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“STATELESS VENETIAN” Matteo Cibic

https://www.elledecor.com/it/best-of/a27022114/milan-design-week-2019-matteo-cibic-interview/

 

FROM INDIA TO MILAN WITH MATTEO CIBIC, THE “STATELESS VENETIAN”

With over 70 new products ready for Milan Design Week 2019, Matteo Cibic and his “Luxury fun” are unstoppable

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Davide Calafa

It’s not easy to keep Matteo Cibic serious, and perhaps even harder to keep him still. The self proclaimed “stateless Venetian” is uncontainable in his creative freedom, cranking out everything from decorations to accessories, furnishings, and lighting.

We met with him in Milan in late March, fresh off a trip to India between “fifty meetings”, a lesson held at the Marangoni Institute, and a train home to Vicenza.

His iconic animals from Paradiso Dreams, the fantastically anthropomorphic creatures in ceramic and gold finishes, are touring the world at the moment in limited editions and scaled down versions available at Lane Crawford in Hong Kong and Starbucks Reserve in Milan and New York.

Stopping for just a moment, he sits down to recount his journey through India and the 75 new products he’ll be presenting at Milan Design Week 2019.

How did it go in India? Why were you there?

It was my last trip. I was there for a week in Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan, the most colorful, friendly, and fun state of India.

I had already been to the country and have always been fascinated by their use of color, the mix and match of history and the contemporary, and the timeless aesthetic.

Jaipur is fantastic and boasts extraordinary architecture! It’s known as the Pink City, or the Paris of India: everything is tinged pink, with countless shades ranging between peach and orange. It’s an immersion into this very fun, colorful, and refined world. The city was first colored under the command of the Maharaja in order to impress England’s Prince Albert, who visited in 1876.

And it’s still fantastic. Even when it expanded, the architectural style was maintained between the arches and this very special tint. The more contemporary and minimalist architecture, whether residential or commercial, also follows this same canon and aesthetic. The resulting landscape is incredibly homogenous and continuous between the historic center and periphery. The most beautiful part is when you start to wander on the outskirts, coming across wild animals and flying peacocks.

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Courtesy Photo Matteo Cibic
PUBBLICITÀ – CONTINUA A LEGGERE DI SEGUITO

I was invited to Jaipur Rugs, one of the most important handmade Indian rug manufacturers. They contacted me to make a new collection and my idea was to give tribute to the city of Jaipur.

I described my journey through an eclectic collection that I’ll now be presenting at the Salone del Mobile. Rugs on display will recount the colors, architecture, and convivial spirit of the city’s inhabitants. I was also inspired by the ingenious astronomic observatory of Jantar Mantar, which was built in 700.

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Courtesy Photo Matteo Cibic

You’re bringing 75 new products to Design Week this year! How is that possible?!

I have no idea!

So how did you manage all this work?

I have a few tricks up my sleeve…

But really, how?

In the Vicenza studio there only a few of us, three to be precise.

But there are 45 new products and 30 that are revisited. I’m collaborating with a lot of diverse companies, and some of them have asked for an entire collection. When you get to 10-12 products per line, it doesn’t take long before you end up with 45.

And how long have you been working for the Design Week?

One year. I’m fortunate enough to work with companies and brands that are efficient in the prototyping and industrialization processes, and I myself in the design process try to supply a great deal of construction solutions and potential providers for components or particular tasks.

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Courtesy Matteo Cibic
PUBBLICITÀ – CONTINUA A LEGGERE DI SEGUITO

Jaipur Rugs is one of the new items to be presented. Can we go through the others?

With Editamateria x Delvis, I’m presenting a collection of tables and chairs in 40’s-50’s style, featuring American and Asian inspirations that are reinterpreted by expert carpenters with Italian essences. Brass inserts are accompanied by woods with saturated colors like red, blue, and green. The forms recall those of Asian roofs, but also those of old American bistros. It’s a bit of China and the U.S. mixed with Italian details.

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Courtesy Photo Matteo Cibic

And then there’s Animagic: your “animal statues”, which evolve into furnishings.

Paradiso Dreams is the beast I’ve developed over the years: a paradise where animals meet and copulate to create new animals, which come as a product of love. The fantastical animals initially inspired by the Egyptian canonic jars have since evolved into fantastic beasts of my own invention.

Now they’re becoming much bigger furniture-sculptures that reach up to 1.5 meters in height edited by Scarlet Splendour in a fusion of brass and wood.

These fantastic creatures have become your kind of calling card.

They’ve been with me for 18 years now!

How is that possible, how old are you?

35.

And how did you first start?

I attended an artistic high school with a special focus on architecture in Venice, then an art course in England. At 18, I moved to Milan to study at the Politecnico while I worked for Aldo (Matteo’s uncle, Aldo Cibic, Ed.)

