to say that you design with purity. I want to reach a point in which nothing can be added to or subtracted from an object, where the piece in its essence is balanced to the point where adding things would add no value, while removing them would reduce its beauty. It is that balance between being synthetic, pure, essential, and at the same time having the ability to reach a valid, finished, timeless product, not linked to fashions, lasting, something that works well now and will work well in thirty years’ time. At least that is what we try to do. Let’s take the examples of the products made for Living Divani. How and when did they discover you? They met me at the start in the contract sector, during my experience with Piero Lissoni working on interior design and architecture. Then, in 2013, we did the Track bench, my first project for Living Divani, with an essential design, a structure in 8-mm iron with three blades and thin but very comfortable cushions. I went to the company with my prototype, which we then developed and improved together, until we reached the definitive product. What can you tell us about your creative process? I usually draw by hand, I make many sketches throughout the year, and then towards July-August I gather them up, making an initial selection of the ideas I like best. Sometimes I receive a brief from the company, in other cases I propose already finished works, with very specific renders. What your 2020 news with Living Divani? 2019 has been a rather special year, because I became a father last May, my best project, so time has taken on a different aspect. Nevertheless, I am working on a series of interesting developments, like the evolution of the Sailor bookcase, now with containers of different sizes, single or double, and with new finishes. In the Era family we are introducing a new, very compact desk, versatile, clean and light, which reprises the details and joints of the line of the same name.
3/4. The living area of the Spotti showroom in Milan. The studio Quincoces-Dragò has collaborated with the founders of Spotti on the renewal of the spaces of the historic store at Viale Piave 27, near Porta Venezia and the fashion quad in Milan.
5. A private apartment in Milan, with interiors by the studio Quincoces-Dragò. Facing the Bosco Verticale and the Isola district, it has a living area with a screen in walnut and Vienna straw, on Six Gallery, and the Sailor bookcase by David Lopez Quincoces for Living Divani.
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And for other brands? With my good friend Francesco Meda we are the new creative directors for Acerbis, and also with Francesco I am working on an entire outdoor collection for Gandia Blasco. For Zucchetti I will present Helm, a minimal line of faucets for architecture and the contract market, the brand’s first all-steel adventure; this is my first collaboration in the bath sector, and it has been exciting to work with such an expert company. You also work a lot on interior design. Recently we completed the Spotti showroom in Milan, and for the Salone we will also do the lower level, bringing new features to the displays. We are working often in the private residential sector, with 6 apartments under way in Milan, one in London in Chelsea, a very large house of about 2000 square meters in Merano, a villa in Morocco, at Casablanca, two important residences in Venice, a home in Geneva, and a property in Miami that has set a sales record for price per square meter. In the hospitality sector we are making a special hotel above Como, like a farm created in a former monastery, with a unique location at 1300 meters asl, offering breathtaking views of Milan and the lake, the Po Valley and Switzerland, with a central building and individual units scattered in the woods. When you work on interiors you have intense dialogue with private clients to understand their needs, their personality, tastes and style. The approach for interiors is more complex that the one for individual products; you think in three dimensions, in terms of spaces, functions, objects. We deal with everything, offering an all-inclusive package, from foundations to finishes and a total look for the furnishings, including various brands, and works of art. The interesting thing about interior design is that you do many custom projects, with personalized approaches to meet the desires of clients and the requirements of spaces. For us it is very important to respect those who will live in the house, but also the place where it is located, its history, a heritage to be regenerated in all its beauty. Finally, do you have a dream for the future? I am always open to new ideas. I would like to try my hand at all kinds of things, from a museum to a kitchen, to door systems. You have to have an adventurous spirit to approach every challenge and learn from it. The aspect that intrigues me most is the process, not the result. I like to look forward, with an eye on the past, to grow and to take new, exciting paths.
6. Another private residence in Milan. The furnishings include the Agra sofa by David Lopez Quincoces for Living Divani; at the center of the room, a Superleggera by Gio Ponti for Cassina; on the terrace, a coffee table in walnut by Six Gallery and a mat by Altai.
7. The studio Quincoces-Dragò & Partners, based in Milan and Madrid, works on architecture, graphic design, interiors, industrial design, as well as curating for Six Gallery in Milan. In the photo, an installation during the Salone del Mobile 2019.
8. “For us, Six Gallery is a workshop where we conduct research and experimentation,” the designer says. “For the gallery, we selected historic design products and offer our own pieces by request, those that are more crafted and less industrial in character.” Here we’ve seen the installation for Salone del Mobile 2018.
Photo 3,4,5,6,7,8 © Alberto Strada
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MILAN The city that never sleeps IN A COMBINATION OF VIRTUAL AND REAL, MILAN RESTARTS WITH THE HELP OF THE WORLD OF DESIGN, WHICH HAS LOST NO TIME IN PROMOTING INITIATIVES TO KEEP THE ENERGY ALIVE text by Cristina Ferrari
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Photo © Sun God
o, we’re not talking about New York, in spite of the song. We have borrowed this slogan to associate it with the design capital, because Milan never ceases to amaze and to make waves. After the turbulence caused by lockdown, after the cancellation of the annual Salone del Mobile and Milano Design Week, in spite of springtime falterings the activities, projects and events have resurfaced in a troubled atmosphere, impatient for the restart. In June the new chapter began, discreetly, in hushed tones, but no less full of energy and the desire to progress. Hence the first openings of new showrooms in the city center, the worksites of major projects that have resumed work, the exhibitions and events that have formed a new palimpsest, activities of joint research in the world of architecture and design to rethink the post-Covid era, and to discover how design can help. A context that has relied on digital means, which have become
a parallel channel that supplements physical experience – just consider the openings that have often opted for streaming as their context, the presentations of new collections making their debut with online initiatives, while waiting for September and the fall for the official unveiling in showrooms in Milan. One emblematic case has been fuorisalone. it, which has created a new format of online communication and programming from June to September to bring continuity to the Fuorisalone project: later, the settings of Fall Design Week and Brera Design Days will become the physical counterparts of this original range of online initiatives. Milan restarts, and so does the world of design that is an integral, indispensable part of the city. There are many destinations and appointments to keep in mind, until once again we can see the city in all its splendor during Design Week 2021, including the Salone del Mobile, which will celebrate its 60th anniversary.
A CURVE IN THE SKY The Zaha Hadid Residences, created by the starchitect and Patrik Schumacher, stand out in the City Life district in Milan. The building complex consists of seven buildings with a curved floor plan for a total of 230 luxury apartments. The façades design involves continuity and fluidity followed by the curvilinear movement of balconies and terraces. In line with the ecological profile of CityLife district, it only uses energy from renewable sources.
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Photo © Gianluca Di Ioia
24 hours in MILAN
TRIENNALE
Viale Emilio Alemagna, 6 The Triennale reinvents its approach with a program of initiatives and events until 30 September, under the title “Triennale Estate”: four months of programming, a varied calendar of encounters, screenings, lectures, cabaret, live events, festivals, workshops. Don’t miss the cycles of encounters coordinated by Joseph Grima The Unveiled Collection, where great Italian designers “reveal” the objects of their choice from the 1600 items in the design collection of Triennale Milano; and Domino Design, appointments dedicated to emerging designers and their research.
DESIGNTECH HUB
Photo © Chiara Venegoni
MIND Milano Innovation District To think about the future of design through technological innovation, reviving the economy. The initiative starts in Milan with the DesignTech project, the first hub to take form in the MIND Milano Innovation District, now in the activation phase in the former Expo area, by the developer Lendlease. A big Living Lab equipped with co-working, co-living and co-factory spaces will lay the groundwork for the development of rapid prototyping of new products, encouraging the implementation of programs of open innovation, to stimulate the spread of digital technologies in the furniture sector, but also to create a sustainable ecosystem to allow a new community to emerge. Slated to open in October 2020. In the first phase the hub will be located inside the MIND Village, inside the Intesa Sanpaolo Pavilion designed by Michele De Lucchi.
BRERA DESIGN DISTRICT
Spotlight on Brera and the Milan design district par excellence. The moment is Fall Design Week, at the end of September, when the neighborhood (virus permitting) comes back to life, along with its countless showrooms, through a palimpsest of special events. An opportunity to discover new products for 2020, recreating a relationship between sector professionals and the Design Week audience, linked to the brand Brera Design District and Fuorisalone. it. In the meantime, you can catch a glimpse in digital form (at the website of Brera Design District) with the project Brera Experience.
PALERMOUNO
Via Palermo 1 “The idea came from the apartment! I was living and working at Via Palermo 1, in Milan, in a beautiful architectural space, and I had the idea of organizing it in such a way that every single piece of the furnishings would be available for purchase,” says Sophie Wannenes, founder and art director of PalermoUno, an apartment, a gallery and a shop in constant renewal. Located on Via Santa Maria alla Porta, PalermoUno has been formulated to create a design community through an eclectic location, ready to welcome sector professionals, design lovers and curious visitors. “The objective was to create a container where furnishings by different designers, from Italy and abroad, would be positioned in the right place, based on my personal tastes and aimed, in concrete terms, at transforming the space into a harmonious setting.” Photo © Andrea Pedretti
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WE ARE USED TO SEEING AND EXPERIENCING MILAN ALWAYS AT THE TOP OF ITS PERFORMANCE, DAZZLING IN THE SKYSCRAPERS OF PORTA NUOVA AND CITY LIFE, MAJESTIC IN THE ARCHITECTURE OF ITS HISTORIC CENTER, A CITY ALWAYS READY TO WELCOME NEW CHALLENGES AND ABLE TO SOLVE THEM SUCCESSFULLY. THE LOCKDOWN WAS A MOMENT OF PAUSE, BUT NOW WE ARE READY TO PRESS THE “PLAY” BUTTON AGAIN, TO RESTART THE PRESSING, DISRUPTIVE, ROCKING RHYTHM OF OUR CITY: MILAN IS A CROSSROADS OF THOUGHTS, CULTURES, PEOPLE, EVENTS, IT IS A PLACE OF ARCHITECTURAL EXPERIMENTATION AND DESIGN, AND WE CAN’T WAIT FOR IT TO BUZZ AGAIN! Massimo Roj
Founder of Progetto CMR
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ADI DESIGN MUSEUM
Via Ceresio, 7 It will stand in the spaces of the former Enel area of Porta Volta, at the center of the regenerated area between Via Ceresio and Via Procaccini, with exhibition spaces of 2400 square meters (as well as spaces for storage, offices and the headquarters of ADI): the new ADI Design Museum – Compasso d’Oro (opening slated for June-September 2020). “It will be a museum of empathy. A dynamic place to which you want to return, to be involved and to touch the things you see. The future of design is sharing,” says Ico Migliore, creator of the exhibit design together with Mara Servetto (Migliore+Servetto Architects). The goal of the cultural center is to present design to a large audience, highlighting the objects that have won the Compasso d’Oro award, while offering a space for gathering and exchange, organized around thematic exhibitions.
POLIFORM
Piazza Cavour 2 New layout, new appeal. The Poliform space in the heart of the city has been completely redesigned to offer a new experience, stimulating and inspirational, of the Poliform House in its entirety. Hosted on the ground floor of the Palazzo dell’Informazione, the showroom is divided into two spaces, one dedicated to kitchens, the other to living rooms and night environments, in a fluid and homogeneous succession of living concepts.
Conference of presentation
SHERATON MILAN SAN SIRO
Via Caldera, 3
Intentionally contaminated by the green setting and the appeal of the city and its colors. The Sheraton Milan San Siro designed by the studio CaberlonCaroppi Italian Touch is the result of a renovation costing 60 million euros of the existing Grand Hotel Brun. A curved work of modernist architecture forms the main structure of the building, containing public and private spaces that have been transformed (for a total of 310 rooms on 6 levels, including 24 suites and a presidential suite). The protagonists of the interior design are brands of Made in Italy like Pedrali, Ethimo, Fornasarig.
ALL AROUND WORK
6/8 October 2020 | Megawatt Court Postponed from May to October, this is the debut of an initiative organized by Events Factory, a branch of Gruppo BolognaFiere. All Around Work is a biennial lasting just three days, in the center of the city at Megawatt Court (Naviglio Grande). The focus is on the workplace and everything that happens in and around it, including chains of production and the roles of professionals contributing to its evolution: studios of architecture and engineering, general contractors, manufacturers of office furniture and high-tech companies, revealing to visitors the background of a market in constant transformation.
WEWORK It’s been discussed for some time, and now it is a reality. WeWork comes to Milan with a full range of openings: at Via San Marco 21 and Via Turati 4 (just opened), followed by Via Pisani 15, Piazza San Fedele 4, Via Mazzini 9 (and finally Via Meravigli 2, slated for May 2021). Milan as the first Italian destination of the co-working giant: shared spaces and offices, the creation of an inter-relational community of participation. Milan is also the location of the initiative 4hours4ours that allows companies and professionals to swap expertise and knowledge on a voluntary basis, to regenerate Italian companies. IFDM 50 June 2020
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MILAN IS THE PLACE PAR EXCELLENCE, IT IS A BLESSING TO LIVE IN IT, IT HAS EVERYTHING: HISTORY, CULTURE, INNOVATION, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, LIFESTYLE. MILAN IS MY ENDLESS SOURCE OF INSPIRATION. MILAN HAS BEEN ABLE TO STOP, IF ONLY “PHYSICALLY”, LEARNING FROM THE EMERGENCY TO RISE AGAIN MORE DYNAMIC THAN EVER. IN THIS CITY YOU CAN FEEL THE DESIRE TO DO SO MUCH AND DO GOOD FOR EVERYONE, TO REINVENT LIFE EVERY DAY.
Marco Piva Architect
TOURING CLUB
Corso Italia 10 The historic headquarters of Touring Club Italiano at Palazzo Bertarelli has been restyled, with new interior design, by Studio Marco Piva. While remaining part of the heritage of the association, the location becomes a prestigious hotel run by Radisson Hotel Group. “We have based the work on the spatial quality inside the original rooms of the most important levels of the building, featuring elements of great historical and cultural importance, like the Biblioteca del Touring with its fine collection of guides and books on the history of travel and tourism, a library that will be open to all,” the architect says.
ARMANI/CASA Armani/Casa celebrates its 20th anniversary. The brand created by Giorgio Armani offers a new collection this year, reflecting the vibrant purity of the designer’s style; a delicate balance of essential design and precious, carefully crafted materials. One example is the Pretty fabric-upholstered dormeuse (in photo), evoking the rarified atmosphere of cinemas of the past. The rounded forms are emphasized by the platinum lacquer decorating the base.
CASA MUTINA
Via Cernaia 1 In the heart of Brera, Casa Mutina is a true residence, not only a showcase for the brand’s collections but also a live location with a program of encounters, special events and talks, a place for professional consulting thanks to a team of experts. Reflecting the brand’s spirit, Casa Mutina has been designed by Studio Urquiola. The official opening - with virtual launch - will be in July, followed in the autumn by a program of meetings and events.
Photo © Matteo Guidetti
AJI RESTAURANT
Via Piero della Francesca 17 The venue comes to terms perfectly with new scenarios and habits of consumption: AJI is the brand of takeaway and delivered Asian cuisine created by Claudio Liu, to which Maurizio Lai has given form in the center of the city. Light becomes the key feature of the project: on the ceiling (a three-dimensional canvas), on the wall (outfitted for its full height with shelves and backlit metallic fabric surfaces), and reflected on the single large table. The large, elegant kitchen can be seen from the street. IFDM 51 June 2020
24 hours in MILAN
SIGNATURE KITCHEN SUITE
Piazza Cavour People are eagerly awaiting the opening – planned for September – of the first Milanese and European showroom of SKS, the high-end appliance brand of LG. In the center of the city, between Via Manzoni and Piazza Cavour, the store won’t go unnoticed thanks to 15 windows on the street, behind which visitors will discover a space of 110 square meters on three levels. The duo Calvi Brambilla has included a true tribute to the city of Milan in the interior design, putting the accent on aesthetics in a space punctuated by icons of design in dialogue with the SKS collections. Professional performance at the highest levels, sophisticated design, cutting-edge technology, and above all great respect for food and its entire chain of supply and production: these are the values of the brand, evoked in the space and contained in the philosophy of True to Food. Examples include the French Door built-in refrigerator with a central drawer that converts for refrigeration, freezing or 0° storage, and the Vino Cantina with Knock Door technology to turn on its internal lighting by knocking on the glass.
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IT REMINDS ME OF ROBERTO VECCHIONI’S WORDS READ IN AN INTERVIEW WHERE HE SAYS THAT ‘MILAN CAN’T GO ON WITHOUT ITS SOCIAL LIFE, ITS NETWORK OF RELATIONSHIPS, WHICH IS ALSO ITS ERGONOMIC CAPACITY, ITS ABILITY TO EXCHANGE IDEAS IN LIVE MEETINGS’. THIS IS WHY OUR PLANNING HAS NOT STOPPED. WE CONTINUE TO TAKE RISKS, TO GO AHEAD TO KEEP ALIVE THE FUORISALONE FORMAT, ONE OF THE SOULS OF THE CITY. SHOWING THAT THE STRENGTH OF MILAN LIES IN THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN IT. YOU CAN STOP PHYSICAL RELATIONSHIPS BUT NOT THE ENERGY, THE CREATIVITY, AND THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT THAT DISTINGUISHES US. Paolo Casati
Founder of Fuorisalone.it
SICIS
Via Fatebenefratelli 8 Brera is the ideal context for Sicis and its new showroom, which contributes to enhance the appeal of the Milanese design district par excellence. The new facility is a haven of design creativity, presenting kaleidoscopic décor solutions. The new Sicis space is a tribute to the brand’s universe of products. In a sequence of immersive settings, the two levels of the store display the Mosaico and Vetrite collections, furnishings, lights, three-dimensional and decorative features that transmit all of Sicis’s savoir faire.
