April 2010 Archives
At the various design venues in Milan this past week, the influence
of Gaetano Pesce was very evident!!!! Color, materials,
shape, and texture were all part of
the homage to his genius!!!!
The collection "L'Abbraccio," a collaboration between world renowned architect-artist-designer Gaetano Pesce and Michela Barona's furniture company Le Fablier, at the Triennale Design Museum, is a stunning exhibition of extraordinary, whimsical, and exciting new work ...... and it totally reinforces Pesce's design dominance!!! The furniture collection consists of tables, chairs, bookcase, sideboard, cupboard, and wardrobe. "Although it is off-the-shelf furniture, each piece is crafted so that it has unique features." Materials include polyexpoide, polyurethane resins, and hard foams .... elements familiar to Pesce's work, but there is an addition of wood, which is part of the Le Fablier world.
"L'Abbraccio is classic and contemporary styles coming together and celebrates today's fusion trend, with facts, events, thoughts, behavior and actions no longer expressions of "consistency", "monolithicity", "repetition", stiffness", :linearity", "standardization", "masculinity"; on the contrary they have all become signs of "multidisciplinarity", "coexistence", "elasticity", "unpredictability", "fluidity", "femininity" ....."
The individual pieces in this collection communicate "feelings of surprise, discovery, optimism, stimulation, sensuality, generosity, joy, and femininity." The exciting colors, materials, and textures ..... combined with humor and whimsey ....... and the energizing exuberance of the pieces, makes this one of the most exciting exhibitions in Milan!!!!!
Adding one piece of this furniture to a room, would
be the ultimate "accessoration" for 2010!!!!!
These fabulous outdoor chairs. creating a magical garden at the Nhow Hotel on Via Tortona, are the "fantasy dreamland" of clothing designers Graziano Moro and Renato Pignatti!!! Setting up this "Wonderland" in the heart of Milan, the designers presented their "Queen of Love" chair and the "Little Prince of Love" pouf, made in recyclable plastic and available in 13 colors. The company, Design of Love began in 2009 with the chair, added the pouf in 2010, and last week the plastic jardiniere.
According to the designers ....... "The QUEEN OF LOVE is born from a simple idea, aiming to become a symbol of a positive and free way of being. It's the armchair of the good mood, that projects you into the future, remembering the past; a prism in which the light goes through and turns it into s rainbow of colours, becoming itself the energy that pervades the place. The strength generated by this moment is what really counts: it's the symbol of LOVE. The one and only QUEEN OF LOVE."
I adore these three pieces and all of the
colors ........ this delightful collection is just
what every garden needs ..... especially mine!!!!
Architect Matteo Thun and Marni's Consuelo Castiglioni joined together to create "The Wooden Beacons," an installation in the courtyard of the Marnie boutique. The sculpture is part of the Interni Think Tank Installations, a collection of divine design installations that are found all around the city. This work, created in association with the American Hardwood Export Council, is about juxtaposition, it consists of the "hardware" elements of red wood planks interacting with the "software" elements of plastic bags filled with a variety of Marnie prints from the 2010 collection. The unusual juxtaposition of hard and soft, the eruption of the planks from the ground, and the variety of color and pattern is innovative, eye catching, and stunning. According to Thun, the piece is about life cycles and as he says ...... "There is nothing that grows old faster than the new."
"The Wooden Beacons" was the first "piece" I saw in Milan .... It's
amazing and I went back to see it 4 or 5 times!!! I even took
the E-I-C .... he loved it too!!!! In fact, we're fighting
over who's backyard it belongs in!!!!
Guess what these are!!!!!!!!!!
They are stackable colanders from Rösle, I found them while I was shopping at the divine Milanese design store DePadova .......... a must stop for all design lovers!!!!!
Think stainless steel with rubber sides that can be pushed down ....... not a great description but, think of those paper chinese lanterns that flatten or an accordian!!!! Anyway, they stack within each other and are great design ......... or, maybe I have just been in Milan toooooo long!!!!
The Tra la Briccole di Venezia exhibition at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan includes this charming piece from Paola Navone. Thematically the show is about the old wooden signposts embedded in the Venetian lagoon. Navone's description of her piece tells it's story far more poeticly than I can ..........
