Moroso

For the Salone del Mobile 2017, Moroso presented a close and accurate exploration of the world of contract and public spaces, leading the company both to expand the categories on catalogue, and to establish new partnerships with designers and architects, as well as reaffirming longer-standing collaborations. The company's aim is to respond to the demands arising from a new conception of hospitality, in which hotels are no longer frigid monuments reiterating the same design in every property, but instead, welcoming, comfortable places where guests can feel a bit more at home. Designs with a clearly-defined soul that pay particular attention to the local area as well as to the people who stay there. This conception is perfectly aligned with the spirit of the company and its creative approach, which combines design culture, aesthetic sensitivity, quality production and a sophisticated competency in textiles. The art of braiding and weaving is particularly close to the heart of Patricia Urquiola and Patrizia Moroso, and was the core theme of the new design for the stand. The transplantation of such ancient gestures into the exhibition space and the simplified reinterpretation of an archetype - the loom - is presented here in a contemporary key, with a certain poetry to the design. The desire to go back to basics is clearly expressed in the choice of colours, red, blue and "cardboard", and of materials - unfaced MDF, painted iron, and rope. The looms are key players within the space, setting the ropes in a visual interplay of horizontal and vertical lines. Arranged around the edge and in the centre, they invite visitors to take a circular route through the exhibition. These frames outline mini-sets where the new products are the stars, while the colours reflect those in the new catalogues: three separate volumes illustrating the entire Moroso world, from sofas and seating to outdoor furniture. On each of these islands, alongside the latest designs, we can also discover the new finishes and collections of textiles and materials. For many years the company has been carrying out very specific research into fabrics: one the one hand through partnerships with leading companies in this sector, and on the other with the experimental use of prints, intended not as mere decoration, but as another way to work on the product through its "skin". Inside the stand, visitors immersed themselves fully in the Moroso universe, with an experience that is tactile as well as visual, discovering the new collections created by big-name designers including Patricia Urquiola, Doshi Levien, Ron Arad, Gordon Guillaumier, Tord Boontje, Nendo, Benjamin Hubert, Anne Timerman and Eugene Timerman, David Weeks, Martino Gamper, Marc Thorpe, Scholten & Baijings and Edward van Vliet, as well as major architects such as AL_A Studio, founded by Amanda Levete, and great contemporary artists of the calibre of Olafur Eliasson, who previewed a design created for an installation to be presented by the artist at the forthcoming Venice Biennale. Each stage spoke of little worlds made up of research, experimentation, quality and beauty. Patricia Urquiola revisits "Step", the sofa designed by her for Moroso in 1998, this time making the structure lighter and placing greater emphasis on the movement of its three levels, which are a key element of its comfort. The new "Step", puts greater focus on the three geometrical layers, no longer simply as volumes placed one atop the other, but as floating bodies that add further lightness to the overall form. The architecture of the sofa develops mainly in a horizontal direction, but gains a vertical dimension thanks to the final tilted section of the sofa, which gives even greater comfort. Meanwhile, the "Lilo" family is expanding, with the addition of a chaise longue that brings to mind references to a Scandinavian style, the modernist ideas of the fifties and the work of the great masters of design. The classic wooden structure elicits pure relaxation. Its bold aesthetic derives from the robust wooden structure that supports the weight of the filling, which is arranged ergonomically to ensure optimal support for each section of the body. The slightly reclined backrest followed by the prolonged form, resting on two wooden runners, provides a perfect resting position, almost lying flat. With its accommodating softness, "Lilo" also offers a versatility of use that makes it perfect for public and domestic spaces alike. Finally, the "Mathilda" series expands to include new items with a bar stool, an armchair and a dining table. All the products feature a coloured elastic strip that seems to bring all the different elements together, the legs with the round table top, the armrests with the structure of the armchair and stool. The construction with overlaid elements and interplaying colours allows for a choice of different combinations of materials, textures and colours. The partnership with Anglo-Indian duo Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien continues, and this year they presented the "Modernista" family. This new project draws its inspiration from men's tailor-made suits: gracefully stitched garments with a sophisticated taste in materials and details. A collection comprising two-and three-seat sofas, an armchair, a bench and low tables, Modernista adheres strictly to the geometrical structure of the rectangle, within which it is possible to explore light shapes and precise proportions. The lightly padded sofa and armchair gain added refinement with the use of buttons that create a tufted effect, for a subtle, elegant look. A series of refined items with a classical feel, designed to offer a discreet elegance without compromising on attention to detail. Also by the same designers, we see the re-presentation of the "Armada" collection, in its Highback, Lowback and Small Club versions, with the addition this year of a coffee table. Gordon Guillaumier was driven by the desire to get away from the angular and cuboid lines of modern sofas when he created "Josephine", in a number of different versions. It features distinctive rounded, voluptuous shapes: the armrests and back embrace the seat like petals embrace the corolla of a flower, and its elegant proportions gain a further sense of lightness thanks to the seat, which is visibly raised from the ground. The balanced proportions give this product a femininity that is also reflected in its name: a deliberate reference to Josephine Baker, an emancipated personality and provocative icon of the 1930s, renowned for her Afro-American beauty, her sharp sense of irony, and her ability to transform herself at the drop of a hat. With reference to this characteristic in particular, the Maltese designer added a "dressed" version to the project, with a fringe applied around the base, transforming the basic version into a veritable hybrid. Moroso presented its first collaboration with award-winning British architecture and design studio AL_A, founded in 