EUROMOBIL
Corso Monforte 30/3 Opening in June (through an event in streaming) for the first Italian flagship store of Euromobil. The concept, by the renowned studio of Matteo Thun & Antonio Rodriguez, develops around the space that has always been seen as the core of the home: the kitchen. Four large windows immediately catch the eye from the outside. Inside, the mood is warm and convivial: 2 levels of 300 square meters in all, presenting a selection of the brand’s finest kitchens. Soon the facility will also become a dynamic place for cultural programming, meetings and cooking demonstrations. IFDM 52 June 2020
TAVOLO TREBLE SEDIE GIÃ’ POLTRONCINE YORK TAVOLINO LUMIERE LIBRERIA FREEWALL MADIA LINEA LAMPADA PLANET
RIFLESSI STORE: MILANO PIAZZA VELASCA 6 ROMA VIA PO 1H NAPOLI VIALE KENNEDY 415/419 BERGAMO VIA SUARDI 7 BARI P.ZZA GARIBALDI 75/A REGGIO CALABRIA C.GARIBALDI 545 TORINO C.SO TURATI, 82
riflessi.it
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POLTRONA FRAU LAUNCHES COLORSPHERE®, THE NEW COLOR SYSTEM THAT GIVES RISE TO THE EQUALLY NOVEL PELLE FRAU® SC. SEVEN SETS OF COLORS FOR A TOTAL OF 73 TONES, TO CREATE A MORE HARMONIOUS DIALOGUE BETWEEN SPACES AND FURNISHINGS
Color Revolution
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VANITY FAIR XC armchair
90 years of Vanity
Ninety years and still going strong. “Modello 904” began production as far back as 1930, known with the name Vanity Fair starting in 1984. With the passing of the years, the armchair has become one of the universally recognized icons of Italian design, emblem of the company. Upon reaching its 90th year, Poltrona Frau launches the Vanity Fair XC: Roberto Lazzeroni revisited Vanity Fair, adapting its proportions to the lifestyles of today (with a wide 55x63cm seat, 100x100cm base and it is 97cm tall).
new era begins at Poltrona Frau. A luminous, variegated, intense era. Goodbye to monotonous uniformity, hello to a universe of shadings! ColorSphere® is the name of this unprecedented project that updates the DNA of Poltrona Frau; a crossover project in its concepts and its aims. ColorSphere® is a voyage in time and space: it draws on the history and heritage of the brand to explore the contemporary world, grouping different chromatic latitudes, personal inspirations and habitat objects involving eclectic contaminations. With ColorSphere® a new interpretation of color is developed, evaluated along a simpler, more immediate path of perceptions and emotions. While the starting point was the company’s range of 96 hues, updated and adapted to new interior design needs, the arrival point is a chromatic map that identifies and brings together seven groups of tuned colors (73 hues in all), for greater ease of selection and combination. Starting with the fact that the everyday need is to have more versatile, integrated spaces, where furnishings and objects also complement each other and establish a dialogue amongst themselves and in relation to the host space, the result is also a system of chromatic cataloguing that reflects these changes, ex-
pressing the contemporary experience of living. ColorSphere® is therefore a system that – as the name implies – is capable of unifying colors and atmospheres. Innovation on the theme of color has been a constant in the evolution of Poltrona Frau. In 1912 the company supplemented natural leather tones with dyed leathers, in red (emblematic in the Vanity Fair armchair, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year), moss green and ultramarine blue; after expanding the color range over the years and updating processes of production and crafting of leathers, in 1986 the firm, together with the chromatologist Paolo Minoli, created Color System Frau®, a system (initially with 73 colors, extended over time to 96) that encodes the materic and chromatic universe of the brand. In 2020 ColorSphere® - created in collaboration with the chromatologist and textile designer Giulio Ridolfo – revolutionizes the palette, concentrating on the natural radiance of leather, the luminosity and intensity of colors, while also having an impact on the material itself, becoming an integral part of the leather in tune with its natural hues: the result is the new Pelle Frau® SC. Seven main families go into the new system, ordered in keeping with a chromatic logic of tones and sub-tones: Into the Black (grays and blacks),
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Milky Way (whites), Foundation (powder and beige), Tierras (browns), Red Memories (reds), Winter Garden (blues and greens), or taking inspiration from a metropolitan and international palette (Back in Town). Of the 73 final colors, 26 are the historic shades inherited from the Poltrona Frau catalogue, joined by 47 new hues. The core units of Poltrona Frau – the Residential, Contract and Interiors in Motion divisions – have provided inspirations for the new entries: the world of hospitality has suggested the range of grays, natural tones and browns, while the office has offered stimuli for shades of gray and blacks; the automotive sector has contributed to expand the range of beiges, cowhide tones, blues and greens. Thanks to its nature and accompanying concept, ColorSphere® becomes a functional and revolutionary design tool. “We wanted to create not just a simple color chart for in-house use – says Nicola Coropulis, CEO of Poltrona Frau – but a tool of support and simplification for all professionals operating in the sector of architecture and interior design, while also helping people who simply want to choose the ‘right’ color for their furniture.” www.poltronafrau.com
The forms of water THE DEEP COLLECTION FOR NATUZZI ITALIA, CREATED IN COLLABORATION WITH THE DESIGNER NIKA ZUPANC, IS INSPIRED BY THE CONCEPT OF THE “CIRCLE OF HARMONY”, THE LEITMOTIF OF THE COMPANY’S NEW CREATIONS FOR 2020
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atuzzi asked eight different designers to explore the connection with Puglia. The circle has emerged as the form of harmony, symbol of balance and perfection, but also a gathering place for the Natuzzi company. Deep, the proposal by Nika Zupanc (at her first collaboration with the firm), is a
collection for the living and dining areas: sofas, armchairs, ottoman-magazine racks, bookcases, a table and chairs, together with accessories like lamps, mirrors and rugs. The series takes its inspiration from the beauty of the Adriatic Sea, which extends from Slovenia to Puglia. The collection includes the Wave sofa, which with
WAVE pouf
WAVE sofa
its sinuous lines suggests the movement of waves in the sea, for an intimate, cozy seating arrangement. Available in two- or three-seat versions, or as an armchair, this model is raised from the floor by light gold satin-finish metal feet. It is joined by an ottoman composed of two half-moon parts that can be held together by a central magazine rack, in the same finish as the feet. Among the outstanding pieces in the collection: the Adore chair, a single
shell supported by a single swivel foot; the Tide bookcase with shelves that evoke the movement of the sea; the sinuous Voyage table; the Mermaid and Sailor oval mirrors; the Vortex rugs, with optical graphics; and the Joy lamp, available in the floor, table and suspension versions, made in blown glass to emit soft light, like the one of evenings by the sea. www.natuzzi.it
What counts TWO BOOKCASES, 30MM AND LAGOLINEA, FULLY EXPRESS THE DESIGN DYNAMISM OF DANIELE LAGO AND HIS COMPANY. CREATIVITY AND FUNCTIONAL QUALITY, FOR A CENTRAL FOCUS ON THE INDIVIDUAL
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ou are the design; we provide the alphabet.” This is one of the 11 points of the manifesto that outlines the key elements of Lago’s thinking. After all, Daniele Lago, at the helm of the firm, has always believed in design as a tool of social transforma-
tion, useful to investigate and respond to the needs of contemporary living. Both 30mm and Lagolinea, bookcases both designed by the entrepreneur, are its embodiment, ‘free’ and ready for personalization. Raised from the ground, 30mm – thanks to the suspension of its sides –
LAGOLINEA bookcase
can be broken down and redesigned in infinite configurations. The original grille no longer has structural constraints, making it possible to create and alternate full and empty portions. The Lagolinea accessorized walls, on the other hand, offer variations of form, color and materials. The slender, flexible structure establishes a dialogue with the 36e8 system and allows the formation of a game of mazes and niches that become stylistic features. 30MM bookcase
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The two bookcases also have a built-in lighting system and details in XGlass, the digital technology applied to design that permits transfer of images onto glass, reinterpreting different materials, from marble to wood, metals to fabrics. This is one of the latest results of Lago’s research on materials and innovation. “Never stop,” in fact, is the 11th point of the manifesto. www.lago.it
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Getting stronger MISURAEMME IS TAKING MANY STEPS TO CONSOLIDATE THE COMPANY WITH AN EYE ON A COMPLETE RESTART IN SEPTEMBER: FROM COMMUNICATION TO RETAIL, WITH COLLECTIONS LED BY THE INNOVATIVE PALO ALTO I-BOX SYSTEM
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e might call it an abrupt adjustment, caused by the postponement to 2021 of the Salone del Mobile in Milan. What initially seemed unthinkable soon became an opportunity to revise internal dynamics, alternative methods of communication and different retail strategies. MisuraEmme has done just that. While the debut of new products has shifted to 2021, the company’s efforts have now
PALO ALTO I-BOX system
addressed the extreme enhancement of the items in the collection. First of all, the Palo Alto I-Box system, completed last year and gradually updated with technical and aesthetic innovations, which transforms the bedroom zone into a theatrical set with a wide range of wardrobe systems. Based on the unification of two MisuraEmme systems (Palo Alto and I-Box), thanks to the creation of an exclusive hinge that permits insertion of the doors in the wooden uprights or the frame uprights (with the
possibility of 180° opening), the program enables users to combine wardrobes and closets: a true novelty in interior design. “This is a value of great innovation and originality, which we want to communicate in the most perceptible way – says Ottaviano Borgonovo, co-owner of the company. – The activities currently in progress have this long-term goal, developed in different channels: starting with the complete restyling of the corporate showroom, to create an ideal, innovative setting to grant emphasis
and force to our products, with an eye on September, when we will fully resume all commercial and retail operations, as well as services and communication.” The advertising campaigns are parallel and complementary, in fact, focusing on the Palo Alto I-Box system across Italy and in collaboration with national partners, and given the already excellent results, they will continue this fall. Along the same lines, the plan of digital communication, B2B and B2C, has also been reinforced. The company’s new website will soon be up and running, enhanced by the important functions of the 3D configuration system for the wardrobes of the collection. “This situation has brought out the essential character of the digital realm, and its potential. The configurator will soon be joined by a new e-commerce approach for the Atelier Collection; while for our partners around the world, the platform becomes a valid tool of training and information. Never before have we felt so close to our clients from all over the world, translating into a great desire to act and to participate in the life of the company, also with training sessions and webinars.” Relying on this active, farsighted approach aimed at consolidating the corporate structure, MisuraEmme is also engaged on the front of production, reacting to new trends in interior design that have emerged as a result of the lockdown: “We have witnessed a true return to the value of the home, as a place where it will be increasingly necessary to reconcile personal life and work. This is a theme we are approaching in terms of new collections, and we will concretely explore these ideas in specific products.” www.misuraemme.it
PALO ALTO I-BOX system
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Light as air ÉTHER IS THE NAME OF THE NEW TABLEWARE COLLECTION OF RICHARD GINORI, WITH THE POETIC, ECLECTIC APPROACH OF FRENCH DESIGNER CONSTANCE GUISSET
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ÉTHER collection
hat nebulous atmosphere, an invisible air flow in which one can only sense the spread, is now tangible. It is Éther, the texture created by Constance Guisset for the new tableware collection – inspired by the Aria line – of Richard Ginori. A concept developed with poetic lightness by the French designer, through shadings from black to blue, easily matched with all colors, crafted with irregular forms in full and empty zones, bringing depth to the plates to welcome various gourmet delicacies. Figurative movement accompanies that of forms: all the pieces are extremely
versatile, and can be turned over, stacked or placed together to create different, adaptable combinations with multiple serving functions. The aesthetically refined Éther series, entirely decorated by hand, displays all the know-how of the Florentine company, which after over two years of development has produced the pieces in its Hyper*P workshops: porcelain with a new high-performance formula, resistant to impact, ready to conserve all the finest characteristics of the material. www.richardginori1735.com
Convivial needs GREATER VERSATILITY, FUNCTIONAL COMPOSITIONS AND SOLUTIONS TO EXPAND THE SPACE. THESE ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF THE REVISED ONE KITCHEN MODEL BY ERNESTOMEDA
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THE NEW ONE kitchen
he kitchen as a gathering place for family life. This is the outlook of The New One, which offers diversified compositions where various material solutions create various degrees of tactile perception. The new model is composed of open equipped units and spacious monolithic cabinets, with the bases and backs of the open units in a Walnut effect, a granite worktop with built-in sink, and the possibility of inserting shelves with LED lighting in the open compartments. The pantry with doors in reflecting smoked glass includes shelves equipped for bottle storage.
RECENT PRODUCTS AND BESTSELLERS GET A NEW LIFE THANKS TO THE MATTE FINISH DEVELOPED BY KARTELL, A COMPANY THAT NEVER CEASES TO SURPRISE
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VENICE chair
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www.ernestomeda.com
emerging from the office to find a place in all the rooms of the home. The Componibili, one of the distinctive products of the firm, and the most accustomed to variations over time, has been provided with a new surface, in just two versions: white and black. As an exclusive piece for the retail network VIP, the lamp-symbol by Ferruccio Laviani comes in a limited matte black edition. The change has also reached the younger Venice seat, Philippe Starck’s tribute to the world’s best-loved city, and Aledin, the table lamp by Alberto and Francesco Meda, which in the Tec version combines traditional transparency with full-bodied white and black hues.
A matter of finishes ilky to the touch, with a matte image. Attractive and glamorous, in the Kartell spirit. With the matte finish the company exerts its transforming prowess, playing irreverently with historic pieces and newer items. A magic wand with an elegant anti-reflection effect for Gastone and Battista, trolleys created 30 years ago from a brilliant intuition that makes them folding and extensible, now more beautiful than ever in white, cream and bordeaux. Mobil, the drawer unit on wheels that won the Compasso d’Oro in 1994, has been entirely revised,
For maximum convivial enjoyment, the island structure offers a true gathering place for the family, a refined setting also thanks to the appealing colors and elegant finishes, with the Woodset table and the large In Space columns. To expand space, the R&D division of Ernestomeda has also created a peninsula with a Snack Twist counter, for a kitchen that communicates with the living area.
www.kartell.com
ALEDIN table lamp
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GENTLEMAN collection
A world of comfort SEATING SYSTEMS AND MODULAR SOFAS BECOME CONVIVIAL CORNERS AND ISLANDS OF REST. THE PROPOSALS OF POLIFORM EXPAND THE CONCEPT OF UPHOLSTERY AS A CENTRAL FEATURE OF HABITAT WELLNESS
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he key word is relaxation! Now more than ever, interiors are required to offer wellbeing and comfort as a primary virtue. Poliform grants meaning to a simple concept and all its overtones. While most of the new products will be unveiled in the fall, in the meantime the company is bringing its latest collections to the spotlight, which narrate the Casa Poliform context, summing up its philosophy and its style.