PUBBLICITÀ – CONTINUA A LEGGERE DI SEGUITO

No! Up until 14 I wanted to be a father. Then my parents sent me to Aldo for the summer, when he had the studio near a famous modeling agency, and I decided it would be better to become a designer than a father.

You’re from Vicenza, right?

No, I’m a stateless Venetian.

What does that mean?

That I grew up between Treviso, Venice, then Milan, London, Milan again, and Vicenza for four years since I have two children.

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Courtesy Matteo Cibic

Back to Milan Design Week. You’ll be at the Museum of Science and Technology with Rossana Orlandi’s Guiltless Plastic, a project dedicated to reusing plastic.

There I’ll be presenting a table and a cabinet realized with 100% waste materials. I found the panels produced by a Belgian company named Eco-Oh!, which uses a technology working with non-recyclable plastic: it washes the material and then creates granules that are utilized for the injection molding of these plastic panels.

Guiltless Plastic is divided into a competition for new talents and an exhibit for the Maestros. Are you among the younger crowd or the Maestros?

Among the older group, unfortunately!

Then you have Leonardo Horse Project. You were among the 13 international designers invited by Cristina Morozzi to give homage to Leonardo’s Horse at San Siro.

It’s a decorative initiative in occasion of the 500th anniversary of Leonardo Da Vinci’s death for which we’ve created a 3m horse (the original horse from Leonardo must have been 7). In front of such a grandiose sculpture, I found it difficult to customize the piece in a heavy handed way. That’s why I though of just dressing it with a ruff, a collar inspired by the Medieval armor and aristocratic dress from the XVI and XVII centuries with a gold leaf finish, just like the bit.

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Yes, I have a lamp for Il Fanale, a historical company in Treviso for whom I designed Alma. All lighting companies throughout the world have a sphere in their collection, but for some reason, Il Fanale still didn’t. The challenge was to find a sphere that didn’t exist already on the market and that was iconic and easy to place. From this search, Alma was born as a kind of sun that playfully recalls the idea of a ball on a swing, or a skewer, or even a pierced heart.

Then there’s the Alpha Chair with L’Abbate, a tribute to Gio Ponti, but also the product of a study on the constructive Shaker grammar of the late 19th century. Finally, with JCP, I’ve made prototypes of future domestic plants that have become armchairs and tables with fun and colorful fruits.

What is the Matteo Cibic touch?

Luxury fun, two words that sum up what I do.

How will you manage to be at all the stands and showrooms for Milan Design Week?

I have a lot of lookalikes!

Your last project will definitely be fun. The final party at the Arizona 2000 club with friends of friends, can we invite our readers?

Sure, but let’s not say which day!

MILANO DESIGN WEEK WITH MATTEO CIBIC

In the City

InEDITA Collection – Editamateria x Delvis, Via Palermo 11, April 9-14

Jaipur Wunderkammer – Jaipur rugs, Palazzo Litta, 1 piano, room 1, April 9-14

Leonardo Horse Project – Ippodromo Snai San Siro, Piazzale dello Sport 6

Ro Plastic – Master’s Pieces, Guiltless Plastic curated by Rossana Orlandi – Museum of Science and Technology, Railroad Pavilion, Via San Vittore 21, April 6 – 14

Salone del Mobile – Rho Fiera

Animagic Collection – Scarlet Splendour, Pavilion 6 stand C39

Ttemic & Mettic – JCP – Pavilion 16 stand E37

Alma Lighting Collection – Il Fanale, Pavilion 13 stand B08

Alpha Chair – L’Abbate – Pavilion 6 stand B22

Atelier Biagetti Unveils Design for Louis Vuitton Objets Nomades Collection

https://wwd.com/eye/lifestyle/atelier-biagetti-louis-vuitton-objets-nomades-collection-design-miami-1202920111/

Atelier Biagetti Unveils Design for Louis Vuitton Objets Nomades Collection at Design Miami/

Louis Vuitton’s Objets Nomades collection returns to Design Miami/ and its Design District store.

By Kristen Tauer on December 4, 2018

Louis Vuitton has brought its Objets Nomades collection back to Miami, with a few additions in tow.

New to the travel-inspired collection of functional furniture and objects are Atelier Biagetti’s Anemona table, Atelier’s Oï’s Serpentine table and Tokujin Yoshioka’s Blossom vase. Those items and more, including two new versions of the Campana Brothers’ Cocoon swing chair and André Fu’s Ribbon Dance chair, are on display at Design Miami/ and installed at the fashion house’s Design District store.