2009 by the RIBA Stirling Prize-winning architect Amanda Levete. The "8mm" chair and table have been designed by AL_A for the Victoria and Albert Museum's Exhibition Road building project in London. AL_A have designed the Exhibition Road project that will create ambitious new spaces, opening in July 2017, for the V&A in London, the world's leading museum of art, design and performance. Lightweight and stackable, the chair is minimal in both size and means. Developed by Feruglio Engineering, an 8mm thick aluminium sheet is laser cut to create the profile and the pattern before it is folded into shape in a single motion around a form. Diagonal incisions in the back of the chair are designed to reduce weight and cast beautiful shadows. To accompany the chair, the "8mm" table is formed by the same process and incised with the same pattern of cuts; multiple tables can be placed end-to-end to form a longer version. A new partnership has been developed with Anne Timerman and Eugene Timerman, co-founders of TM/R Design, a creative studio based in New York. The American duo have created the "Hannah-Kit" collection of work and tea tables, which are the fruit of their passion for folding materials: by bending sheet metal a number of times, two-dimensional shapes take on complex and original three-dimensional forms. Geometrical shapes are reproduced in metal, as if it were paper being folded into origami. The same principle is applied to the stools, created from a single sheet of fabric, folded without any cuts or stitching. Originally designed for the Issey Miyake store in New York, the supports for each table are made using a three-dimensional profile created by folding a single sheet of metal. The table tops are made of more classic materials such as glass and wood, but the glass is screen-printed with some very distinctive graphics, and the wood is a variation on the special collection designed by Ettore Sottsass in the mid-80s for the ALPI company. The particular colour chosen is orange, which beautifully accentuates the value and texture of the natural wood with its clearly marked grain, echoing the unusual and irreverent combinations typical of the great designer's work. "Bell Lab" sofa was originallya site-specific design for the technological research and development centre Bell Industry, located in New Jersey, and designed by Eero Saarinen. Ron Arad's idea sets out from the pattern on the hall floor, which is made up of large, rectangular slabs in black, white and grey. The sofa is instead made up of large grey and black cylinders positioned horizontally and overlaid to form the seat and back, creating a flexible interaction with this extremely striking space. This specific idea was the starting point for what then became an actual product, included in the Moroso catalogue, suitable specifically for large contract spaces. Small woodland glades are the inspiration for the "Meadow" upholstered seating collection, designed by Tord Boontje, presented for the first time at Christopher Farr's London showroom, and re-proposed here in Milan with new fabrics. The collection includes three different shapes, all with flowing, natural lines, like soft islands of grass on which to relax. The legs are made from three wooden or translucent acrylic spheres, one on top of the other, gorgeous beads that offer a tantalising glimpse of the colour of the inner structure. The curved lines and backless design give "Meadow" an informal character suitable for a range of contexts and uses; these elements set in a hotel foyer, at the centre of a room or in multiple combination will always make for a variegated room-scape. The simple upholstered structure can also be enhanced with cushions. Edward Van Vliet carried out interesting research into fabrics for the products in the "Sushi" collection . Indeed, for the occasion, "Karmakoma" sofa, "Ariel" and "Ayub" armchairs and "Marshmellow" pouf are all covered in a fabric printed with photos, designed and composed especially by the designer himself. Van Vliet chose the name "Ikebana" for the fabric design, and he drew his inspiration from Nature, which he defines as the world's greatest designer, bursting with life and detail, deeply rooted in our inner imagery, even though we often spend our days in artificial environments. The fabric blends two very different fibres, linen and viscose, which absorb colour in different ways, giving the digital prints a particular depth and maintaining all the definition of the photographic image. The new project by Japanese designer Oki Sato of Nendo presents just a preview of "Highway", a project consisting of a series ofdining tables which, either alone or combined, can be used both for domestic and public spaces. Once again, Nendo's essential, minimal aesthetics succeed in creating an object that combines elegance with a sense of irony. The decorative motifs on the table are the inspiration for different typologies, resembling a straight road, a fork, a cross-road or a roundabout, while the edges are grooved to form "curbs", and the legs are designed like piers supporting a road-bridge. To give the perfect final touch, the table top is finished with three layers of cement-colour paint to look just like paved road. Another new product is "Set", a service table and available in a range of different heights and diameters, designed by Marc Thorpe, an architect known for his industrial approach to design. "Set" is the perfect example of "relational design", a concept typical of Thorpe's work: it was specifically conceived in relation to the space and the user. The multiple tops allow for different arrangements and types of storage, while the arch unifies the various parts of the table as well as providing a convenient handle to transport it around the house for many different uses. Design where many least expect it: Africa, a majestic work in progress, a place of contrasts and impermanence. In the era of all things virtual, of augmented reality and the glorification of external appearance, the result seems astonishing. Simple metal frames covered with coloured threads gain a totally new expressive power. In the history of humanity, weaving came before ceramics and writing; in design, the idea follows. From the sequential repetition of a simple gesture, each single design becomes the bearer of uniqueness, the affirmation of authentic materials and relations. The difference is clear, in the drawings, in the language that speaks of cultural contaminations that are "still" deliberately (and pleasingly) human. An accommodating process that ensures reproducibility, assimilating mistakes and imprecisions, and one to which the designer ascribes conceptual nobility, used as he is to a culture of mass-production. Each new design suggests infinite possible variations, but it also provides the embryo for the next design, a fraction in a sequence that - unlike the competitive glorification of innovation - brings everyone together: craftspeople, designers and end users.