Starting with the Gentleman collection, the result of collaboration between Poliform and Marcel Wanders, once again side by side after the great success of the Mad line with all its various interpretations. In Gentleman comfort translates into a new sense of hospitality and warmth, through a seating system of sophisticated appeal, suggested by the name itself: the volumes have grace, with sinuous lines, while the raised base (in matte or glossy brown nickel coated metal) accentuates the sense of lightness and adaptability, ready to interact with other furnishings and contexts. The Gentleman collection is composed of various solutions, each with its own personality, but all deeply linked to putsue perfect harmony through the combination of all the parts: Gentleman Relax, Gentleman Single, Gentleman Reserved and Gentleman’s Friends. The Westside system speaks of a completely different kind of comfort and relaxation in the living area: Jean-Marie Massaud (a constant in the company’s portfolio) packs the essence of softness into a modular composition that through an agile game of combinations can form a small private island, a classic corner configuration or a large deconstructed modular divan. The seat cushions on a slender base in solid tulipwood, the alternation between backs and armrests in fabric, cowhide or metal, the complements having distinctive features that add a touch of functional quality, make this versatile system an emblem of the effective alchemy between Poliform and Jean-Marie Massaud: an infallible partnership to achieve timeless comfort and elegance. www.poliform.it
WESTSIDE system
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ABACUS sofa
2020 reloaded
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orada is cutting no corners for the launch of the new collection. Quite the opposite. The difficulties arising in 2020 have simply stimulated furnishing proposals that become more than habitat settings, acting as vehicles for a more profound experience of the home environment, a place to rediscover authentic emotions and lasting values. With this spirit, Porada presents the Twenty collection, amplified in its concept but in perfect continuity – in stylistic terms – with the previous lines. The central focus, not by chance, is the living room, the core of the Porada home, a space where people want the right combination of comfort
BAYUS coffee table
and multifunctional versatility, now more than ever before, along with a character of intimacy matched by a context open to sharing. Porada’s approach is immediately clear in the Abacus sofa, which bears the signature of Gabriele and Oscar Buratti: a modular sofa where tradition and elegance are interpreted in a contemporary way; ample, deep cushions are firmly held in place by a light base in canaletta walnut, the distinctive sign of the brand. The keystone of the project is its great compositional flexibility, offered by hexagonal seating elements that can be utilized as ends, corners or chaises longues. The living area cannot be without a dining zone, represented in the collection by the
SMILE ottoman
THE NEW TWENTY COLLECTION CREATES AN EVEN MORE ENTICING, FUNCTIONAL AND CONVIVIAL LIVING AREA. IN TOTAL PORADA STYLE
Alan family of tables, designed by Buratti. Here the distinctive feature is the leg with its particular curved section, which can be used in groups of three or four elements to form the central bases for rectangular or round tables (in wood, marble and transparent glass), creating chiaroscuro effects and geometric forms in continual motion. The combination of research on materials and forms happens on a range of different scales. So here come the complements! Marconato&Zappa have designed Smile,
playing with the contrast between the immateriality of light and the solidity of wood. This overview illustrates one of the indispensable values of the company: research on materials and craftsmanship. While the solid wood – canaletta walnut and ash – is the main feature, other surfaces are no less important in the overall formulation of quality and workmanship: marble, always included in the recent proposals, enhanced this year by the very new Carnico gray; glass, colored in
ALAN table
an original ottoman, a handy piece with an informal but refined spirit, where the solid wood structure is joined by a practical grip that becomes a small back for the padded seat. The Bayus coffee table, an addition to the collection of the same name by the Buratti brothers, also features a delicate combination of materials (canaletta walnut, brass and cowhide). To complete the offerings, the company has made its first suspension lamp: Astra, designed by David Dolcini, is a reinterpretation of the traditional chandelier using solid wood,
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two new tones, rust and ink blue; fabrics, selected with microgeometric patterns, along with velvets with overtones of the 1950s, and an unusual bouclé; all the way to three new lines of carpets, to intensify the sense of warmth and refined lifestyle of the entire Porada home. www.porada.it
NEW CLASSIC INTERIORS
ANGELO CAPPELLINI & C. s.r.l. SHOWROOM via Turati, 4 22060 - CABIATE (CO) - ITALY tel. +39 031 769 2811 www.angelocappellini.com
Interior LA BELLE VIE
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Like a work of art THE ART-DESIGN OF VISIONNAIRE TAKES THE STAGE IN THE NEW BEAUTY 2020 COLLECTION, EMBODYING THE UNIQUENESS TYPICAL OF ARTWORKS
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he eccentric capsule collection Il Pavone by Marc Ange, presented for the first time in December during Miami Art Basel, was the start of a new path taken by Visionnaire, the meta-luxury lifestyle brand, with pieces that are always ‘one of a kind.’ The path is that of Art-Design, a concept developed in tune with the company’s approach of making projects and objects of extraordinary individuality, generating works of forceful identity, unique and impossible to repeat – though they can be reproduced – exactly like a work of art. Behind all this, of course, lies constant technological research, experimentation with materials, the skills of artisans who test and perfect solutions to create true gems. “They are coherent presences, with respect to each other and to the spaces that host them – says Eleonore Cavalli,art director ofVisionnaire.– They are never conceived as isolated items, but as part of a whole, because each single element has a remarkable ability to be in-
serted in a context, without sacrificing its own precise, forceful personality.” Such as that of the new Beauty collection, with a sculptural character that extends the art-design offerings of the company, contextualized from a retail perspective and involving designers of exceptional artistic talent. First of all, the duo Draga&Aurel, a new, exclusive collaboration, who combine
SPUTNIK lamp
ADMETO coffee table
materials in contrasting ways: the Amos table is composed of two metal armrests cast in sand, which close in an embrace around a concrete base, poured in a form with reinforcement and then subjected to an exclusive erosion treatment; two ‘spirits’ treated with different finishes, the shiny gold of the metal and the matte black of
the concrete, give rise to the Lego consoles and low table; while the rhomboid origami in metal of the Sputnik lamps form a fractal motif that refracts the light. Then there is Alessandro La Spada, a long-term relationship, who for the lower top of the Arkady table chooses a slab of Crema Marfil stone, crafted by hand in bas-relief, with irregular borders, artistic resin and Himalayan salt: all resting on legs in metal, cast in sand to create a 3D pattern. La Spada uses the new Bansky velvet, with its plush effect, to cover the Petra semicircular upholstered chair, with its vertical metal grafts. Mauro Lipparini, on the other hand, has designed an evocative settee, Desmond, in which a central part in frisé eucalyptus functions as a pillar for the suspended lateral glass volumes. The architect Marco Piva combines fumé glass for the top and marble crafted in ‘stripes’ for the legs of the Admeto coffee table, with a sculptural image. www.visionnaire-home.com
ARKADY table
PETRA armchair
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Experience of living THERE CAN BE NO COLLABORATION BETWEEN A COMPANY AND A DESIGNER WITHOUT ELECTIVE AFFINITIES, AS IN THE CASE OF CARLO COLOMBO AND SETSU & SHINOBU ITO, WHO HAVE DESIGNED THE AGO TABLE AND THE KIRI CABINET FOR GIORGETTI
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he values of Made in Italy, shared design thinking and the ability to create timeless furnishing systems. These are just a few of the themes addressed by the various designers who work with Giorgetti. For 2020 the company continues the long-term relationships of this kind, such as the one with Colombo, while activating new ones, as in the case of
Setsu & Shinobu Ito. Carlo Colombo adds to the Ago collection with a table that can be defined as a true work of art, due to the attention to detail and extreme elegance. Looking at the legs, one understands the meaning of the name (needle, in Italian). The metal structure is enhanced by plating, with four solid pieces of Canaletto walnut. To create stability, each wooden part has a
different design, depending on its position and angle. For the oval top it is possible to choose between wood (subdividing the surface in four parts positioned to create a pattern with the grain) or marble, in a single slab. The designers Setsu & Shinobu Ito, on the other hand, narrate an ancient tradition in their project. In the Orient, for the birth of a daughter a Kiri tree was planted, which after growing – at the time of the daughter’s wedding – would be transformed into a cabinet that would stay with the young woman in her new life. The Kiri bar cabinet, faced on the outside with vertical slats of artfully shaped Canaletto walnut, is a true treasure chest, with two doors outfitted to hold bottles and glasses, and LEDs to light a series of internal drawers and shelves, finished by hand in leather. The upper top is made with hollowed marble, while the handles are in cast bronze. www.giorgettimeda.com
AGO table
The dream of beauty
plements: both the console and low table versions (respectfully composed of two and three parts) lightly take their place in rooms thanks to the almost aerial base in metal supporting a thin top in frisé maple. www.jumbo.it
THE NEW JUMBO GROUP COLLECTIONS PURSUE THE GROUP’S PHILOSOPHY “OUR DREAM NEVER STOPS,” A MANIFESTO OF VALUES AND INTENTIONS, UNDER THE SIGN OF BEAUTY
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he stylistic research of Jumbo Group takes the form of a true philosophy, an expressive mood summed up in the slogan “Our Dream Never Stops.” With this ‘manifesto’ the group reiterates its values as an essential driver to cope with this unusual year of 2020, taking inspiration from Italian artistic heritage of all ages: the red thread is beauty, which “is in our past, present and future, as a primary
LUMIÈRE console
ingredient of Jumbo Group’s vision,” says the art director Livio Ballabio. This vital energy generates new collections for 2020, which in the Jumbo Collection brand form a living room setting triggered precisely by the most refined heritage of craftsmanship.
Elegance and comfort, refinement and materials: a perfect balance of sensory perceptions, seen in the new Tulipe armchair – enveloping, sculptural, with a carved base finished in gold leaf and ample capitonné padding – and in the Lumière com-
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TULIPE armchair
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Combine Evolution Boffi: signature upgrade PIERO LISSONI LINES UP THE ‘TRANSFORMABLE’ COMBINE, INSERTING NEW COMPOSITIONAL ELEMENTS IN ITS COMPACT GEOMETRY. AN EVOLUTION THAT BRINGS DYNAMISM TO THE WHOLE PROJECT
COMBINE EVOLUTION kitchen
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ombine Evolution is the new interpretation of the terse elegance of its designer, the evolution of a model that conserves the nature of a modular system based on juxtaposition of monoblocks with specific functions, enhancing it with new solutions. Piero Lissoni’s proposal combines the linear architecture of the two monolithic blocks – rigorous in their expressive purism – with the aesthetic lightness of functional spaces formed by new open metal parts. Those of the structure complete with practical wooden drawers, connecting the two compact stations and incorporating the large table of solid oak staves, connecting the dining zone with the operative portion of the island kitchen. But also those of the
large double shelf suspended from the ceiling, coated in matte black, combined with handy surfaces in solid wood; and the rod below for utensils, with a built-in LED bar to light the entire work zone. Forceful graphic signs that intervene in the definition of a dynamic project, a lively interpretation that suggests the ritual nature of the gestures of food preparation. This kitchen, in fact, offers remarkable operative advantages. The measurements of Combine Evolution take the everyday gestures of the user into account. The two monoblocks are sequential stations: technical, with washing and cooking, and a complementary station for food preparation. The white Carrara marble used for the
doors is combined with a very technical solution for the worktop, calling for introduction of the new finish in black Durinox, an innovative steel with a matte look that stands up to scratching and fingerprints. The functions of spacious storage, refrigeration and cooking (oven) are completed by an elegant accessorized wall of columns, whose composition conveys a sense of open moment thanks to the rhythmical alternation of full volumes and transparent compartments with glass doors. www.boffi.com
Glo gets Maxi THE HISTORIC GLO COLLECTION, BASED ON COLLABORATION BETWEEN PENTA AND CARLO COLOMBO, HAS BEEN ENHANCED: THE NEW MAXI SUSPENSION MODEL MAKES IT SUITABLE FOR ALL FURNISHING CONTEXTS
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n ethereal floating soap bubble. This is the impression created by Carlo Colombo with the design of Glo for Penta, a lamp that has become one of the company’s icons over time. The collection, already containing floor, suspension and applique versions, now adds the Maxi suspension option, ready to underscore rarified, magical atmospheres with its diameter of 55 cm, for perfectly gauged lighting. The double diffuser in borosilicate glass is of great impact, composed by a translucent
GLO MAXI suspension lamp
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squared inner element that houses the light source, and a transparent, colored external sphere that continues to enclose part of the wiring, completed by a structure in shiny chrome-plated metal. Glo Maxi also relies on the same palette of colors and finishes: transparent, gold, silver, pink gold, black, iridescent, ‘4ever’ and ‘total white,’ blue, green and violet. The iridescent and amber versions are particularly striking. www.pentalight.com
Upgrade with character
The restyling of the Carattere kitchen by Scavolini concentrates on details and finishes, including a new range of glossy lacquers. The veneered door comes in four new hues, while for the more classic profile an original frame has been introduced, together with leaded glass. The main focus is on personalization, like the updated range of handles and the magnetic back in layered laminate, which can be combined with the new Magneto collection of accessories.
JUNO bathroom
Elegance in the details RIGOROUS FORMS AND AMPLE POSSIBILITIES FOR PERSONALIZATION. JUNO IS THE COLLECTION FROM SCAVOLINI BAGNO THAT ESTABLISHES A DIALOGUE WITH ANY AVAILABLE SPACE
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he Juno bathroom has many advantages, but to list only the foremost, we could mention high aesthetic quality, effective modular design and special attention to detail, as in the J-shaped handle grip that becomes the stylistic feature of the whole collection, as a simple ergonomic solution. Thanks to a large assortment, it is possible to create your own bathroom décor, selected from lacquer finishes (glossy or matte) and patterns,
available in a range of hues. Compositional freedom is ensured by the new Magneto system of mirrors and accessories, including open hanging cabinets, shelves, soap dishes, glasses and towel racks, magnetically positioned where needed on the surface of the mirror. It is possible to combine countertop or built-in washstands, to insert
suspended or floor-mounted fixtures, faucets, shower plates and cabins, bathtubs, mirrors, accessories and a variety of lighting systems, also including the bathroom modules of the Sistema Parete Fluida to gain greater storage space. www.scavolini.com
Naturally in tune FLOU SUMMONS THE FORCE OF NATURE TO CREATE NEW, UNUSUAL INTERIOR DESIGN PROPOSALS, IN A HARMONIOUS CONNECTION OF FORM AND MATTER, MOVEMENT AND SPACE
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GAUDÍ bed
he 2020 collection of Flou is a tribute to nature. Values, sensations, materials draw on this world to then be interpreted in furnishings for the bedroom zone and the living area, capable of transmitting the same harmony, authenticity and vital energy, enabling people to live totally in tune with the environment. This is the concept – summed up in the payoff “As nature teaches” – behind the new products, starting with the Gaudí double bed by Matteo Nunziati. The warm material impact of solid wood seems to be shaped by the force of the wind: IFDM 67 June 2020
the sinuous forms of the structure emerge from the enveloping embrace of the textile covering, culminating in the soft padding of the headboard. Purity and lightness set the tone of the project, together with refined attention to detail: from the visible stitching to the placement of the fabric that seems to simply be draped, but is actually the result of complex design development, from the shaping of the wood to the choice of finishes in coffee oak or black-stained oak. www.flou.it
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DEGAS table
New Renaissance HEADING FOR ITS 135TH YEAR, ANGELO CAPPELLINI STILL HAS A REFRESHING, VIGOROUS SPIRIT: KEEPING FAITH WITH ITS DNA, THE COMPANY HAS MODERNIZED ITS OPERATIONS AND ITS STYLE, WITH AN EYE ON THE FUTURE
“I
entered this sector two years ago and fell in love with it.” The new era of Angelo Cappellini starts with this relationship of deep understanding and desire to grow together: to shape it, the General Manager Fabio Merli has implemented a true corporate restructuring, from the organizational foundations to the area of pure creativity and design. “We have big goals in mind for the company: we have integrated all the most important professional skills, from marketing to artistic direction,
DEGAS chair
because the project must necessarily be ambitious and oriented to the relaunch, not only in terms of numbers, although in 2019 the numbers were very good – Merli says. - The firm is shifting from a family dimension to a managerial one, with the desire to keep on growing.” In this perspective, the arrival of Bestetti Associati for the artistic direction is a true sign of renewal: the aim is to “consolidate the historical identity of the company, focusing on its specific skills of customization, in a revitalizing interpretation of the stylistic philosophy of Angelo Cappellini – New Classic Interiors. A philosophy that combines the company’s longterm know-how and craftsmanship with a fresh, modern allure. One good example is the Degas collection, a proposal for the dining area that includes a majestic table with an inlaid top, combined with elegant seating in natural hues, delicately carved profiles and Vienna straw backs. There is also the Tessella table (which boasts a new version with a round top and a diameter of 180 cm), to sum up the brand’s new aesthetic vision, as a perfect compendium of modern elegance and fine cabinetry (as in the geometric pattern with different types of wood). The restyling of the products in the collection is the theme for 2020, in the run-up to the major new developments that will be placed on the market next year, when Angelo Cappellini celebrates 135 years of operation. “It will be a very important year for us, so most of our new creations will be unveiled for that anniversary – says the General Manager. – In the meantime, we have rethought 2020, also due to the cancellation of the Salone del Mobile, to concentrate on in-house reorganization,
TESSELLA table
training programs with webinars for clients and agents, and on communication, not only to stay close to our partners but also to illustrate our evolution, and its growing impact on the firm.” (Almost) 135 years, still with great enthusiasm, demonstrating that the luxury sector
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is not only deeply rooted and still alive, but also capable of staying in step with the times, adapting to a wide range of lifestyles thanks to excellent quality and fine craftsmanship. www.angelocappellini.com
The home of glamour A LIFESTYLE, THAT OF A FASHION HOUSE THAT CONTAMINATES THE DOMESTIC ENVIRONMENT WITH A RECOGNIZABLE IMAGE AND AN ABILITY TO COMBINE CLASSIC AND CONTEMPORARY
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n all-around ascent to success. Not just in fashion, where Versace is an inimitable style icon, but also in interior design. Versace Home began in 1992 with a textile collection for the home, and then it took off. The partnership with Rosenthal, leading to memorable tableware collections, the first furnishings with the signature neoclassical decorative themes (the Vanitas chair), the pace of creation of new collections that refine the mixture of antiquity and modernity. Today Versace Home is a creative universe in continuous evolution, with a unique, inimitable aesthetic made not only of precious materials, attention to detail, enveloping forms and timeless color combinations, but also interior design services supplied by an expert team of architects and designers headed by Donatella Versace. This ‘domestic world’ includes furniture, fabrics, china, wallpaper, wallcoverings, ceramic tiles and bathroom accessories. New developments include the Versace
Jungle Animalier for the table, by Rosenthal meets Versace, a collection in the finest porcelain that mixes the iconic Jungle print with animalier motifs and elements based on the Medusa symbol. A selection of plates, tea and coffee services, vases and small decorative items, made in a range of lively colors with sophisticated workmanship. The company has also presented the Versace IV line by Versace Wallpaper: La Scala del Palazzo, which takes its cue from the dramatic marble staircases of the historic Palazzo Versace on Via Gesù in Milan,
LA SCALA DEL PALAZZO collection by Versace Wallpaper
mixing architectural elements and sophisticated colors; Barocco Metallics, featuring the iconic print from the Fall-Winter collection in 1991; Heritage, with baroque floral motifs and delicate hues; Découpage, a series of techniques resembling decoupage with an eclectic mixture of prints from the archives; Barocco Birds, a tropical fantasy depicting birds combined with gilded baroque elements; Eterno, suggesting the texture of herringbone wood floors. Finally, the Textiles & Accessories collection for 2020 includes the Virtus line, with the same baroque letter V used on the iconic Versace bags.