The Anemona table marks Atelier Biagetti’s first design for Objets Nomades. Designer Alberto Biagetti and artist Laura Baldassari are behind the Italian design studio, whose practice is informed by “expressive functionality” and rooted in storytelling and explorations across disciplines. For Objets Nomades, the duo built upon a ubiquitous object — a table — approaching it instead as a conceptual study, using their two shared hometowns — Ravenna and Milan — as a starting point.

“The Anemona table, as you can guess from the name, is a table inspired by the sea. When we started to work with [Objets Nomades], we decided to think about water and not about the ground. We are from a seaside country, so we are used to thinking about water as the best way to travel around.”

The concept of movement is reflective in the table’s leather rippling base, its interior crafted with a deep blue lacquer. “People today see the idea of traveling as a luxury or inconvenience. Some believe they can see the world just as well from their mobile deice, which are the windows into the world,” Baldassari adds. “So we can literally travel anywhere.”

The idea of interacting with water also builds upon the offerings in the Objets Nomades collection, which the designers see as more rooted in interactions with the air and ground.

“All the objects of the collection are really nomads. Nomad from the real meaning of the word — another point of view,” says Biagetti. “It’s less physical interaction, it’s more psychological interaction. The point of view pushes you to grow; it’s a liquid.”

The design firm works in studies of contrast — between human nature and social development, between art and design and fashion, and in the case of this collaboration, between France and Italy. Working with the concept of distortion, the atelier is interested in exploring ways to take items from one environment and build them in a new environment in a different way.

“We like stories, and we like making stories,” says Biagetti. “It’s more interesting to build an object for us, which is a real story which can bring together many things. In this case, our story of the city where we were born, craftsmanship, and the way to try to push boundaries between fashion and design, try to figure out how this object can become real objects in domestic and public spaces. This is really interesting because it’s a different way to think about form and function together.”

The duo, who arrived in Miami over the weekend, are looking forward to experiencing design ideas presented during Design Miami/, describing the fair as one of the most important design events in the world.

Shortly put, Atelier Biagetti is happy to join the Objets Nomades cast.

“It’s a big family with many different characters,” says Baldassari. “It’s nice to be part of that family.”

Atelier Biagetti

Atelier Biagetti

#NOSEXinMiami in the press

We were so excited to present our first curio booth at Design Miami 2016.  #NOSexinMiami created by Atelier Biagetti!  The whole team did an amazing job and luckily people took notice!  Please check out the links below for some of the press #NOSexinMiami received.  If you would like a list of all the great press please email us at info@patriciafindlay.com

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/19/design/design-miami-2016-highlights/#

http://www.vogue.it/news/vogue-arte/2016/12/02/design-miami/ 

http://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/design-miami-2016

http://www.daniellaondesign.com/blog/atelier-biagettis-no-sex

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/miami-art-watch/2016/12/photos-at-opening-of-design-miami.html

http://www.designboom.com/design/no-sex-miami-atelier-biagetti-12-09-2016/

 

 

 

 

#NOSEXinMiami

 

flyer_patriciafindlay-dm

Patricia Findlay presents NO SEX in Miami by Atelier Biagetti

Design Miami 2016 November 30th – December 4th

Miami Beach, USA Booth C02

NO SEX in Miami is the current episode of Atelier Biagetti’s exploration of contemporary life and goes deep into the human psyche to address the all-time greatest obsession: the idea of sex.

Shown during Milan Design Week 2016 in its first guise curated by Maria Cristina Didero, the project demonstrates how designers Alberto Biagetti and Laura Baldassari decontextualize visual elements to create a short-circuit between the senses of the body, the preconceptions of the mind and the physical reality of the surrounding environment to create unexpected situations to be experienced rather than viewed. “We aim to design objects that catalyze actions around them – to provoke life,” the designers say, a view evident in this Curio solo show as the duo have imagined a particular scenario, like the set of a film, in which the action is about to take place. This aspect of their work is further emphasized by their new concept of Performing Design with which the designers go a step further to actively suggest a narrative centered on the objects exhibited.

If in Milan NO SEX was a refuge from media-fueled desires, this time it is the ultimate environment for psychological confrontation, Biagetti and Baldassari’s interpretation of Sigmund Freud’s studio – but with a twist. The space itself contains all the expected elements, although the deceptively familiar surroundings are not innocently functional but rather tease the viewer, thus provoking new kinds of behavior around the perception of what sexy is, and around the idea of contemporary design. Every analyst’s studio needs an analyst and here there is not one but two: the dreamlike environment is completed by its fantastical inhabitants the twin sisters Elena and Giulia Sella of DesignByGemini who, as part of the design performance, will “analyze” the visitors and their hidden desires regarding sex in design.

All NO SEX pieces are unique, some are one of a kind and some are numbered limited editions. Each item is researched, designed and executed with the utmost attention to detail, a characteristic of the work of Biagetti and Baldassari and of the Italian master craftsmen with whom they always choose to work.

