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Maurizio Perticarini
Half a Century for Cobra
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Alfonso Femia is among the 23 designers who have celebrated the famous lamp by Elio Martinelli. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Cobra, the Martinelli Luce company organized a commemorative project. The idea came from Emiliana Martinelli (daughter of Elio) president and designer of the Lucca company. Emiliana, who is presenting a version of the lamp painted by a checkered texture, asked a group of important designers to communicate their vision, their suggestions through a reinterpretation of the lamp. By means of a simple texture, the artists then modified the skin of the object, without altering its form and therefore its recognizability, however enriching the original project with meanings. The twenty-three designers have therefore made real limited editions of this symbol of the Sixties that were exposed last February 27 at the Triennale di Milan at the Cobra Texture press conference. Elio Martinelli's lamp represents the profound transformations that characterized the Sixties, starting from the material used: a steel base and a body in thermohardening resin, new frontier in the field of design, shaped by first industrial printing techniques. These were the years of the Student Movement which was an extraordinary moment of civil growth but led inexorably to clashes and deep political and social divisions. Cobra, closed on itself, is inscribed in a sphere, almost to recall an embryonic state of becoming, a fetus of a new feeling, which is apparently compliant, orderly and perfect. Like the terrestrial globe, now aware of the atrocities of war, it is ready to turn into a threatening snake manifesting all the aggressiveness of that historic moment. The use of a joint in the thinnest part of the lamp allows the complete rotation of the illuminating head and the center of gravity immediately moves out of its own balance, the object stops the action at a moment, assuming the appearance of a Cobra about to attack. Nature and geometry, purity, the essentiality of form, are cleverly used by Martinelli to conceive an intact and imperturbable object, but at the same time dynamic, with a strong potential charge, like the hand of an artist closed on the pencil, but that will soon surprise us with the extemporaneousness of its features.
Alfonso Femia, teacher of Architectural Design at Kent State University of Florence and at the Faculty of Architecture of Ferrara and Genoa, architect and designer collaborator of the Martinelli company, stands out among the twenty-three participants involved in the Call, for the originality of its revisiting and to have somehow highlighted the actuality of the object. His idea is encouraged by the artist Arthur Simony, a very sensitive personality whose poetics is based on the peculiar use of words. The body of the Cobra becomes a support, a blackboard for the entropic spread of a true and just mantra. Three words: Love, Realism, Imaginary, words that are fixed in the mind of the architect Femia and that best describe his general approach to design and, perhaps, the approach of many others. They find harmony, coexisting in the same instant in a continuous whirlwind, revealing all his introspection. Arthur realizes real spirals that blend together almost in a flow of consciousness. The message is a manifesto, a history overwriting, a complaint similar to that of today writers, where the lamp is an architectural vehicle of condemnation. Examples of the increasingly widespread art of graffiti, of artists such as Millo and Blu, who base their art on contrasts. The theme of the spiral with its black on white or white on black contrasts recalls inadvertently that tendency of using optical art throughout the Sixties when artists wanted to induce a state of perceptual instability, stimulating and engaging the viewer. All this reveals a thrust towards the return to the rudimentary, to the handcraft, to the manual trait that is the only direct means that transfers thought into action. The twitch of the Cobra, therefore, becomes beneficial, no longer dangerous; it becomes a weapon of change instead. Femia and Simony, therefore, do nothing but tread the lively relevance of the project. Martinelli reminds us that the power of design lies in the stroke and in the first sketches, in a today's context where even technology, which is having a social development becoming accessible to everyone and that on the one hand facilitates the development of complex forms based on parametric algorithms, on the other hand is giving a strong contribution to the development of hardware closer to the pencil.
Angelo Micheli ph. Laiza Tonali
Adolini+ Simonini Associati
Brian Sironi
ph.Benvenuto Saba
Alfonso Femia
Donia Maaoui
Emiliana Martinelli
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Massimo Farinatti Michel Boucquillon
Karim Rashid
para Interiores - Lupe de la Vallina
Giorgio Brogi
Paola Navone
Marc Sadler Luisa Bocchietto Paolo Orlandini
Marcello Morandini
Studio Lucchi e Biserni
StudiĂƒÂ˛vo
Marco Ghilarducci 72
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Maurizio Perticarini interviews Bruno Palm,egiani
Talking with Bruno Palmegiani, the myth of Police sunglasses: towards the “Minimal Street” of Avanglion
Bruno Palmegiani was born in Popoli, a small town in central Italy, about an hour away from Rome. The “town of water and wind” is surrounded by mountains and rivers; it is also the hometown of Corradino DA ’ scanio, inventor of the Vespa scooter. Bruno has always been surrounded by art, which has always been a mainstay of his family: his maternal grandfather, employed in the civil engineering department, was fond of music and cooking; from his uncle Gerardo, a tailor, Bruno learned everything about haute couture. Since childhood, Bruno showed his creativity in many ways: writing graphic novels, playing in the rock band “Rolls”, always drawing inspiration from the American culture. Highlights of his career include the long lasting contribution to Police, and collaborations with Italian and foreign stylists: he worked as Creative Director for brands like Versace, Krizia, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs, Zegna and Sovér. He isn’t just an eyeglasses designer, because the object itself is outdated and has been imitated by others. Palmegiani has the extraordinary ability to conceive a theater scene where the created object acts as the protagonist: it occupies space and it’s used and worn by people, who are players on the stage of life. His task is to build an emotional apparat which contextualizes the object. His latest project is called Avanglion, a light and essential eyewear. Can you tell me about your Avanglion eyewear project? These new eyeglasses present a light and minimal design: it’s a clean and unembellished object, in order to enhance its functionality. Its pure forms bring out an “A” shape on the front and on the rods. It’s a project in collaboration with EINAR, a new company (based in Hungary), which recently acquired an Italian brand named SOVÉR; they own different brands and, with the help of my contribution, they decided to renovate and improve Avanglion (the company’s historic brand), creating a line of unisex products with good value for money intended for broader markets. They look at Italy to draw inspiration for esthetics and design and also as a symbol of elegance and prestige. The Avanglion Project is Minimal Street inspired: it catches suggestions from the street, from those places where people’s personality is the protagonist: this can be seen in the video presentation of the brand, where the setting is represented by abandoned urban places, in an effort to give value to their original purpose.