"Trees ravaged by time and water. An architecture placed between the sky and the sea.
Sculptures of an imperfect beauty. Nature and artifice.
Riva 1920 invited me to bestow on these spectral trunks a second lease of life. A wonderful challenge.
I tried to imagine how many memories, thoughts, fantasies and dreams have drifted past them in their time.
These are the little objects I have concealed in the wood.
It is a gesture who neither superimposes the new not cancels the old: it simply adds other lives and interweaves them with the essence of the briccole.
A little goldfish, a gold-luck charm of bright blue glass, a Japanese cat, a little Yi Xing teapot, a little Chinese pumpkin, a big shell, a ganesh made of rag, a big lump of Murano glass, a purse with a panda's face, a turquoise egg-box, a ring of beads, a red cornet-shaped charm, an Agatha Christie book, a pair of sunglasses, a packet of seeds, a little bottle of Parma violets, a box of Leone pastilles, an ex-voto...
Many objects have floated past the briccole.
...Crumbs and thing collected with unhurried calm..."
MOROSO 2010
UNKNOWN @ MOSCHINO
MARTINO GAMPER @ GALLERY NULIFAR
VINTAGE @ ROSANNA ORLANDI
RICHARD HUTTEN @ INSTALLATION IN THE BRERA
GAETANO PESCE @ TRIENNALE DESIGN MUSEUM
"YOUNOW' BY FLORENCE JAFFRAIN INSTALLATION IN THE BRERA
UNKNOWN @ VILLA NECCHI CAMPIGLIO
ALVAR AALTO'S ARMCHAIR 400 UPHOLSTERY BY MISSION @ ARTEK
Chairs fall into the "favorite accessory" category ........ and Milan
was full of them. These are just few ....... many,
many more to follow!!!!!
Italian designer, Paola Navone's fabulous creation, "Theatrical Creations in Tones of Blue" was designed for Venetian glass company Barovier & Toso for their installation at the Milan Fair at Zona Tortona. The installation is a series of rooms, featuring vignettes or scenes, created by stunning glass pieces ....... all in the "Yves Klein Blue." Each unique design incorporates light, some form of repetition ....... and is magical on it's own, but as an installation it is extraordinary!!!
Navone says, "I find inspiration in most thing. It's a mental attitude. If you look and touch you can always find something interesting-a shape,a colour, a texture. It's a 24 hour exercise to capture all of these elements."
I am awed by Paola Navone ......... not only is she amazingly talented, but she is incredibly prolific!!!! In the past two weeks I have seen three works by Navone ........ this installation, and an incredible installation at Few & Far in London ( to be featured next week!!) and a fantasy sculpture that is part of the exhibition Tra le Briccole di Venezia at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan. This piece is so stunning that I am also writing about it tomorrow as a separate piece!!!!
Lebanese designers Huda Baroudi & Maria Hibri, owners of Bokja (blog 1/21/10), have really out-done themselves with this "refitted" vintage VW BUG that is "flowering" in Rosanna Orlandi's garden for the 2010 Milan design fair!!!
This piece of "sculpture" is divine and there really are no
words necessary ...... just look!!!!
Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek presented these fabulous fixtures at Spazio Rosanna Orlandi in Milan this week. The fixtures continue his pursuit of "recycling & reviving" ....... he took a collection of vintage glass lighting parts and created stunning chandeliers!!! The lamps sit inside metals rods and are strung together, creating various circular and vertical fixtures.
I adore these light fixtures!!! They are exciting, innovative, & exceptional ........
chic, modern, and recycled vintage!!!!
I never thought about volcano's before ...... maybe Pompeii when
I was about 10 ....... but, this new unpronounceably-named
volcano has me in it's clutches!!!!!!
I am caught in Milan, and am beginning to feel I should meet with a real estate broker to find a palazzo!!!!! The good news is that I have a hotel suite with two friends who are rapidly becoming my newest BFF's, and the ability to get into the best restaurant in town ....... BAGUTTA ....... a must in a crisis like this!!!!!! I also have more than enough "accessorator" information from London & Milan to write indefinitely!!!!!!
Hopefully I'll be home soon ....... but anyway, I can keep
chattering about all the great "accessorations" in
the world from anywhere!!!!