VERSACE JUNGLE ANIMALIER by Rosenthal meets Versace
www.versace.com
Don’t get up A PERFECT BALANCE BETWEEN STIFFNESS AND ELASTICITY FOR THE BACK IS THE CHALLENGE FACED BY THE FOLIO OUTDOOR CHAIR, CREATED BY THE DESIGNER RAFFAELLO GALIOTTO FOR NARDI
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he name comes precisely from the production process, in which the shell of the chair, composed of a single folio of fiberglass resin, is perforated and decorated with squares. Folio is ideal for outdoor use; its back is seamlessly connected to the recessed seat, on a fixed base or in the rocking version for truly complete relaxation. With a simple click it is possible to recline the back, thanks to the hollow armrests containing a manual mechanism that enables the tie-rods to slide, permitting two changes of position.
The cushions, available in 4 different fabrics and various colors, adhere to the shell thanks to double fastening with wide ribbons. Don’t miss out on the Poggio footrest/stool, designed with the same materials as Folio. Thanks to Nardi’s ability to use the flexibility and elasticity of resin, Folio becomes an innovative project, easy to sanitize, resistant to weathering, stackable and completely recyclable.
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www.nardioutdoor.com FOLIO armchair
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BLUME chairs
Different, but united ONE SUMS UP A TECHNICAL-INDUSTRIAL LANGUAGE, THE OTHER A LOVE OF CRAFTSMANSHIP: ROBIN RIZZINI AND SEBASTIAN HERKNER ARE THE NEW, TALENTED PROFESSIONAL COUNTERPARTS ALONG THE CREATIVE PATH OF PEDRALI BLUME chair
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wo distinct creative approaches, those of Robin Rizzini and Sebastian Herkner, in collaboration with the company Pedrali, which carefully selects its designers, bringing out their various personalities in a rich, diversified range of production. The universe of Sebastian Herkner – named ‘Designer of the Year 2019’ by Maison&Objet, Guest of Honor at imm Cologne 2016, and winner of many prizes – is guided by a passion for craftsmanship. An attraction to the world of tradition, but combined with new production technolo-
TOA table
gies to create high-quality pieces that age very gracefully. His work, based on sensitivity and an identity that enhances details and functions, goes perfectly with the enthusiasm and pragmatism of Monica and Giuseppe Pedrali, at the helm of the company, giving rise to the Blume collection. A tribute to the designer’s German roots – Blume means flower, in a decorative reference – but above all a refined expression of convivial moments. The series includes a chair and a lounge chair, and a set of tables in three heights and sizes. The slim frame and polyurethane foam filler of the upholstered pieces form a harmonious
whole, making the seats extremely soft and comfortable. A structural part in steel placed below the seat adds strength while fastening to the legs, making disassembly easy for correct disposal of the parts at the end of the product’s life. The coverings and finishes offer exceptional versatility: anodized aluminium in tones of silver, black, brass and bronze, Breccia Aurora marble in the Fior di Pesco or Rosso Levanto versions, black Fenix with white Arabesque or black marble effects. At the opposite extreme, we find Robin Rizzini, from Genoa, with years of experience in the studio of Antonio Citterio in Milan.
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He is interested in innovative materials and production processes. His goal is to create objects that are exceptionally coherent and carefully thought out, rejecting the idea of redundant design, or the use of materials that are not necessary in terms of quality and quantity. For Rizzini, the results should be essential, function and expressive. “I have always watched Pedrali with great interest, waiting for the chance to design something for them – he says. – The company has all the features of the great Italian brands: creativity, humanity, organization and manufacturing precision. I am very pleased with this first step we have taken together.” The ‘step’ is called Toa, and it is a table that is a tribute to his native city. Light in appearance, it has a sturdy aluminium structure, also to support large tops. The bridge legs in die-cast aluminium, also in contrasting colors with respect to the top, the modular sizing in width and depth, and the wide range of finishes, make this table suitable for various uses: from residential to contract, all the way to the office. www.pedrali.it
Taba: free-form precision A DIGITAL LAUNCH AND A WORLD OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR TABA, THE SEATING FAMILY DESIGNED BY ALFREDO HÄBERLI FOR MOROSO. FOR PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SPACES, INTERTWINING FORMS, ERGONOMICS AND POETRY
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aba strives for precision to offer many opportunities, of seating, interlocks and interaction. It is composed of 8 pieces: a sofa, two armchairs, five ottomans, created by the Swiss-Argentine
designer Alfredo Häberli to adapt to a multifunctional existence, thanks to the overlapping of various organic lines. Ways to sit, to converse, to work. Rigorous geometric forms blend with the poetry of
TABA collection
TABA collection
nature, generating asymmetrical, soft pieces that alternate flat surfaces and curved zones to adapt to a wide range of everyday uses. “The tame I wanted to develop with Taba,” Häberli says, “is the weaving together of form and poetry. Of what is linear, and what is elusive.” And “in a company like Moroso, cultivating the impulse of the idea that defies the rules is easy for me.” Hence the successful liaison with an Italian company that in the time of the pandemic has launched the collection online and on the social networks, narrating the creative process in a documentary film
of almost 3 minutes. The presentation also provides the justification for a name that takes its inspiration from the background of the designer himself. It comes from an old game of skill played by Argentine campesinos: Taba was a game like jacks, involving knucklebones thrown onto the ground and picked up while bouncing a ball. A childhood memory, an emotion that undoubtedly lives on in this project. www.moroso.it
Synergy of materials CRUISE ALU
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company like Talenti is capable of creating objects with materials, also thanks to the collaboration of internationally acclaimed designers, in pursuit of different, versatile forms and combinations. Cruise Collection, with its infinite combinations, creates a true living area with sophisticated, elegant lines, thanks to fixed or modular sofas, tables, ottomans, benches, living and dining chairs. The nautical inspiration is underscored by the use of fine materials like wood for Cruise Teak and aluminium for Cruise Alu in the structure, as well as woven cord and coverings of the latest generation (with a selection of fabrics in sober, luminous hues for the seats).
The idea is to combine an alloy like aluminium, impervious to rust, or teak wood, which is extremely resistant to temperature changes, water, humidity and salt air, with rope that is waterproof and stands up to UV rays. For the Cruise Alu series, the modular sofa has an aluminium structure made by die-casting, combined with ample, comfortable seats in quick dry foam (a material that ensures shedding of water and very rapid drying), and a covering in fabric resistant to weathering. The die-cast foot becomes the distinctive feature of the collection with its forceful aesthetic impact. www.talentisrl.com
CRUISE TEAK
IFDM 71 June 2020
CRUISE COLLECTION, THE NEW 2020 LINE DESIGNED BY PALOMBA SERAFINI ASSOCIATI FOR TALENTI, TAKES ITS CUE FROM THE NAUTICAL WORLD, COMBINING ROPE WITH TEAK AND ALUMINIUM
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At the height of excellence COMFORT, ELEGANCE AND REFINEMENT ARE JUST SOME OF THE QUALITIES OF THE GREGORY SOFA, DESIGNED BY ANTONIO CITTERIO FOR FLEXFORM, THAT CAN BE PERCEIVED WHILE CHATTING, RELAXING OR ENJOYING A GOOD BOOK, SURROUNDED BY SOFT CUSHIONS GREGORY sofa
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he eyes roam over a sofa and inevitably the attention is captured by the many details that make the piece an absolute protagonist of the space that hosts it. Obviously the elegant lines of the design, the form, the perfect proportions, are all factors that transmit a sense of harmony. But there’s more. Certain particulars, like the elegant aluminium foot, the elastic belting that looks like a true decoration for the base, the suave grosgrain borders of the cushions, make Gregory into an object
with a vivid personality, while demonstrating the know-how that is part of the full background of the company. Created by Antonio Citterio Design for the Flexform Indoor 2020 collection, it is a sofa that alternates cooler and more rigorous materi-als like the metal of the base with warmer, refined touches like the cowhide used for the visible parts of the elastic belting that supports the seat cushions. Personalization is another aspect of this sofa that allows it to respond to all needs; the metal structure and the feet in
die-cast aluminium come in a range of finishes to permit sophisticated combinations with the cowhide of the belting, offered in the colors tobacco, dark brown and black. But the added value is not only aesthetic in character: the back cushions with rolls, padded with goosedown, have been designed for correct posture and the highest levels of comfort. Gregory also permits the creation of countless configurations thanks to its wide range of modular options.
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The breath of light
hen we gaze skyward and try to find shapes and images in the irregular, mutable clouds, with sunbeams filtering through. Something similar happens when you turn on the lamps of the Nubola series. They are composed of irregular spheres in metallic colors (copper, black chrome and gold) that suggest the softness and consistency of clouds. The same magic is found in the production process, done by artisans who blow into tubes to bring air into a mass of molten glass. Using the pipe as an axis of rotation, they turn the piece on an iron plate and with the help of various tools they create the desired form, adjusting it and creating details that make every piece unique and inimitable, like a work of art. The Nubola collection includes floor and table lamps, and applique and chandelier versions are currently been developed. The table version is composed of a base that resembles a bottle and supports the luminous body, resembling a cloud. The floor lamp, on the other hand, is structured on a circular base from which three vertical metal posts rise, on which to attach the three spheres of blown glass of different sizes. The finishes for the spheres include copper, black chrome and gold, while the structure of the bases of the floor and table lamps come in graphite or other finishes. NUBOLA series
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www.riflessi.it
www.flexform.it
AN INTRIGUING NAME, NUBOLA, FOR A SERIES OF LAMPS PRESENTED BY RIFLESSI. THE IRREGULAR FORMS IN BLOWN GLASS ARE SKILLFULLY MADE BY THE HANDS OF ARTISANS
We never stop FOURMORE, design Gordon Guillaumier
THE THIRST FOR DISCOVERY DRIVES THE BRAND’S PROCESS OF PRODUCTION AND CREATION, ALONG WITH CURIOSITY ABOUT TECHNOLOGIES AND COLLABORATIONS WITH NEW DESIGNERS. PERPETUAL MOTION IN A CONSTANT STATE OF BECOMING
“V
ersatile like matter, in constant change.” This is how Desalto describes itself, a company that for 30 years has perfectly embodied the values of Made in Italy, uniting family and territory. Curiosity is right at home here, implying constant technological and creative research, and moving instinctively – especially in recent years – towards collaborations with new faces from the world of design. Fresh thinking makes it possible to bring together different talents, in relation to sartorial, crafted production. The latest products reflect this rare vitality, with fine workmanship and high-tech content, inseparably mixed with new and innovative ideas. That of the designer Gordon Guillaumier (Art Director of the company) is truly a design challenge (met successfully) that works on the difficult balance between technical prowess and appealing form in an extensible table. The goal has been achieved thanks to a simple gesture for the mechanism, preserving the proportions of the table when closed or opened. As the name implies, in Fourmore the extension makes it possible
to add four place settings, for both sizes of the product. The grafting of materials then enhances its image: the top in pale or dark oak veneer, made with numerically controlled milling, forms a contrast with the framework in 10 mm laser-cut steel sheet, underscoring the lightness and elegance of the form. The creative flair of Guglielmo Poletti has also generated a table, summed up in a single detail in the L45. The joint between the leg and the top is the result of the combination of two L-shaped sections cut at 45° to be joined at 90°, formulating the leg and the related crossbar. The latter, in turn rotated by 45° with respect to the flat surface above it, forms a segment of space that emphasizes the relationship between the top and the corresponding corners. Giacomo Moor, on the other hand, has focused on the Stac family of storage elements, equipped with different functions thanks to the stacking of the modular parts. Almost like a construction game involving monolithic volumes in wood, supported by slender 3 mm sheet
STAC, design Giacomo Moor
metal, folded to create an interlock without welding. A ploy that simultaneously generates open compartments. Horizontal and vertical variables are offered, each with modules of two different heights. The production objective is to minimize the sign as far as possible and to make the
parts uniform to optimize processes, along with the desire to grant autonomy to the various modules, permitting shipping in parts to be assembled, taking up less space. All these new creations clearly reflect the refined design culture that has been developed by Desalto over time. www.desalto.it
L45, design Guglielmo Poletti
IFDM 73 June 2020
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Contemporary revolution OPERA CONTEMPORARY CELEBRATES ITS 10TH, WITH FULL HONORS: NEW ART DIRECTORS, AN EXPANDED MARKETING AND RETAIL STRATEGY, AND ABOVE ALL A FORCEFUL INTENTION OF BECOMING A SOLID, STRUCTURED BRAND WITH AN INTERNATIONAL APPEAL COSMO sofa
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en years and going strong. They went by in a flash, after Opera Contemporary made its debut in 2010, thanks to the commitment of a visionary family linked to the story of craftsmanship and woodworking since 1886. Although inspired by this traditional heritage, the new brand has developed its own identity, its own design pathway in a contemporary luxury. The new management now intends to move forward with this character and ambition, developing this burgeoning energy “to make Opera Contemporary have a distinctive appeal, with its own position on the market,” says the General Manager Fabio Merli, summing up a far-sighted approach launched when he entered the company two years ago. An important step in this evolution is the appointment of the studio Bestetti Associati for the artistic direction. “For Opera Contemporary we are building an original stylistic language, to establish a dialogue between products and architecture – the studio says. – An elegant, discreet way of living,
enhanced by essential material details.” The products presented this year move along the lines of this renewed formal expression. One good example is the Cosmo sofa by the studio Castello Lagravinese, one of the most coveted products of the Opera Contemporary catalogue: in the new restyling it displays a structure in solid wood (with a triangular profile) that not only acts as an aesthetic trademark, but also emphasizes the brand’s mastery in the crafting of this material. The same approach can be seen in the Sheila bed (designed by Castello Lagravinese), where the headboard has been revised, shedding its upholstery to reveal its wooden core, enhanced in its lightness by a vertical arrangement of cowhide cords. The interior-architecture affinity pursued by the Bestetti studio can be seen clearly in a new product from the collection, the Taylor bookcase (designed by DL studio): characterized by a metal structure that supports the shelves in wood, marble and leather, this piece nimbly represents the spirit of the brand, made of refined elegance and daring but harmonious combinations
TAYLOR bookcase
of materials. While stylistic and image renewal is already under way, at the same time work is being done to reposition the brand on the market; the process will culminate in the opening of a monobrand showroom in Milan this fall (with others slated to open on foreign markets next year, starting with the USA and the Middle East). The debut of the flagship store will be part of the celebrations of the brand’s 10th birthday: “This year we had many
SHEILA bed
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activities planned to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Opera Contemporary, throughout 2020 – says Fabio Merli. – In spite of the lockdown and the postponement of the Salone del Mobile, we intend to keep faith with the programmed initiatives. There is much to be done, but I believe the brand is ready to assert itself, and to continue to grow in the years to come.” www.operacontemporary.com
Surpassing perfection
AT A DISTANCE OF 50 YEARS, MARIO BELLINI AND B&B ITALIA COLLABORATE ON THE RE-EDITION OF CAMALEONDA, THE MODULAR SOFA THAT IS A PERFECT BLEND OF DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE, AND NOW TAKES A STEP FORWARD, BECOMING SUSTAINABLE
ble cover in dacron, a synthetic fabric obtained from recycled PET. Camaleonda is completed by Gli Scacchi, the series of extra seats and tables designed by Bellini in 1971, whose pieces are inspired by the game of chess, and by the queen, knight and castle in particular. In the original version from 1971 the innovation was the covering in self-skinning polyurethane, a solution previously used only in the automotive industry; today the pieces are offered with soft coverings in cowhide and ponyskin with visible stitching. www.bebitalia.com CAMALEONDA sofa
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an you improve on perfection? An affirmative reply can be seen in the work carried out by the research division of B&B Italia and the architect Mario Bellini, who in 1970 designed the Camaleonda sofa. The piece conserves its look, measurements, proportions and system of use, with a 90x90 cm seating module, the same back and armrest as in the past, using the original patterns to cut the covering. One of the fundamental characteristics of Cama-
leonda is its modular design: attaching or removing seats, backs and armrests, in fact, it is possible to make infinite configurations. While nothing of the form has changed – even the capitonné pattern is the same – the innovation happens in the field of materials. The sandwich structure is made with recycled or recyclable material, the base with wood panels, while the spherical feet are in FSC-certified beech. The filler is in variable-density polyurethane, protected by a remova-
GLI SCACCHI series
In&Out BALANCED BETWEEN INDOORS AND OUTDOORS, THE OPEN AIR 2020 COLLECTION DESIGNED BY ANDREA PARISIO FOR MERIDIANI. BORN FOR THE OPEN AIR, NOW ALSO FOR INDOORS USE
CLAUD indoor sofa
C ZOE indoor armchair
hanging the vantage point enables us to see the same object in new ways. Perhaps we can also discover details that previously eluded us. This is what Meridiani has done with the Open Air 2020 collection, the furniture for outdoor living areas that combines beauty and practicality, now also offered in a version for indoor spaces. The choice of Andrea Parisio, designer and art director, has been to conserve a coherent, recognizable décor idea, reflecting a reassuring vision of interior design through pieces with minimal lines, sinuous details and soft
