Salone del Mobile: The New Place for Luxury Brands
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Originally, the Salone del Mobile, which began in 1961, was a coveted home products fair. Every year, professionals from the design and furniture worlds, journalists and industrials, would gather for a few days in the fashion capital to meet architects and deSalone del Mobile: The New Place for Luxury Brands
Originally, the Salone del Mobile, which began in 1961, was a coveted home products fair. Every year, professionals from the design and furniture worlds, journalists and industrials, would gather for a few days in the fashion capital to meet architects and designers. But recently, fashion and luxury companies have joined the party.This year, for example, the French fashion and leather-goods company Longchamp chose Milan over other destinations to present a one-of-a-kind bag. “We wanted to offer our customers a new experience,” said a spokesperson for the brand, “so we asked the Japanese studio Nendo to reimagine Le Pliage bag.” To present this top-notch collaboration with the Japanese designer Oki Sato, the Longchamp team decided to benefit from the crowd who comes to Salone del Mobile, and who would act as an initial sounding board for the promotion of the brand and its new product. Innovation, design and aesthetics were at the forefront of this collaboration with Nendo, so Longchamp saw Milan was the best place to release it. While retaining “the DNA of the original product,” according to Sophie Delafontaine, Longchamp’s creative director, Nendo totally reinvented Le Pliage.Longchamp was not the only brand to launch surprises or important collaborations last week in Milan. Daum, the France-based crystal company, announced a collaboration with the talented artist and gallerist Laurence Bonnel, and presented the first sculptures they created together. “I am so proud to work with one of the most renowned traditional craftmanship companies in the world,” Bonnel said in an interview. “They have mastered crystal for decades and worked with impressive masters and artists.” For its part, Baccarat featured paintings by the artist Alexandre Benjamin Navet during its cocktail sessions.In 2012, Cos was amongst the first clothing brands to orchestrate giant art installations at the fair. This year, they presented an installation by Arthur Mamou-Mani, a French architect, made of 3-D plastic bricks – nothing really connected to clothes. Ditto for Louis Vuitton, which has since 2012 been presenting its nomadic objects, designed by emerging creators such as India Mahdavi or Patricia Urquiola, Marcel Wanders or the Campana Brothers.With exhibitions at the Prada Foundation, furniture signed Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Tod’s, Milan has become a big show, the only one of its kind for the driving forces behind design, art and architecture, and the week was full of events. Tod’s presented a new shoe by the Korean designer Yong Bae Seok, and at the same time financed an installation with Studio Andrea Caputo. The idea behind this double presentation? Explore the relationship between space and clothes. Another example was Dior Maison, who partnered with Dimore Studio, one of the hottest Italian contemporary design companies. On the stand, the 14-piece capsule collection was presented, with trays and frames, amongst other objects. At Loewe it was the same idea, but with a different concept and presentation. The Spanish leather-goods company asked weavers from all over the world to reinvent baskets out of leather, using their own craftsmanship.The stands of other brands such as Fendi or Versace, were this year amongst the most interesting and powerfully designed. The interior designer Sasha Bikoff and the Californian artist Andy Dixon worked on Versace’s space, but visits by the general public were limited.All the biggest names in the luxury world come to Milan regularly to present their permanent collections or their most recent design or art-based collaborations. Beyond becoming a prime location and moment for revelations and promotions of the brands, the world’s most famous professional furniture show has become the N°1 meeting place for the luxury industry, in just a few years. New boutique openings; Cartier taking over the Arco della Pace to celebrate its Santos watch; special projects such as Max Mara’s line of glasses, a collaboration with the German painter Kerstin Bratsch; the co-branding of a pop-up store between Valentino and the Nilufar gallery; a new line of accessories by Ermenegildo Zegna. They were all occasions to celebrate, give parties or present the latest and greatest in the luxury world. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 18.0px Times} https://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin Read more