CIAO!!!!!!
The blanket of 200 giant linen lanterns that illuminate Via Montnapoleone, Milano is part of the 2010 Fuorisalone and it is stunning!!!!!! Turning the corner into the street, Tuesday night, there appeared to be a "luminous flying carpet" ....... it took my breath away!!!!!!
The project, Luce Dal Lino 2010, is the melding of craftsmanship and design. "The best of European innovative linen fabrics and yarns joins the creativity of 50 international designers and brands." The primary color palette is hues of blues and greens, with "designer lanterns" in prints, embroideries, and elements of collage as accents.
The city becomes an "urban design salon" for 6 days, the "accessorator's" dream
come true ...... and this was just the beginning!!!!!
I adore the work of the Brazilian designers Fernando & Humberto Campana (see 1/22/10 & 2/25/10) and the "Nativo" Vases at my favorite store in Milan, Spazio Rossana Orlandi, are extraordinary!!!! They are natural, fluid, earthy, and innovative. They are made in combinations of leather, resin, and natural fibers ..... and are clearly related to the Brother's design philosophy. The pieces have been produced by the Corsi Company, who began designer collaborations in 2003 with Gaetano Pesce and added Alessandro Mendini in 2007.
My goal is to bring one of these vases home with
me ...... as my newest "accessoration"
purchase from Milan 2010!!!!!
London based designer Sabastian Bergne "EYE" iznik ceramics,
based on the evil eye
French design studio 5.5 Designers "CUSINE D'OBJETS" lamps created
from everyday objects
Catalan designer Marti Guixé, "COMMUNICATOR" for Alessi, containers with
arrows & speech bubbles where user can write messages
Dutch design Studio Sjoerd Jonkers, "NEOCLASTIC VASES," collection of
10 objects in handmade cast in sand molds in
a variety of colors, shapes & sizes
Dutch based, Italian design duo Studio Formafantasma, "AUTARCHY,"
a collection of functional objects, vessels, & lamps baked at low
temperatures, made of bio-materials
Japanese designer, Tokujin Yoshioka "MEMORY CHAIR" for Morosco, chair
created from new fabric, made from recycled aluminum,
that changes shape when sat upon or touched
Emeco "111 Navy Chair," combining of two iconic brands, chairs made from 60% recycled plastic Coca-Cola bottles in combination with other materials for
strength, same shape as the original 1944 chair made for the navy
Italian designer Luca Nichetto "Plinto," designed for Skitsch, stackable stool/table made from concrete blocks in parallelepiped shape, similar to those used at construction sites, usable indoors and out, with handle for stacking
London's weather has been gorgeous & everyone took to the streets, me too!!!!
Walking along Kings Road in Chelsea, I found the "poshest" new shop .... Bellocq Tea Atelier. This tiny gem, nestled into the corner next to the new Anthropologie store, is the brain-child of three New Yorkers ..... Michael Shannon and Heidi Johannsen Stewart, both former Martha Stewart veterans, and real estate developer/store design guru Scott Stewart. As "friends" of the Anthropologie folks, the NYC based entrepreours got the opportunity to open their first retail store in London and took it!!!!
The store is stunning....an "accessorator's" dream!!!! The color palette is washy, dreamy tones of aubergine & indigo, there are natural wood floors, vintage furniture & accessories, antique store fixtures, all accented with green leaves and flowers ..... YUMMIE!!! There is also a wonderful touch of red that edges a long shelf on one side!!! BUT, the ultimate "accessoration" is the label on the tea canisters, bright daffodil yellow with a sharp white square!!!! The eye catching back wall says it all!!!!
Oh yes, the purpose of this delightful store ........ It sells a fabulous selection of unique, hand-crafted custom blended teas, as well as carefully selected full leaf teas!!! In addition, they feature a bespoke blending service. The teas have chic names including Noble Savage, Afghani Chai, and Wild Phoenix. They taste incredible and smell fantastic!!!!
Next summer, according to Michael, this NY based company, will
finally open a Bellocq Tea Atelier in New York ...... but
for now, it is a must stop in London!!!
- “It all comes down to the accessories.....
- It’s not the first thousand dollars that make the room, it’s the last hundred!!”
- - judi roaman
1 Comment