volumes, that make the home a true pleasure. Moreover, the action of Meridiani confirms the versatility of its production, 100% Made in Italy, timeless, far from passing trends and fashions. The same design, then, but with different finishes. The Ductal® cement, of the highest quality and technology, becomes pale gray, formed by the finest natural minerals and organic fibers that make it strong and flexible; the solid iroko wood gets a glossy or matte lacquer finish, in various colors; the cowhide, skillfully crafted by hand, becomes a protagonist with sartorial stitching and weaving;
IFDM 75 June 2020
and the coated aluminium comes in four hues – Chalk, Petrol, Elephant and Black – for creative combinations. Standouts in the collection include: Claud, a modular sofa, armchair or cot, in matte lacquered wood with a range of different colors, with soft padding for an oasis of relaxation; and Zoe, a series of chairs with ample padded seats, elegantly combining aluminium and woven cowhide, with two optional back cushions. www.meridiani.it
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Harmony is everything LIVING DIVANI GROWS IN STEP WITH ITS COLLECTIONS, ALONGSIDE WITH IDEAS THAT EXPAND AND AN INCREASINGLY REFINED VISION OF BEAUTY. AMONG THE LATEST CREATIONS, FLOYD-HI 2 SEALS THE FERTILE COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE COMPANY AND THE DESIGNER PIERO LISSONI
FLOYD-HI 2 sofa
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ifty years since its founding, 30 years of intense collaboration with Piero Lissoni, the art director. A book, a major exhibition, the second generation at the helm, engaged in the talent scouting that sets the brand apart. The expansion of Living Divani goes hand in hand with its collections, which starting from upholstered furniture now extend to the entire living area. Rigorously essential, impeccable creations that have convinced the most sophisticated
consumers around the world. Floyd-Hi 2 is no exception. The upholstered furniture system designed by Piero Lissoni, in the new version with metal feet, becomes modular to develop in space with its fluid, reassuring forms. The distinctive flair of the armrest inserted between the back and the very ample seat personalizes interiors in contemporary homes and historic estates, but also in contract applications. Fine fabrics combined with sartorial workmanship do their part,
together with materials of the highest quality like poplar and spruce honeycomb panel for the structure of the backs and armrests, steel coated with epoxy powders for the seat frame, washed and sterilized goose down in separate sectors with polyurethane foam inserts, laser-cut steel sheet for the feet, and elastic natural rubber belting. Because harmony is everything. www.livingdivani.it
Cosmic visions THE HYPNOTIC PATTERN OF THE DISTORTION RUG CATCHES THE EYE, IN THE LIMITED EDITION LINE DESIGNED BY MARCO PIVA FOR ILLULIAN. COMPLETELY MADE BY HAND, ITS WEAVE IS COMPOSED OF SINUOUS AND RETICULAR GEOMETRIC LINES THAT GIVE RISE TO UNEXPECTED FORMS
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DISTORTION rug
he threads of the warp and weft cross to form a weave that gradually produces a design, in a process like that of the universe, which weaves lives and fates. Every rug in the Limited Edition line represents a story, which speaks of the personality and life of its author, with the idea of raising questions, seeking answers or interpretations in geometric form. Distortion, made by hand in Himalayan wool and pure silk, features vegetable dyes that give each piece its own particular charm. With its sinuous motifs, it creates a sort of imaginary architecture that can be perceived without taking on basic concrete forms, with colors that shift into different intensities. All the rugs of Limited Edition are carded and knotted by hand, and come in two qualities, Platinum 120 and Gold 100. The first is the more exclusive line, with the use of wool and silk of the highest quality, spun by hand and made with an extremely complex manufacturing process. Gold 100 offers rugs made in wool and silk, also of great appeal, but with fewer knots per square meter. Illulian, thanks to its custom-made service,
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offers the possibility of creating a rug to measure, choosing the colors, patterns and sizes. The result is a perfect model, suitable for residential spaces or contract projects like museums, showrooms, hotels, restaurants or yachts. www.illulian.com
Living in the open air LIKE A PROTECTED BUBBLE, THE MINOTTI OUTDOOR OASIS CREATES A PERFECT LIVING AREA, BETWEEN THE REASSURING DOMESTIC SETTING AND THE FREEDOM OF LIFE IN THE OPEN AIR. NEW FINISHES IN 2020 FOR THE TAPE CORD OUTDOOR SEATING BY NENDO DESIGN
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ape Cord Outdoor, the outdoor version of the Tape family by Nendo, now comes in new finishes and colors selected from a palette of warm tones, from gray to rust, combined with fabrics from the exclusive textile collection. The system composed of many elements adapts to any type of outdoor space: the armchairs, sofa and paolina, the couch open at the back, the chairs, tables and stools in two heights (102 and 115 cm) are capable of furnishing compact zones or terraces of metropolitan penthouses. The seats, with ample depth, offer relaxation and a sense of protection thanks to the back composed of a more
NEW TAPE CORD OUTDOOR collection
rigid structure made of cords, which like a screen envelops and embraces. With its impeccable forms and volumes, the collection stands out for a sartorial detail: the ribbon that holds the foot, made with a strip of metal. The latter, like the metal structures of the seats, comes in the colors Rust and Warm Gray. The wicker-effect cords can also be chosen in Dove Gray, as well as the existing tones. The ribbon – the leitmotif of the collection – is also the protagonist of the metal tables, connecting the leg to the frame in which to insert the top in stone or Corian®. www.minotti.com
Dressing design
MATRIX table THE LEITMOTIV OF THE NEW PRODUCTS FRANKLIN, MATRIX AND PHOENIX BY GIANFRANCO FERRÉ HOME DEFINITELY LIES IN THE SARTORIAL DETAILS THAT REFERENCE THE STYLE OF THE FASHION HOUSE, TRANSFORMING FURNISHINGS INTO ELEGANT, EXCLUSIVE CREATIONS
TAPE CORD OUTDOOR collection
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ach of the new pieces has a strong personality, capable on its own, or with others, of creating a sophisticated, eclectic settings. The refinement of the materials and craftsmanship make each item recognizable as belonging to the brand.
The color range of all the latest creations, chosen by the design team of Gianfranco Ferré Home, shifts from smoke gray to bronze, natural cowhide to brown or black, generating warm, welcoming atmospheres where modern minimalism alternates with the aesthetic foundations of Gianfranco Ferré. The world of fashion mingles with that of design, offering masculine fabrics and geometries, as in the case of the Franklin chair, clad in a bronze-tone pied de poule that goes perfectly with the structure in beech, in smoky gray tones. The other armchair, Phoenix, has impressive cylindrical armrests and is covered in Prince of Wales fabric in brown and black; the imposing volume is perched on slim feet, with a metal base. The same lines are seen in the sofa, which nevertheless stands out for its natural cowhide covering with border stitching. Clean forms and minimal design are also the ingredients of the
PHOENIX armchair
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FRANKLIN armchair
Matrix tables, composed of movable wooden tops, covered in natural cowhide in both the central and lateral versions. These new developments confirm the evolution of the brand towards an essential, less decorative style, capable of creating ambitious habitat solution of impeccable taste. www.gianfrancoferrehome.it
NEW COSMO sofa CALLAS armchair CYRANO small tables PELLEAS small tables TAYLOR library designer Castello Lagravinese www.operacontemporary.com
people&OPINIONS
Paolo Bestetti CEO of BAXTER
text by Rachele Frigerio
AN OUTSTANDING CASE HISTORY WITH ROOTS IN CLASSIC STYLE, EVOLVING INTO THE FULL EXPRESSION OF SOPHISTICATED DESIGN, CLOSE TO TODAY’S CONCEPT OF LUXURY. THE PURSUIT OF UNIQUENESS IN EVERY PRODUCT IS NO LESS IMPORTANT IN THE TALE, ALWAYS WITH AN EYE ON THE WORLD OF ART. BAXTER, IN SHORT, ELUDES CLASSIFICATION AND CATEGORIES, WHILE ASSERTING A STRONG, INDEPENDENT IDENTITY THAT IS THE RESULT OF MEASURED BALANCE AND, ABOVE ALL, A MANIACAL FOCUS ON NATURAL MATERIALS. WE TALKED ABOUT IT WITH PAOLO BESTETTI, CEO OF BAXTER Your launch of the special editions was also ahead of its time, with handmade screen printed textures and complements with equally handmade finishes, transforming design products into one-of-a-kind creations. Is there an affinity with the world of art? This is precisely the direction of our Special Editions. We liked the idea of narrating a home that is the expression of things we prefer, demonstrating a proximity to the world of art. We are not artists, but we want to talk about homes that express the pleasure of collecting unique, precisely Baxter objects, with an industrial core but close ties to uniqueness, where serial production is at times marginal with respect to the designer to make new things. In our collections, the leathers themselves are extremely natural, so for us “every sofa is always a bit different from the others.” Our clients have gotten into the spirit, and for them having a unique piece is undoubtedly an added value. From classic to contemporary, a history that is not so long, but implies a courageous, farsighted migration. When did this change happen, and why? The Baxter story begins in 1990, with a great entrepreneurial dream. Thirty years ago, at the start of its adventure, Baxter appeared with classic upholstered furnishings with a typically English mood, but with details of refined elegance, carefully developed, which contributed to set apart the quality and reliability of the brand. One of the symbols of the decisive change that has made our history is undoubtedly the Alfred sofa, especially in the vintage version, where the special antiquing technique sets the tone of the unique piece. We were no longer thinking about upholstered furniture in a conventional way, but about a project with a particular spirit, an experience to be narrated. Precisely thanks to that sofa, we made the shift from classic to vintage. Another very important piece for our story is the Budapest sofa, now a sort of icon: it expresses the formal approach of the design, while in any case conserving the typical material impact of Baxter. So then we passed from vintage to contemporary design.
Your style is absolutely refined, but light and delicate… can we say it is a balance between luxury and contemporary design? In recent years there has been a fundamental transformation of the concept of luxury, which perhaps we can also say the same of design. Luxury has shifted its values onto the quality of materials, a rigorous, never ostentatious approach. Just has contemporary design has rediscovered its roots. In this work of reinterpretation, these two worlds have always been a part of our company; for us, materials have to be natural, and they represent a fundamental value. How they are treated is equally important: one Baxter must is that materials have to be genuine; nothing should ever be an imitation of something else. In our view, the material and the ability to craft it, even bringing defects to light, are part of the value of the project, making it unique. In this direction there is a concept of luxury, a more sophisticated luxury that can only be grasped by informed eyes.
Projects like the Baxter Bar in Milan (and the temporary site in Paris in January), like the Baxter Cinema (which became a true jazz club during the last Salone), transmit an identity, a way of living formulated in the Baxter philosophy. Can we say that you make experiential design? Well, design is also experience. The Baxter Experience could be a visit to the company, a visit to our showroom, and event we have organized… an experience that has to trigger emotions. The experience you have is made of volumes, materials, aromas, sensations, and we believe that those who approach the Baxter world, or become part of this Baxter club, have a great desire to engage in experiences, not in an aseptic form. It is not self-congratulation, but has to do with the ability to create moments and experiences people will remember. We are interested in the empathy we create in our club. How will you narrate the new developments for 2020, in a moment when direct contact is limited? We have changed the rules of the game: we’ve opted for private presentations, while the worldwide presentation will be on 25 September. We have gotten our best partners involved, duplicating the project in Milan around the world. It’s been hard to combine the new technologies with what we call the Baxter Experience. This has been the real challenge, but our partners know us and they have trusted in this ‘blind’ project: they cannot touch the products, but they can have a digital view of the new collection, and they have understood the project, which is not just about research but also about presentation, communication, collaboration with them, precisely because the efforts usually made during the Salone have been shifted to the market. We are therefore relying on our 11 top dealers to construct the structural axis of the various events, which become traveling entities. There is nothing new to report in the area of collaboration with new designers; these initiatives have been moved to 2021, while at the end of the year we will unveil the Outdoor project. We have worked extensively on what we felt were key concepts: comfort and softness.
BAXTER BAR, Milan
ALFRED sofa
PIAF sofa
IFDM 80 June 2020
Oak
first season | every thursday from june, 25th 2020 an original series
Photo © FabrizioCicconi
people&PROJECTS
INTERVIEW WITH
D R A G A & A U R E L text by Veronica Orsi
Artists, designers, makers of editions: all this and more. Draga Obradovic and Aurel K. Basedow break down the boundaries of rigid categories, guided by free creativity, which for them means emotion and vision. Their cosmopolitan background is reflected in a multidisciplinary approach, ranging from product to interior design,
to artistic experimentation. Their way of thinking ‘outside the box’ led – before its time – towards that coveted mixture known as art design. A career marked by important collaborations with Baxter, Anthropologie, Wall&decò, Visionnaire (debut this year). They’ve summed up their thinking in a personal collection: Transparency Matters.
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people&PROJECTS
What is the process involved in working as a duo? Draga: We differ in terms of character. As a Germanic person, and an artist, he has a ‘dryer’ vision of things, while I’m more exuberant, unstoppable, also when I’m creating. We draw on the same ‘source’ but each with our own passions. We express ourselves in different ways: I use design, he uses art. But when we examine a piece that we have made, a work of art or a piece of furniture, we see there is an interchange of visions. In other cases, each of us has an intuition, which cannot be hampered or changed. Your path began with vintage. How did it evolve towards a concept of art design? Draga: In our story so far, every two years there is a cycle that closes and another that opens. Our creativity is thus very dynamic, we constantly make new things, new collaborations, and we inevitably need an internal structure. At first we worked together, and we were known for vintage or recycled furnishings, unique pieces I made with experimentations on color and handpainted fabrics, while Aurel worked above all with resin. Our first atelier was a real workshop. Then came the first collections with Baxter (but also Anthropologie), where something different emerged; when we were asked to make items produced in series, it was a new challenge. How could we make our uniqueness into something commercially viable? Hence the first considerations on design, seeking solutions that would conserve our ‘artistic’ signature, but inside a corporate context like that of Baxter. Aurel: The answer was to finish things by hand. While at first we made each piece, one at a time, to adapt to larger production runs we decided to always keep one last finishing touch done by hand: therefore every piece, even if replicated, would have something different from the others. Draga: As we grew, Aurel spent a lot of time on research and discovery of crafts (lathe work, carpentry, metalwork...) in our zone, and today this is part of our production system. But he was slowly ‘fading,’ so after a sabbatical year he decided to focus only on painting, and once again it was Baxter, specifically Paolo Bestetti, that saw the potential of his works. So we took two directions, where I concentrate on product design and he concentrates on art.
1. The console Maree of the Transparency Matters collection features one solid brass base and a resin cast top, designed to achieve a liquid-look surface; it is finished with brush strokes of more textured resin, applied with a fluid movement – just like the waves, the water and the tides. Handcrafted at the Draga & Aurel Atelier in Como.
2. Vertigo creates waves of transparency and optical effects. Part of Transparency Matters collection, Vertigo is composed by modules of solid acrylic bars with brass latching. Each module can be juxtaposed with a special hand-paiting fabric, hand-printed in the Como Atelier by the creative duo, and customised in size and background (minimum 3).
What is the meaning behind your works? Aurel: They are always intimate expressions of what I am experiencing in the moment, when I paint; discourses, dialogues with myself, opportunities for meditation, in a certain sense: this is the maximum happiness, because it is no longer work at all. I don’t have an idea of meaning, a priori, which I then put on canvas: there are intuitions and visions, emotions that lead me in one direction or another. One characteristic is that my painting draws on many different styles and approaches: sometimes pure, meditative abstraction, sometimes something closer to action painting. Another constant is a glossy finish: having worked with resin for many years, I know this material and it is part of my background; furthermore, it links back to the sacral quality of painting (which has always interested me): just as antique paintings were covered with glass, for me resin has the same aim, to create a play of reflections that triggers self-reflection: what the viewers see is actually through their own eyes, not mine; the painting was initially created for me, but then it becomes theirs, to some extent. Not everyone notices that in my paintings there is a base made with a rug: it is a philosophical idea, in which the rug symbolized antiquity, memory, without which the present could not exist. Resin is your ‘trademark.’ Are there other constants? Draga: We have never followed fashions, because we only follow our passions; it’s our way of expressing creativity. Vintage, where we were forerunners, then became a boom. We are first of all artists by training, having studied painting; we didn’t know we could become designers, but we did: therefore we have our visions that guide us. As in the collection Transparency Matters, with its very experimental character that freely conveys our way of seeing objects and the results of our research: we see the potential in any object. Luckily we have our team that is able to transform our ideas into projects. Finally, we are also makers of editions: we work on the design and production, so the fact of always being in the territory, interacting with suppliers, learning from them, has enabled us to create a studio not just for design, but for the creation of a complete interior project.