ABOUT THE DESIGNERS

Atelier Biagetti is the Milan-based practice of Alberto Biagetti and Laura Baldassari, that operates in the fields of design, art and architecture creating objects, interiors and site-specific installations for galleries and private collectors across the world.
In 2015 they launched BODY BUILDING, a project, curated by Maria Cristina Didero, that attracted the attention of both the international media and public. Wallpaper* Magazine dedicated the front cover of the May edition to the project with an image created by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari. BODY BUILDING was also selected to feature in a solo show at Design Miami in December of that year and was followed in 2016 by NO SEX, the natural progression of Biagetti and Baldassari’s analysis of contemporary obsessions and human nature.

ALBERTO BIAGETTI

Alberto Biagetti (Santarcangelo di Romagna, 1971) lives and works in Milan. He started as an apprentice in the Milanese architectural studio of Luca Scacchetti, going on to collaborate with Alessandro Guerriero, with whom he opened the studio Radiosity and the “radical school” Futurarium, two multidisciplinary entities that undertook important collaborations with the likes of RaiSat, FIAT, Elio Fiorucci and Studio Azzurro. In 2000 Biagetti was appointed Creative Director of YOOX Group (2000-2013) while continuing his work in design and architecture creating objects and spaces for Venini, Memphis Milano and De Vecchi 1935 as well as interiors and installations for private collectors, galleries and museums including the Triennale di Milano.

Alberto Biagetti Solo* and Collective Shows 1996-2012 “Post Design 2012” Galleria Memphis / Post Design, Milano*; “Quali cose siamo” III Triennale Design Museum curated by Alessandro Mendini, Milano; “L’uomo di Vetro” Spazio Venini via Montenapoleone, Milano; “Storyboard” Bonelli Arte Contemporanea Canneto Sull’Oglio, Mantova; “Things” Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea, Verona*; “Mineralogy” Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea, Milano; “Nidi, campi di Battaglia, preghiere e sortilegi” a cura di Massimiliano Fabbri, Museo Civico di Fusignano, Ravenna; “Freaks” Atelier Biagetti, Milano*; “Art For the World” curated by Adelina Von Fürstenberg, Hangar Bicocca, Milano; “1234567890” Cartiere Vannucci Milano & Hangar Sorlini, Venezia; “Fortunelli” a cura di Alessandro Guerriero, Galleria Clio Calvi Rudi Volpi, Milano; “Radiosity” Museo dell’Arredo Contemporaneo, Ravenna*; “L’uomo decorativo” Galleria d’arte Contemporanea di San Fermo*; “Acid Bauhaus” Galleria la Fossa dei Serpenti, Milano*; “Segreti Diabolici” curated by Alessandro Guerriero, Galleria Marconi, Milano.

LAURA BALDASSARI

Laura Baldassari (Ravenna, 1985) is an artist who lives and works in Milan. Her approach is multidisciplinary and her work varies from formal painting to contemporary musical theatre, through opera to design. She has worked with galleries in Italy and abroad and her paintings have been exhibited in many distinguished institutions around the world. Her work was selected for the 54th Biennale di Venezia.

Laura Baldassari Solo* and Collective Shows “Il paesaggio necessario” curated by Eleonora Frattarolo, Casa Morandi, Bologna; “Caveau” Galleria Riccardo Crespi, Milano; “54° Biennale di Venezia” Tese di San Cristoforo, Arsenale, Venezia; “Lascia un segno” Gabinetto delle stampe e dei disegni, Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna; “Der Garten.7” Kulturforum in Herz Jesu Kirche, Koln*; “A NERA” Museo dei Cappuccini Bagnacavallo, Ravenna; “D.o.Time” Galerie Binz&Kraemer, Koln*; “La croce la testa e il piatto” curated by Massimo Pulini, Galleria comunale d’arte Biblioteca Malatestiana, Cesena; “Marina” curated by Claudio Spadoni, MAR – Museo d’Arte della città di Ravenna; “Einundvierziggrad” Galerie Binz&Kraemer, Koln; “Lapis.0” Chiesa del Pio Suffragio Fusignano, Ravenna*; “La giovane pittura” Palazzo Garagnani, Bologna; “Selvatico” curated by Massimiliano Fabbri, Pescherie della Rocca, Lugo; “00:01” Galerie Binz&Kraemer, Koln*; “CAR” – Contemporary Art Ruhr, Essen*; “Shaping air” curated by John Duncan and Lelio Aiello, Galleria Neon, Bologna; “In tempo semplice” Centro d’Arte Contemporanea Castello di Rivara. Awards: First Prize R.A.M; First Prize MIUR.