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Your visions are inspired by everyday life; the video presentation seems to outline an industrial and urban context. To what extent and how did space and light give value to your product? The setting plays a relevant role: it acts as a stage, where there is a protagonist along with several figures in the background. My goal is to represent my objects in a setting that contextualizes them, and this can be best achieved through video. So, cinema becomes an influencing element, allowing people to identify themselves with the represented space and, at the same time, be a part of that situation. The setting has to be familiar, in order to let people identify themselves and appreciate the represented object. I draw inspiration from the street, where people are found in the most different situations: this allows me to catch the essence of that situation and synthesize it. What is the essence of your design? Design alone means nothing, it has to be contextualized: the goal of my projects is to make the final user feel emotions. The first part of my job is studying the eyeglasses design, their shape, to provoke emotions through their lines. This is the age of minimalism: people are looking for essential objects, less flashy and more functional. True design is identified by pure lines. The line must not necessarily be hidden by rhinestone or other frills: this is a neglectable playful side. What matters the most is that lines should be distinguishable, giving “musical” harmony to the face, to highlight people’s character and to strengthen their mood. The eyeglasses follow an evolutionary process and a continuous development, like an architecture evolving after technological innovations. In the last few years transparency has become an architectural trend, with the creation of buildings with large windows that act as a filter between the inside and the outside, allowing us to make contact with the city or the surrounding nature. Transparency can be also applied to eyeglasses, and Avanglion is a fine example of this concept: new construction techniques like laser cutting, and materials like steel and super-thin plastic (TR90, elastic and shockproof) allow us to create lighter and more ergonomic objects; all this is combined with colors and colored transparencies to create esthetic movements. 84
Where do you draw inspiration from for your projects? Did rock music also influence you? Everyone has their own ego, expressing it through body care. Every day, when we wake up, we think about our physical appearance and what we want to communicate. This happens in most cultures, especially the tribal ones, where particular accessories and body care become rituals. Our present is the result of our evolution in the past, and this concept is present in music, cooking, fashion. Contamination between cultures is also important, creating coexistence between different realities of a certain setting. I visit architecture a lot, travel and read magazines to understand the lifestyles of people living in different parts of the world; all of this is carried in my creations. Professionally speaking, rock music is also an important influence. I used to play guitar when I was young, and to me rock music has always been the most captivating, because it acts as a social aggregator and reaches a wide audience. I like to define my products as “musical” in some way. I still play guitar to relieve myself from adrenaline and excitement when I manage to create lines that represent what I want to communicate. Which project are you more fond of? The next one, because in the future I would like to create my own line, which should reflect my way of being and seeing things; I envision it as a project of the highest quality and untied from the interpretations of the final user. I can’t say anything more, since the project is an exclusive and is still in development. Nevertheless, my collaboration with Police has proven successful, since many of the eyeglasses have become iconic, selling millions of pieces. I can say that I managed to reach a wider audience, and knowing that millions of people wear something I created makes me satisfied. I thinks this is the goal of every designer, being able to understand the language of people and share something with them. If I had been a musician my goal would have been the same. Conveying my ideas makes me satisfied, and the fact that design helped me communicating with people with different cultures and religions makes me very proud. My products have been purchased by young people from all around the world, from Arabia to China, from America to Russia. Eyeglasses are an object, and the object not only is a philosophy, an idea, but
also a physical entity, like a pair of shoes or a watch. Eyeglasses are mistreated, too: a shoe, for example, is put through a heavier use, and people usually buy many pair of shoes throughout the year, for every circumstance. I think the same process should be applied to eyeglasses because, like cosmetics or clothes, different circumstances would require different kinds of eyeglasses. Maybe the industry fails at communicating the cosmetic value of eyeglasses, which should be underlined as much as the technical one by those who sell them. Different models, sizes and colors can evoke a precise mood of the moment. My idea of introducing blue lenses (which has become the strength of the Police brand) is an example of that concept: those lenses represent the openness of the sea and the sky, and therefore express freedom and the possibility to be anywhere. The stores often lack education on aesthetics. How much is Made in Italy influencing today’s design? The most important eyewear brands are based in Italy: I think that Italians are predisposed to creativity, it’s part of our background and this is acknowledged worldwide. Production delocalization happens for economic reasons, since technology and production quality can be based anywhere: we must protect our own “know how” instead. I think that if a country has a typical product, it has to be made in that same country. The appeal of a product stands in the traditions it holds. Globalization generated contamination, but also conformism. Today, local expressions are rare. Are you satisfied with what you accomplished? Which goals do you have for the future? I have always worked passionately, it’s my nature. I always tried to do the things I liked, and I am happy with the result. My job is very exciting, despite few negative sides to it. What goes down in history are our creations and the mark they leave, not their success. My fellow citizen Corradino D’Ascanio is still remembered today for his contributions in the fields of design and engineering. In my small way I created products that have become iconic and still are being produced even 30 years after their creation: this satisfies me and has allowed me to be regarded in my field. I consider myself a normal person with a special passion. [focus] 85