2. Funny and colorful! They are the Agatha tables, available with single top and in composition with 3 or 5 tops. These refined coffee tables (from the Transparency Matters collection) are formed from cast resin and cast bronze. The process of creating the transparent and colourful tops requires a special technique of casting resin into the mould in three layers of coloured resin. The AKB_19_21 artwork signed by Aurel dominates the background.
4. Googie is a thermoforming methacrylate wall lamp, brass latching, led lighting with a dimmer. The Googie lamp performs wonderfully as a singular piece as well as a composition of multiple units becoming an emotional installation for wide spaces. The setting is completed by the Woke table (both from Transparency Matters), characterized by abstract geometric motives on the surface (in wood, covered in resin)
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Transparency Matters expresses your experimental creativity. What are its defining elements? Draga: I like to give names to our projects and products. “Transparency” because the material of the collection, composed of small tables, lighting (a new development for us) and complements is thick, completely transparent resin; a material that also becomes a statement in the title. It is a matter of being ourselves, of defining ourselves, of saying “we are what you see.” Then there is the element of color; in the creation of the colorings I feel like an alchemist: it is like music, colors are the notes that express the mood of the moment. Finally, there is the effort of craftsmanship, research on form, elegance, which we do not wish to abandon. We do not want to seek excess, to ‘shout’ the design, as is now in vogue in collectible design: for us, the products have to be intriguing, with a sophisticated touch, in pursuit of beauty, new or recovered thanks to our interpretation. Art design, collectible design: the sectors contaminate each other. What are your thoughts? Draga: We often have discussions about art and design, and their boundaries. Function does not demote a creation to being non-artistic. And a painting does not have to be only a museum piece – art should be lived! Actually, it is more a problem of the market; the galleries keep this distinction between pure art and art-design in place. In a moment when boundaries and limits are being challenged, in our own way we are moving forward with a project that reflects our identity, without categories: we don’t like limitations. What is important is to keep a strong narrative behind every project, which is what we try to do: maybe in the future we will be recognized as forerunners in this movement, who have broken down these barriers between sectors, with the possibility of finding contexts where our works can coexist with our furnishings.
5. Jud enhance the space thanks to its light and a wide range of vibrant colour variations. Belonging to the Transparency Matters collection, Jud is a lamp made in translucent glass with brass structure, melted glass plate, led lighting, light filter in colored resin. Here it is the perfect background for the Marshmallow seats: isles of comfort and softness.
6. Here they usually create and design. It is the center of their ‘poetic doing’ where art and craftsmanship meet. It is the Atelier of Draga & Aurel in Como.
Photo 1,2,3,4,5 © Riccardo Gasperoni - Photo 6 © Fabrizio Cicconi
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rising TALENTS
Budding stars
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resh, often experimental, always creative design, outside the box. Emerging talents prove that the boundaries of design can expand without imploding, that standardization is not an option in this sector driven by exploration of materials and technologies, leading to unexpected and edifying results. Bearing witness to the progress of ‘design thinking’ in the world,
the new generations become the protagonists of events that put the spotlight on rising stars through solo and group shows. From the SaloneSatellite of the Salone del Mobile.Milano to Rising Talents at Maison&Objet, Pure Talents of imm cologne to WantedDesign Launch Pad of NYCxDesign: meet the up-and-coming stars of the international scene, and the future.
FRANCE
Adrien Garcia He calls himself a ‘sociable savage,’ while for jury member Pierre Yovanovitch, who inserted him among the Rising Talents 2020 in Paris, he is simply a dreamer. Adrien Garcia splits his time between Paris and a large 17th-century estate near Nantes, in western France, where he gets inspiration. Not by chance, many of his furnishings are made with wood from oak trees that have fallen down on his property. This architectural affinity is reflected in the furnishings presented at M&O, a dining room set in spruce where the seats ‘vanish’ into the table when not in use, creating a geometric solid with simple but rigorous lines, as his philosophy demands. This project also suggests another hot topic for the young designer, namely the need to collaborate with French artisans to produce objects that can be passed on to future generations. Photo portrait © Champoussin Photo product © Aethion
GERMANY
Peter Otto Vosding Young, but riding a wave of success. Born in 1990, in 2017 he founded VOSDING Industrial Design in Cologne, a studio working on furniture, lighting and consumer products. Peter Otto Vossding was one of the protagonists of the event Pure Talents of imm cologne, where he presented SoftShelf, a shelving system with a padded structure that triggers an enveloping atmosphere while providing practical sound-absorbing performance. “We always strike for a combination of function, elegance and value in meaningful products”: quite a motto! UK
Lewis Power A British designer who has already had various shows in London and Italy, Lewis Power is the winner of the Rising Star Award at the Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair 2020. Specialized in lighting, he presented a collection in the context of the Greenhouse – entirely in cast iron – of objects and lamps of forceful sculptural character. He explores the balance between traditional archetypes and their evolution, the experience of use and aesthetic form. All with a strong accent on materials. (In the photo: Menaggio Lamp) IFDM 86 June 2020
first season | every thursday from june, 25th 2020 an original series
rising TALENTS
ITALY
Francesco Forcellini We met him last year at the SaloneSatellite in Milan, and then among the designers selected by Rinascente to show (and sell) their products in the exclusive Design Supermarket of the department store in Milan – specifically the innovative Trace vase in feldspathic porcelain made with a mixture of 3D printing and molding by hand. A few months later, Francesco Forcellini has created new items for 2020 by De Castelli, keeping faith with the key element of his design, namely material consistency enhanced by finishes, textures and geometries that trigger sensations.
USA
A Space Anna Aristova and Roza Gazarian, alias A Space, the New York studio of design & art. Operating in the sector since 2016, they have taken part in many exhibitions in New York, Paris, Yerevan (Armenia), London and Tokyo. In 2020 they were selected as Best Emerging Designers in the NYCxDesign Awards. It’s easy to understand why: this creative duo creates a contemporary lifestyle immersed in the timeless beauty of nature, for functional furnishings or purely decorative objects. “Each object is a one-of-a-kind creation that beckons to look beyond mere form and material, and to connect to the primordial nature of the elements,” the designers say. Freely ranging through art design, their touch allows ideas, thoughts and sensations to expand and evolve. New for 2020: the Melt collection, following the successfull the Source collection.
THE SOURCE side table
FRANCE
Julie Richoz She has already worked with prestigious French galleries and European furniture brands, but French-Swiss designer Julie Richoz is just at the beginning of an upward journey. Her latest showcase was Rising Talents at M&O Paris. She has a taste for curved forms and colored glass, a feeling that gets concrete in here Oreilles vases. From one-offs to an industrial scale, she is fascinated by the savoir-faire, passion and precision in the use of materials. Photo portrait © ED Photo product © Aethion
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USA
Erika Cross Founder of the design studio that bears her name, Erika Cross was one of the talents nominated by WantedDesign for the group show on emerging creatives, Launch Pad 2020. Guided by the desire to “elevate ordinary objects and familiar forms into unexpected delights,” her research investigates the relationship of objects, scale and use. For example? The Step coffee table, composed of two simple parts, was selected as Best in Show at the NYCxDesign Awards 2020. TAIWAN
Hsiang Han Hsu Nature, bionics and technology. These are the fields of study of Hsiang Han Hsu, founder of the multidisciplinary studio in Taiwan, Hsiang Han Design, seen at the last SaloneSatellite in Milan. He perfectly combines innovative and technological research with a focus on sustainability and recycling of materials, “in order to create a positive cycle among customer, manufacturer and environment.” The product Undefined Y is a modular system whose parts can be freely assembled to create different solutions, from lighting to tables. UAE
Neda Salmanpour
TEN TABLES collection by Binchy and Binchy
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Chosen as top candidate for the University of Sharjah’s IAESTE international internship program, recently named ‘Young Talent of the Year’ by the Design Middle-East Award, and currently on the board of Architectural Engineering Department Advisory Board at the University of Sharjah. A remarkable resumé for this young talent on the Middle Eastern scene. Neda Salmanpour, Junior Architect at Binchy and Binchy Architecture (one of the Top 20 Boutique Design Firms in the Middle East), a studio that has rapidly garnered international acclaim after taking part in the 2019 iteration of Downtown Editions, with the debut collection Ten Tables, on which Neda collaborated. Recently, she was nominated for Tashkeel’s highly coveted Tanween Program (the Dubai-based multidisciplinary art and design organization that annually selects a group of artists and designers to be trained and mentored by renowned industry professionals throughout the year): her final work will be exhibited at this year’s Downtown Editions with the Tanween class of 2020.
arch&INTERIOR
EXTREME LUXURY text by Valentina Costa
LIVING AS A DISPLAY OF ABUNDANCE: VAST SPACES, FINE MATERIALS, SOPHISTICATED DESIGN. BUT ALSO A CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LANDSCAPE OR WITH HISTORY
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herever they are – in the Italian countryside, a Swiss lake, the hills of Los Angeles or the bay of Miami – these residences absorb vital energy from the natural elements: light, water, vegetation, and the surrounding landscape. They are immersed in the setting, permeable, sometimes more receptive, sometimes more introverted. Nature is not just a backdrop, but an integral part of the project, a protagonist of views, internal perspectives, terraces, panoramic glazings. It becomes extreme luxury in the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces, which lose their traditional connotations in a maximum extension of possibilities of personalization and interior design. Also thanks to the versatility and refinement of outstanding collections of furniture and lighting, which, on the other hand, in the restored, ancient palace of Barcelona are able, almost silently, to emphasize the rich modernist decoration.
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Casa Mi Zurich, Switzerland Project by Daluz González Architekten Photo © Valentin Jeck “We have worked on a clear, simple concept, a radical and courageous proposal but one that contains all the comforts and functions of a home. We wanted the same color and texture inside and out, as if the house were a sculpture made from a single block of stone.” In the natural landscape on the shores of Lake Zürich, the two geometric blocks, staggered on the outside, form a dynamic volume in pale ultra-modern concrete. Inside, the spaces extend fluidly on the various levels, connected by staircases, perspectives and flows of natural light that bursts in through large glazings. In the block containing the shared spaces, entrance, living area, library, kitchen and dining room form a sequence, each with its own view of the water, framed perfectly to make the lake the true protagonist of the design. Expansive openings set the tone of the second block as well, partially below ground level, which contains the bedrooms, study and service spaces. The natural light makes the neutral tones of gray-beige glow, bringing harmony to ceilings, walls, travertine floors, wooden furnishings and facings. For contrast, the shared spaces feature three completely black custom furnishing: the leather sofa, the dining table in Marquina marble, and the glass counter for the kitchen. “Working with a brand like Poliform on a project such as this one has been crucial. Poliform Contract has provided the furniture and proposed solutions and ideas to achieve the desired image, as well as the functional requirements of this residential space.”
kitchen, all the way to the theatrical sliding doors in glass, with a length of 17 meters. This device makes it possible to create a perfect connection with the outdoor panoramic terrace and the infinity pool. The seamless indoor-outdoor dialogue is the focal point of the design. The wing containing the private rooms is secluded, culminating in the master bedroom placed with an overhang above the hillside. A large inner courtyard acts as an element of transition between the living and bedroom zones. A staircase links the main living area with a completely lighted semi-basement, flooding the lower level with natural brightness. “To ensure privacy, an L-shaped diagram has allowed us to create a barrier between the street, the neighboring properties and the garden-terrace of the house. The front on the street has very limited openings. Nevertheless, passing through the large wooden entrance doors, the space is completely open to the city, seen from above.” The furnishings include items chosen by Chimera Interiors, with the excellence of many brands Made in Italy, like Armani/Casa, Dada, Minotti, Molteni & C., Poliform, Fendi Casa, Gallotti&Radice, Giorgetti, Living Divani, B&B Italia.
RF House Hollywood, USA Architecture by XTEN Architecture Interior Design by Chimera Interiors Author: Manuela Di Mari Photo © Steve King This residence in the Hollywood Hills stands on an area of 2500 square meters at the termination of a dead-end street, with a series of interconnected volumes and levels that seem to float when seen from the street. Passages are everywhere, starting with the impressive pair of oak doors at the entrance, continuing inside with corridors that open to spaces with a height of over four meters for the dining room and IFDM 91 June 2020
arch&INTERIOR
941 North Venetian Drive Miami Beach, USA Project by Thirlwall Design Photo © Kris Tamburello
The lot purchased in 2015 by the real estate investors Eduardo Otaola, Rodrigo Diaz and Eduardo Lucca is part of a dense array of luxury residences on Biscayne Island,
Miami Beach, crossed by North Venetian Drive, with private frontage of 30 meters on the bay. The rational geometric forms of the villa are set between the ocean and a private courtyard, a reference point in the project by Thirlwall Design. The theme of water is ‘reflected’ from the outside – including large natural pools and the artificial presence of big infinity pools on multiple levels – towards the inside, in an open but hidden space formed by a luminous opening, plants, a glass wall with an elevator and a green wall with the height of two stories of the building. Almost seamlessly, the open plan sets the tone of about 700 square meters
of space on the terrace, perfect as a lounge area for entertaining, but also of the living spaces on the ground floor, with two different kitchens, subdivided between inside and outside around the pool. The natural light of the bay enters through the large windows and reflects on the pale facings in marble and limestone, and on the furnishings selected from the Minotti collections. The upper level contains five suites, all with private bathrooms and terraces. The residence, completed at the end of 2019 and now for sale, also features a collection of contemporary art, with many sculptures, such as the one placed to welcome guests at the main entrance from the street.
1300 Beverly Estates Drive Beverly Hills, USA Interior design by Ameen Ayoub and Visionnaire Photo © courtesy of Visionnaire
To better utilize the position and the extraordinary view of Beverly Hills, the majestic villa designed by Ameen Ayoub extends its three-story area into large external terracing that seems like a natural continuation towards luxurious outdoor living, with endless vistas. Large transparent and retractable glazings create a subtle diaphragm between the high internal volumes and the vertical arrangement of outdoor zones, stacked and lavishly furnished, like the rest of the residence that contains five bedrooms and nine bathrooms, as well as boundless living areas and various amenities. “Beverly Estates is one of the most exceptional custom interior design projects implemented by Visionnaire in the United States,” IFDM 92 June 2020
says Lorenzo Cascino, interior designer and brand ambassador of Visionnaire, “with its mixture of architectural purity, maximum spaciousness and intense natural lighting for the interiors.” Many stylish contemporary furnishings have been selected or created for the various settings, combined with fine materials – marbles, crystal and mahogany – as in the configuration for 12 persons of the Lumiere sofa in the home theater, the custom lounge furnishings for the outdoor zones, the lacquered Lancaster billiard table, or the total look of the master suite with the Emotion bed, the Rawdon make-up desk, the Blondie chairs and benches, topped by the Melmoth chandelier.
Casa Burés
Barcelona, Spain Project by Estudio Vilablanch and TDB Arquitectura Photo © Jordi Folch & Jose Hevia Casa Burés, listed since 1979, was built between 1900 and 1905 by Catalan architect Francesc Berenguer i Mestres. After three years of careful restoration work, Casa Burés has emerged as one of the most representative Modernist-style buildings in Barcelona. In its 7.700 sqm, distributed over 6 floors, the architectural and rich interior original elements were respected and restored to host 26 exclusive residences. The team defined three interior design concepts. While three lofts and the basement common areas recovered their original industrial character, on
the main floor two 500 sqm palatial residences were carefully restored respecting the existing modernist heritage, including mosaics and marquetry in pavements, stainedglass windows, frescoed walls and ceilings, wooden decorative elements, ceilings with reliefs. In the upper floors 16 flats and 5 attics combine strong original modernist spaces with more contemporary dècor, incorporating new materials that allow the contrast between old and new: white color and oak wood were chosen in order not to compete, but to highlight and contrast the original decoration. The new materials and furniture pieces were equally refined but silent, not very ornate, light and with colors in silent integration within the overall space. A lot of renowed design brands stand out as suppliers, such as Living Divani, Cassina, Bulthaup, Antoniolupi, Zanotta, Davide Groppi, Molteni&C., Poltrona Frau.
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arch&INTERIOR
It is subdivided into a closed section, punctuated by small square openings, and a hybrid indoor-outdoor space bordered by a perforated membrane. “An ideal flow of energy (a cosmic axis) crosses the house from north to south, from the mountains to the sea. The sensation of suspension and vertigo is intentional, amplified by the lack of a handrail on
Casa di ConFine Polverigi, Italy Project by Simone Subissati Architects Photo © Alessandro Magi Galluzzi
With grass meeting the perimeter of the long compact volume, the Casa di Confine in the Marches countryside sets out to become a physical and conceptual ‘threshold’ to be crossed, reinterpreting the regional typology of the rural house organized on a longitudinal axis, with living spaces arranged in order on two levels. The ground floor is like a constantly evolving block, cut halfway by a vast opening-passage, and along the entire perimeter by a series of full-height glass doors that create great visual and physical indoor-outdoor permeability. The constructed volume, in rustproofing red, can be crossed at different points, from the patio, the living area and the bathroom zone with spa. The first floor is more intimate and ‘prudent,’ with a light appearance thanks to the white color and the visible frames. IFDM 94 June 2020
the walkway that offers access to the spaces for the entire length, replaced by a metal screen.” The choice of essential, timeless and white furnishings is also intentional, to match most of the internal surfaces. The items are all customized and avoid the language of contemporary luxury. The objective was to underline the idea of authenticity, of ‘legacy’ and even nomadism, as in the case of the auxiliary tables for the kitchen and the bathroom.
first season | every thursday from june, 25th 2020 an original series
from designers around the world
find their stories at nycxdesign.com
Photo © Studio Klass
people&PROJECTS
INTERVIEW WITH
S T U D I O K L A S S text by Rachele Frigerio
Marco Maturo and Alessio Roscini, together, are Studio Klass. In 2009 the opened their practice in Milan, focusing on industrial design with a minimalist approach – in terms of formal language, where pure lines and geometric forms dominate – at the service of the user experience: paying attention to function and the user-product relationship. They also pursue this ethical and value-based relationship in their
collaborations with companies (Fiam, CC-Tapis, Unifor, Living Divani, FontanaArte, just to name a few, striving to interpret its potential and to reveal its strong points. In this interview they tell us about their experience, their thoughts on digital innovation, design and much more. A cutaway view of a concrete, farsighted creative reality, and the products they create – keep your eyes on these two!
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people&PROJECTS
What is the foundation of your design approach? In order to innovate, we think it is indispensable to understand all the potential of a company, its vision, intentions and production technologies; our goal is always to work on a new project by thinking about it specifically for a certain firm, considering its limits and its strong points. The innovation that interests us is often a crossover of types, functions or production methods. Could you tell us about your professional growth, from the early days to the present, through the most representative products in your portfolio? We went to the same university in Milan, and then in 2009 we founded Studio Klass. Among our first interesting projects, we can mention the collaboration with FIAM, starting in 2011, a company that believed in us from the outset, leading to a close relationship that has enabled us to develop multiple products. From our recent works, we are excited about the Touch Down Unit for UniFor, a mobile unit conceived as a temporary workstation for staff and professionals who do not have their own work position inside an office space. This is an innovative project, not only for the world of the office but also for the need for activities in the home, in a context of smart working; Touch Down Unit comes from careful research conducted by our studio for UniFor, which immediately believed in the project and decided to invest all of its extensive know-how for industrialization and development. The office sector is one of great potential, constantly changing, and together with UniFor we are already concentrating on how this field will evolve over the next few years, responding to new needs of the market.
1. In the TouchDown Unit for UniFor the spotlight is focused on the single user and its needs; a compact and nomad workstation which transforms itself depending on the context, from being a desk to an informal height-adjustable table, ready to use standing up or seating on a sofa.
2. The high-temperature melted glass becomes the protagonist of the Lakes collection, a series of coffee-tables and side-tables designed for Fiam Italia where the material is treated as if it was liquid, in an alternation of reflections and transparencies enhanced by the thickness of the glass and rounded edges.
How much do such relationships become limiting for creativity? To what extent is it possible to ‘play’ with design? It is possible only if you find the right “partner,” an entrepreneur capable of taking risks, with the desire to wager on new and innovative products; the history of Italian design has been written by enlightened businessmen and designers capable of taking industrial enterprise to the highest levels of the international market. What product have you never designed, although you would like to? A product that does not belong to any existing type, and that can establish a close relationship with everyday life. In the public transport sector, we are fascinated by the technical-functional aspects and the ethical overtones. On the theme of interior design, in your view how will the relationship with the domestic environment and its furnishings change, after the situation of lockdown? The space of the home will probably be boosted. People will realize that it is indispensable to have a space into which to retreat, to create a nest where we can feel good on our own and with our loved ones. New scenarios will open up, new types of products will probably be developed, or at least new aspects of existing products that were previously not taken into consideration. Digital technology is revolutionizing everyday life, becoming essential in these months for companies and sector associations, in the promotion of alternatives to the traditional Milano Design Week.
3. The Hype table project presented in 2018 by Fiam Italia becomes now a wider collection, giving life to a console table, a writing desk and a low-table collection. The contrast between the handcrafted melted glass and the base, is declined following new proportions.
4. Easy Lloyd chair by Fiam Italia was born from the need to introduce a more informal and minimal solution of the previous Lloyd, maintaining the distinctive character of the wood joint as a technical detail and, at the same time, a decorative element which connects the seat to the backrest, both covered in leather.
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How much (and how) does the digital world influence you, or how much do you imagine it will influence your work in the future? We are both part of a generation that from the outset has been able to interact with electronic devices, exploiting their potential, so we support the digital in all its aspects, for work and other purposes. In this period digital technology has emerged as an alternative that is indispensable for the survival of many companies, but nevertheless we believe that design is a synonym for quality and know-how, two important aspects that are not easy to convey by digital means. A sofa, a chair, a cabinet often narrate decades of improvements and history, details and continual innovation passing from generation to generation, and it is essential to be able to grasp these aspects in reality, in order to fully understand them. You are a young couple, but you have over ten years of experience: what advice would you give young talents approaching this sector today? To be honest with themselves, trying to understand if the discipline they are studying is effectively what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Often there is this damaging tendency to be obliged to do the work for which you were educated, seeing any change of direction as a failure. It is important to understand that this is not true; being a designer takes lots of sacrifice and patience, because it could take years before the gratifications start to appear. The world of work is increasingly specialized, so it is essential for young people to understand in which sector they want to operate. What we often notice is that very often young designers have no idea about what might be most suitable for their abilities and interests, so they leave decisions up to chance, and then regret having done so shortly thereafter.
5. In the Flap collection (designed for Living Divani) table tops become the protagonists and, if necessary, they show two storage compartments useful to organize the surrounding environment. Flap – which takes its name from the movements of aircraft wings – is available in rectangular, oval and square version.
6. Nastagio rug belongs to the Cinquecento collection (by CCTapis) that celebrates the use of perspective during the Italian Renaissance period: the geometric and colored areas are selected and developed into an artwork made of lines and forms. Realized in Himalayan wool and silk, hand knotted.
7. Inspired by the traditional sled usually made in curved wood, Sprint by Cantarutti reconsiders the archetypal four legs stool designing a new type of structure, combining two frontal legs and an arch-shaped element at the back, reducing the structure to the essential to remain both light and strong.
Photo 2,3,4 © Studio Klass - Photo 6 © Beppe Brancato
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evolved RETAIL
THE INTERNATIONAL TRADE STARTS AGAIN FROM JOHANNESBURG TO MOSCOW, RETAILERS REOPEN AMID UNCERTAINTY AND HOPE After the easing of lockdown measures, the retailers around the world are re-opening, between uncertainties and hopes. They have faced with the lack of orders, clients and therefore financial sources. Many of them still have confirmed projects, others uncertain as several big contract projects seems to be cancelled or postponed. To be realistic, they expect the restoration to be slow and gradual. Thanks to digital channels, as newsletter, online magazine, podcast, Instagram, e-shop and video tours, they have maintained a strong relationship with customers, and there is a great desire to start again stronger than ever. Here, the interviews with the major protagonists of the international retail sector.
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1. DDC, NEW YORK SIAMAK HAKAKIAN, PARTNER THE DDC GROUP “Many consumers lacked any appetite to make big purchases for the uncertainty of everything, and also the fact that the Italian factories were closed for most of April made the timing of deliveries just too big of a question mark. The silver lining, though, is that we believe that clients will decide to invest more in their homes, many of us will likely use our homes as the hub or our social lives. NY has been a hot spot in the U.S., and as such, will likely be affected more strongly than other markets. But, as history has shown us time and again, NYers always manage to rebound quickly: after 9-11 and post hurricane Sandy, NYers came together, and with determination moved past these difficult periods more quickly than anticipated. We have not had to put any projects on hold, actually, as we firmly believe in the recovery of our industry. We had just begun construction on our Minotti Boston showroom when this hit, but it was never a question as to whether or not to move forward. I really believe that we will emerge from this unprecedented crisis even stronger.” 2. INTERNI, MILAN STEFANO CAZZANIGA, CEO “Online work has allowed us to stay close to our clients, in spite of the negative situation. At the same time, however, we have felt the lack of a face-to-face exchange of views: the showrooms are still an added value for the furniture industry. Luckily, we were prepared for such a period, since our company has always focused on communication: the website and email have become primary working tools, and with our newsletters we have kept in touch with clients, informing them without discouraging them in their desire to update and improve their domestic spaces. It is our hope that the government will be constructive, with an eye on the future: granting us the possibility to work at our best, with even greater determination. There should be incentives for the future of companies, and support for their activities of development.”
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3. UDG DESIGN GALLERY, JEDDAH OMAR & VERONICA ABUDAWOOD, OWNERS “UDG Design Gallery is a luxury multi brand showroom, where 70% of our sales are project based and since the lock down most industries have placed projects on hold. Therefore, we did see a substantial drop in orders being filled as well as our consumer sales. We found that some of our clients have postponed purchasing decisions due to the uncertainty of the economy. The furniture market here in the kingdom is basically divided into three segments. First, we have the local produced products that cater to lower income IFDM 100 June 2020
families which is roughly 35% of the market value. Second, we have imported products from countries such as Sweden, Turkey and China, just to name a few. These companies cater to the middle-income families which are 60% of the market value. And finally, we have the luxury brand market which is approximately 5% to 7%. We feel social media is key during these times in keeping our customer base updated with new collections and future events. We have had an increase in quotation requests and sales, which leads us to believe that our sector will recover from this downturn.”
4. LUMINAIRE, LOS ANGELES | CHICAGO | MIAMI NASIR KASSAMALI, CEO “There has naturally been apprehension on new projects beginning due to the uncertainty. And online purchases have shifted to a larger portion of business turnover. Though, as the stay in place orders have begun to ease, we have seen an
increase with our clients in a desire to begin new projects or finish ones in progress. We took an active role to pivot to how we can best continue the work that we do virtually and have continued to create a path towards increasing our digital capabilities into the future. We also embarked on a project LuminaireU where everyday there was a topic to learn and increase their knowledge base, while we have also created an ap-
pointment system that allows for virtual design consultations. This period of temporary hibernation has caused some people to reevaluate their surroundings and make changes that allow them to function as they need to perform work from home, find a balance between life and work, and also have areas of relaxation. Perhaps a simpler approach to possessions will evolve, where quality is favored over mass consumption.” 5. SPACE, SYDNEY LEIGHTON CLARKE, GROUP OPERATIONS MANAGER, ASIA PACIFIC “In comparison to global shutdowns, we are fortunate to have been able to remain open, while respecting social distancing requirements. We have a great team who were not afraid to get in front of a camera, so the transition to video tours of the showroom was a quick one, and virtual meetings quickly became the new normal. We were fortunate to have just re-launched our new website weeks before the situation escalated. The new website has been designed specifically to offer our clients a content rich experience and for the first time an online store where they can easily shop an edit of our best sellers, design icons and gifts. We have an online magazine and we also launched a new social campaign #hometogether, which is a user-generated series which aims to keep our community connected, and provide support to our commercial clients who are also feeling the impact on their business. The response has been amazing, with clients happy to share their home and they have all be appreciative of the support and visibility this campaign has given.”
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6. CASA RICCA, MOSCOW MARIA SEREBRYANAYA, FOUNDER “The current situation in the furniture market is possible to call stagnation. However, here we have to divide economy, average, and luxury segments of the market: the first two ones are the most affected because of the falling demand, premium-segment is more stable. Of course, we’ve faced with the lack of a big amount of new clients whom we could have got for the last two months being in a normal regime. This leads to the situation when the next 2-3 months we will have our sales results and potential clients reduced. We’ve immediately shifted to online-format: we make the individual online shopping tours, increase the budget for the company’s promotion online, we hold remoted presentations by showing the collections and we do online workshops. Worth noticing that the volume of requests is practically not changed, however, our clients give priority to the positions in stock in Russia. Nowadays the clients are objectively afraid to order anything from Italy because of any possible supply disruptions and deadlines.” 5
7. SALVIONI, MILAN ERCOLE SALVIONI, PRESIDENT OF SALVIONI DESIGN SOLUTIONS
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“There is a lot of desire to restart, and if the measures to combat the epidemic work, there is even a bit of optimism. For us the Salone has never been a directly commercial effort; it is more like an appointment for promotion, in the wider sense. Over the years we have had a very high influx of visitors, but it is hard to precisely estimate the impact on sales over the course of the year. More than the lack of the Salone per se, what worries us is the inevitable decline in the number of international visitors to the city of Milan throughout the year. Many companies are not presenting new products this year, which in our view is not a problem, but an opportunity to rethink the system. There is by now widespread agreement among producers that the frenetic pace of presentation of new items was actually a weak point for the whole market. Unlike fashion, the life cycle of furniture is not based on annual trends. With the previous rhythms, showrooms had trouble keeping pace with the turnover of models.” 7 IFDM 101 June 2020
evolved RETAIL
8. IL LUSSO, JOHANNESBURG PACO PAKDOUST, DIRECTOR Our relationship with our customers has remained consistent. One of our core business values is customer experience and our team has maintained personal contact with our clients, and to add to that our clients have direct access to our directors. We are also using communication channels such as social media to share content of our new show showroom, products, images of our brand boutiques, and the latest news from our partnering brands. Communication with our partnering brands continue through email channels and regular video conference calls on platforms like Zoom. In the digital space, clients will soon be able to experience a 360-degree virtual walkthrough of all four floors of our showroom. Our aim is to always represent the best. Illusso stands at 5000 square meters, making the showroom larger than most in Europe and the largest one on the African continent offering full design services, which include kitchens, lighting, built-in cabinets and furnishings. 9. SILVERA, PARIS BRIGITTE SILVERA, GENERAL MANAGER France has gone through both the yellow vest protest and covid-19: the yellow vest protest and strikes were a big issue in Paris, but as the economy was better and there were more projects, we were able to react and face this. The pandemic is something else because independent of our willing, we were obliged to close the stores and we had to follow up the deals already made or in progress but we were unable to act except with some requests on the e-shop. Now that we have just opened, we can see that people that are coming are really interested and focused. We also have a very big activity in contract and this one is more uncertain as several big projects seems to be cancelled or postponed. During these 2 months, we have done several newsletters informing our clients about our situation, processes, news, using also Instagram, Newletters and updating the e-shop. In fact, our main issues were to be careful with the deliveries, inform our clients about the lead times and new delays we have to face, than follow up our previous projects, some are still maintained, few are cancelled, several came up. The stores are busy right now. But the contract area is weakened. We hope anyway to manage with the help, held by the French government.
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10. BREDAQUARANTA, MILAN DAVIDE D’AVICO, OWNER In these weeks of lockdown we have had the need to stay in touch with our clients, especially to reassure them and to keep their trust in our country’s system. We have ensured continuity, using smart working where possible, concentrating on open projects; we have organized customer relations with video conferencing, to present and discuss design proposals, also with videos that narrate projects down to the smallest details. The Salone has been canceled, but the main brands will present their new developments in the fall, in virtual formats and with innovative methods. In any case, the collections will be so appealing that there is no limit to the creation of excellent proposals. In the stores, we are getting organized to guarantee distancing, between our personnel and with respect to visitors. Nevertheless, we do not think traditional moments of socializing are yet feasible, so we will create special virtual appointments.
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IFDM 102 June 2020
Brussels Furniture Fair 8 → 11 NOV 2020
SUN - TUE 9AM - 7PM & WED 9AM - 6PM BRUSSELS EXPO WWW.FURNITUREFAIRBRUSSELS.BE
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DESIGN ON SCREEN SERIES, FILMS, DOCUMENTARIES: THESE ARE THE NEW SCENARIOS OF STORYTELLING FOR DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE. TO DISCOVER THESE DISCIPLINES AND DELVE DEEPER, ALL FROM THE COMFORT OF A SOFA AT HOME Think you’ve seen it all? Think again! Put away your sitcoms, cartoons and fantasy films: time for reality! History movies with showy costumes, war films… too boring. Horror, noir, action, crime… too repetitive. Westerns and musicals? Out of style. There’s a new genre in town: the Design Series. Never before have so many spotlights been aimed at the world of design, seen on big and small screens and digital media. Design and architecture become original subject matter, past and present, with personalities and companies, tradition and innovation, channeled through digital platforms and film festivals. An original form of expression for an ‘elite’ sector, which makes it possible to understand multiple nuances in a timely, smart way. With an eye on the world of B2B, facilitating connections and contacts, networking and support for the various players, in June INDEHO - INternational DEsign HOuse makes its debut as the first digital community with and for the design industry. Driven by the vision of Paolo Bleve, an influential figure for over 15 years in the world of design communication, the platform presents original series entirely focused on design and its protagonists, available in streaming and on demand (at indeho.com), and already in its second phase (in September) it will be expanded in terms of contents and functions.
“It is a virtual showcase to help to build a system,” says Bleve, creative director of INDEHO. With a more generalist approach, but ready to make the sector accessible to all through the universal language of cinema, Netflix has boosted its programming with series, documentaries, countless design shows and design protagonists (Abstract: The Art of Design, Grand Designs, Interior Design Masters, Tiny House Nation, The world’s most extraordinary homes, The great interior design challenge, just to name a few). In tune with these objectives, there is one event whose combination of culture and entertainment has conquered big American cities in just a few years: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, even Toronto and Vancouver. We’re talking about the Architecture & Design Film Festival, presenting a curated selection of films, events and panel discussions on the creative spirit that drives design and architecture. The program for 2020 has been completely revised in the ADFF:ONLINE (adfilmfest.com) proposals, waiting for the developments in the ADFF Fall programming (including NY, Toronto and Vancouver). A parallel event in Europe is the Milano Design Film Festival: built around a detailed program of recent and past works, it conveys a composite vision of the domestic and constructed landscape, complete with in-depth coverage of interdisciplinary themes. Besides the main event in Milan (usually in October), the activities of MDFF continue throughout the year, with MDFF Capsule Around the World, featuring spot projects made to measure, traveling in Milan and abroad. Though this year the palimpsest is on hold, work has already begun on the next initiative and on ambitious projects for the creation of a digital platform of international impact, because – as the co-founder Silvia Robertazzi explains - “there is an increasing desire to listen to true stories.”
IFDM 104 June 2020
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CHARLOTTE PERRIAND, PIONEER IN THE ART OF LIVING A documentary by French director Stéphane Ghez, and a stand-out in the June online programming of ADFF in collaboration with NeoCon Chicago. Like a notebook of memories, the film offers a personal close-up on a life of passion and creativity.
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1. THE DESIGN COMEDY | INDEHO
2. ABSTRACT: THE ART OF DESIGN
3. DESIGN DISTRICTS | INDEHO
Space for furniture companies, in the living room of The Design Comedy! Stories, values, projects involving leading players on the international scene, in enjoyable conversations with Paolo Bleve, followed by an immersive voyage inside the companies themselves, opening their doors as an exclusive to reveal the places, processes and people behind the creation of their collections.
An original Netflix series that presents an itinerary beyond projects to get to the crux of the art, science and philosophy of design. Now in its second season, it focuses on the minds of the world’s most outstanding designers, the most innovative personalities who through their work in various disciplines shape our culture and our future.
A journey with the mind and technology. Through the Design Districts series, you can make stops in Milan, New York, Paris, London, Dubai and elsewhere, to visit the world’s leading design hubs, meeting their protagonists in exclusive interviews, to understand the evolution and new developments of these places.
THE HUMAN SHELTER
4. GRAND DESIGNS One of the longest lasting and most successful series on British TV, and a recent entry on Netflix. Kevin McCloud, designer and host, tells stories of residential building, following each phase of the construction, all the way to the final results of ambitious projects.
5. ICED MACCHIATOS INDEHO
6. THE WORLD’S MOST EXTRAORDINARY HOMES
A face-to-face encounter over coffee with architects and interior designers, for a closer look at their personality and their visions in projects on an international scale, swapping views about the future. The first season will include leading international names like Piero Lissoni, Roberto Palomba and Ludovica Serafini, George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg, Ferruccio Laviani and MAD Architects.
The name of the series (Netflix) says it all. Prize-winning architect Piers Taylor, together with the actress and real estate agent Caroline Quentin, roams the world to discover the most beautiful and unusual abodes.
7. THE CREATIVE BRAIN “Creativity doesn’t mean creating something out of nothing. It means refashioning something that already exists.” In exploring this concept, the neuroscientist David Eagleman taps into the creative process of various innovators while exploring brain-bending, risk-taking ways to spark creativity.
IFDM 105 June 2020
Exploring the outskirts of the world, Danish director Boris Benjamin Bertram has investigated different ways of dwelling in our contemporary society: an anthropological voyage about ideas of habitation in its most extreme form. Directly recommended by MDFF.
design DISTRICTS
Virtual&real: fairs are changing TO APPROACH THE ‘NEW NORMAL,’ TRADE FAIRS AROUND THE WORLD ARE IMAGINING NEW PHYSICAL AND DIGITAL INTERACTIONS. A NEW ERA BEGINS: FAIRS WILL BE CROSS-MEDIA INITIATIVES, TO EXPERIENCE IN PERSON, WITH INDISPENSABLE FACE-TO-FACE CONTACT, BUT ALSO VIRTUALLY, IN DIFFERENT PLACES AT DIFFERENT TIMES, ON ONLINE PLATFORMS AND SOCIAL NETWORKS
Claudio Luti President
SALONE DEL MOBILE.MILANO
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Phil Robinson Show director
ICFF
15-18 May 2021 | “Until the ICFF returns May 15-18, 2021, the Fair continues to bring buyers and sellers of contemporary design together. Virtually, we have launched the ICFF Brand Spotlights (https://icff.com/the-fair/brand-spotlights/) featuring the new products (and the product designers behind them) that would have debuted at ICFF 2020. In addition, we are hosting regular
webinars as to how the pandemic has affected the business of design, whether it relates to manufacturing and supply chain disruption, or to where new retail and project opportunities may exist. Informally, whether it’s a designer looking to identify a resource, or a manufacturer looking for an introduction to a particular distributor or retailer, we help establish that connection. Too, we continue to seek the advice and input of design professionals to help us to reimagine the Fair’s role in our changed world, so that what happens at ICFF 2021 matches the community’s needs and expectations.”
Espace MOM, January 2020
Philippe Brocart Director
MAISON&OBJET 4-18 September 2020 (online), 22-26 January 2021 (exhibition) | “The whole team was sad, like me, to announce recently that we will not to be able to maintain the September edition of Maison&Objet Paris, it takes time to organize such a big show, and we could no longer wait for governmental decisions. Maison&Objet will therefore launch its Digital Fair for the September restart period, from September 4 to 18. In addition, Paris Design Week can still take place in town from IFDM 106 June 2020
Photo © Aethion
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13-18 April 2021 | “The 2021 edition of Salone del Mobile.Milano will be the first real encounter after months of social distancing, and a fundamental passage in the history of the Salone. Personally, I’m optimistic. We are already working with companies to formulate a shared project that can represent a true rebound for the sector.” The challenge is daunting: “The coming ‘new normality’ forces us to imagine new physical and digital modes of interaction, but the Salone has always
been able to renew itself without denying its nature. The fact of bringing together all the biennials in a single moment is already a major novelty, and a remarkable test on the level of management and coordination. At the moment, we do not expect big changes in the format. We will continue our collaboration with the cultural institutions of Milan and the municipal government, and we are already programming major events in the city.” On the topic of a virtual platform where brands can show their new creations, he says: “We are evaluating a path that can be useful for the many companies that have to fully resume operations.” For the editions in Moscow and Shanghai: “We are monitoring the situation; we still have a certain margin within which to make decisions.”
September 3 to 12, through 5 different districts. M&O digital will feature two complementary strands: Digital Showrooms on the MOM digital platform to enable new collection to be presented as a the real fair, and Digital Talks on the Maison&Objet website to deliver up inspiring contents and trends analysis. A couple of weeks ago, Maison&Objet presented architect Franklin Azzi as the Designer of the year for September 2020. Azzi’s installation, a 300 m2 exhibition on the theme of workspaces throughout the ages, was all ready for September, but it will be presented at the next edition of Maison&Objet Paris, from 22nd to 26th of January.”
Co-founders
WANTEDDESIGN May 2021 | “Although we are sad to miss everyone at our shows and the chance to celebrate our 10 year anniversary together, we’ve put together special programming to bring a little bit of WantedDesign Online. We started our first WantedDesign Manhattan Online Conversation Series in partnership with Design Milk and Clever a little over two weeks ago, available at wanteddesign.com/online and the podcast at cleverpodcast.com. As part of our online programming, we want to continue supporting design students
n dr ine Charvet
18-24 January 2021 | “The 2020 edition was very positive, we had an increase in the number of visitors: more than 128,000. Imm cologne and LivingKitchen 2021 will take place in January as planned. Despite the difficult situation of the economy as a whole, the forecasts for the German market are grounds for renewed optimism. That’s why our message to all companies is this:
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IMM COLOGNE
Come and join us! That’s also the reason why we’ve extended our early-bird prices for stand bookings until the end of June and are already offering our exhibitors the chance to upload their new launches on our online portal and make direct contact with customers or potential partners. The next imm cologne will be far more than just a product show. Firstly, “Das Haus”: visitors can look forward to an apartment house that features forward-looking examples of new forms of urban living. Secondly, the opening of the new hall, 1plus, marks a new milestone for Koelnmesse and imm cologne. The new interior world Connect will present a vivid cross-sector picture of how we’ll be living in the future and answer the question as to how digital technologies will not only change the way we live but make our lives easier.”
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Head of Koelnmesse’s trade fair management division
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industry further strengthening China’s position as a key emerging design market. We know that our exhibitors and visitors are looking forward to meeting. Design China Beijing is planned on 23rd - 26th September 2020, the event is supported by the Beijing government and will run alongside Beijing design week, we have confirmed with all our partners and exhibitors,
Zhuo Tan Director
DESIGN SHANGHAI + DESIGN CHINA BEIJING Beijing, 23-26 September 2020 Shanghai, 26-29 November 2020
“Design Shanghai is postponed to 26-29 November 2020. We are confident that we will once again deliver a world class design event that will support our design community, both in Asia and globally, and will encourage growth within our industry. In just six years, Design Shanghai has become the most important event for the Chinese design IFDM 107 June 2020
Photo © Ikonproductions
who are experiencing challenges in graduating and starting their professional lives. For Wanted Interiors x RIT for example, the students were tasked with creating an unforgettable lounge space for WantedDesign Manhattan’s new venue at the Javits. With the shift to online learning, the students created these spaces for a digital launch. This period is all about solidarity and collaboration. We are lucky to have built a broad and solid network of partners, events all over the world, professional organizations, schools, and we have never had so many interesting conversations. For next year, we are organizing for WantedDesign Brooklyn as well as working closely with the ICFF team for preparing 2021, and how to envision WantedDesign Manhattan and ICFF next May.”
Odile Hainaut & Claire Pijoulat
currently we are optimistic as we see business and life returning to normal in Beijing. We are also planning to launch a programme of talks that will reflect how Covid-19 has impacted the design industry. These fairs definitely will send out a positive signal from China, that the furniture market is recovering well, giving confidence to others in our industry.”
design DISTRICTS
Thomas Postert Project manager
ORGATEC 27-31 October 2020 | “The current situation will have an impact in terms of company presentations as well as regarding the content-related alignment. The trade fair business won’t be the same as before, but in spite of all this, they will continue to play a decisive role. Production, logistics, distribution and communication will change and the networking of stakeholders, reactivating economic relationships and establishing new business will be more
important than ever before. We will give our exhibitors the opportunity to expand their digitalised trade fair appearance onsite to an increased extent, in order to reinforce reaching target groups, who will perhaps not be able to visit us on-site due to the current circumstances. The office sector will also face this new challenge. The companies will successfully develop and offer new products for the demands of social distancing. But it is also certain that a large share of employees will in future also have to meet up physically. At the same time, the pace will increase further due to the increased flexibility of the worlds of work.”
Ben Evans
LONDON DESIGN FESTIVAL 12-20 September 2020 | “London Design Festival is planned to take place from 12-20 September this year. We will be announcing the programme of projects and activity at a virtual press conference in early Summer. We are designing an innovative responsible programme which can adapt to the situation at the time. For this 18th edition of the Festival,
Giovanni Savorani President of Confindustria Ceramica
CERSAIE
9-13 November 2020 | “Cersaie shifts to November, with the theme The healthy qualities of ceramics, to rethink home design and architecture. The pandemic has brought two transformations to the fore: the sizing of spaces has to change, to adapt to new functions such as remote working; and healthiness becomes a priority, on a part with aesthetics and functional quality.
We will work to make Cersaie a place of trade, but also a platform for the spread of knowledge on these themes.” And there’s more news: “Pavilion 37, the largest one in Bologna, will host the ceramic companies. The entire layout of the fair will be revolutionized, granting the proximity of the bath furnishings pavilions – now at the center of the facility – and the creation of new areas.” Such as the Contract Hall at Pavilion 18: “Today, ceramic slabs and bath fixtures are also the protagonists of major non-residential projects, where design studios focus on tiles and finishes, wellness zones and bath fixtures, kitchens and outdoor furnishings, lights and other complements, all at the same time. Here we will organize conferences, research projects and encounters.” IFDM 108 June 2020
we are exploring new ideas to inspire and inform our audiences, whilst keeping them safe. In these challenging times, we are working virtually with our partners across the city to stage a great celebration of forward-thinking design, which is full of hope. We expect a significantly smaller number of international visitors, but we have a large design and creative community living and working in London, who will be our focus this year. We feel we have a responsibility to support our design community.”
Photo © Ed Reeve
Director
04-18 SEPT. 2020
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agenda SAVE THE DATE
Follow IFDM at the major international trade fairs
SAN FRANCISCO DESIGN WEEK VIRTUAL EDITION June 15-25, 2020 San Francisco (USA) www.sfdesignweek.org/
SEPTEMBER FURNITURE CHINA September 8-12, 2020 Shanghai (China) www.furniture-china.cn/en-us
The appointment with Furniture China is confirmed. At the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), from 8 to 12 September, will go on the scene a trade fair dedicated to the furnishing universe in its variety: from the living to the sleeping area, from the outdoor to the office, including fabrics and much more, all completed by Maison Shanghai’s home decoration proposal. Last year’s figures indicated a (slightly decreasing) international presence of visitors from over 30 countries, but largely offset by the growing national presence. The highly anticipated China Furniture Product Innovation Awards promotes the formation of China’s furniture industry design innovation. PROJECT QATAR September 28 - October 1, 2020 Doha (Qatar) www.projectqatar.com
OCTOBER NYCXDESIGN October 2020 New York (USA) www.nycxdesign.com LE MIAMI October 5-8, 2020 Miami (USA) www.lemiami.com ORGATEC October 27-31, 2020 Cologne (Germany) www.orgatec.com
SALONE DEL MOBILE.MILANO SHANGHAI November 25-27, 2020 Shanghai (Italy) www.salonemilano.cn/en
NOVEMBER BDNY November 8-9, 2020 New York (USA) www.bdny.com BRUSSELS FURNITURE FAIR November 8-11, 2020 Brussels (Belgium) www.furniturefairbrussels.be
The Brussels Furniture Fair is on schedule for November 8-11. “A first step in our support for manufacturers during this Covid-19 crisis”, states the trade fair organizers, which also intend to guarantee the full refund fee paid for the stand if the event gets canceled by government measures. In the meantime, they are working with optimism to ensure a valuable and dynamic, as well as safe, edition. The venue remains the Brussels Expo, while the thematic areas are varied, from contemporary pieces to bedroom comfort.
The sister event of Salone del Mobile.Milano in Shanghai – scheduled from November 25-27 at the Shanghai Exhibition Centre – has become an essential constant for Italian brands aiming to expand in the Asian market. A selection of 130 companies tell the best of Made in Italy for all home sectors. Equally unmissable, the complementary event of the SaloneSatellite dedicated to young Chinese talents and the MasterClassis, for an in-depth cultural and educational study alongside the protagonists of the project DESIGN SHANGHAI November 26-29, 2020 Shanghai (China) www.designshowshanghai.com
DECEMBER
DUBAI DESIGN WEEK November 9-14, 2020 Dubai (UAE) www.dubaidesignweek.ae
MIPIM ASIA December 1-2, 2020 Hong Kong www.mipim-asia.com
DOWNTOWN DESIGN November 10-13, 2020 Dubai (UAE) www.downtowndesign.com
WORLD ARCHITECTURE FESTIVAL December 2-4, 2020 Lisbon (Portugal) www.worldarchitecturefestival.com/
EQUIP HOTEL November 15-19, 2020 Paris (France) www.equiphotel.com
ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH December 3-6, 2020 Miami Beach (USA) www.artbasel.com/miami-beach
SLEEP & EAT November 17-18, 2020 London (UK) www.sleepandeatevent.com HOSTYS CONNECT November 22-24, 2020 www.hostysconnect.com/
STOCKHOLM FURNITURE AND LIGHT FAIR February 9-13, 2021 Stockholm (Sweden) www.stockholmfurniturelightfair.se
Photo © Noelia Molteni Alonso
JUNE
JANUARY IMM COLOGNE January 18-24, 2021 Cologne (Germany) www.imm-cologne.com MAISON&OBJET PARIS January 22-26, 2021 Paris (France) www.maison-objet.com/en/paris
FEBRUARY INTERIOR MEBEL February 2021 Kiev (Ukraine) www.interior-mebelkiev.com
IFDM 110 June 2020
AMBIENTE February 19-23, 2021 Frankfurt am Main (Germany) www.ambiente.messefrankfurt.com
MARCH IDF OMAN March 15-17, 2021 Muscat (Sultanate of Oman) www.idfoman.com
APRIL COVERINGS April 13-16, 2021 Orlando (USA) www.coverings.com SALONE DEL MOBILE.MILANO April 13-18, 2021 Milano (Italy) www.salonemilano.it
MAY WANTEDDESIGN May 2021 Brooklyn & Manhattan (USA) www.wanteddesignnyc.com HD EXPO May 4-6, 2021 Las Vegas (USA) www.hdexpo.com ICFF May 15-18, 2021 New York (USA) www.icff.com CLERKENWELL DESIGN WEEK May 25-27, 2021 London (United Kingdom) www.clerkenwelldesignweek.com HOTEL SHOW DUBAI May 31- June 2, 2021 Dubai (United Arab Emirates) www.thehotelshow.com
JUNE NEOCON June 14-16, 2021 Chicago (USA) www.neocon.com
#OurDreamNeverStops
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