Italian brand Poliform is synonymous with presenting consumers a very particular philosophy: stylistically compatible component parts with a touch of Italian suaveness.
The lifestyle it offers is simple and refined, yet aesthetically there is never a compromise.
Whether it is accessories, sleek kitchen counters, a bed or shelving, the versatility of their modular systems and furniture is intended to always compliment one another. Working with top designers including Jean-Marie Massaud, Carlo Colombo, Paola Navone and Marcel Wanders to name but a few, Poliform’s collaborations mesh a designer’s particular artistic individualism with Poliform’s standard aesthetics.
Marcel Wander’s Venus Chair was presented during the Salone Mobile for the second time. This year, interested buyers could place orders for the chair expected to be available mid May 2010.
It is a unique chair whose inflated curves suggests other designs of Wander’s but stands out for several reasons. Resting on legs akin to pods, there’s an element to the chair that’s quite reminiscent of 1960s’ mod furniture. Like furniture for the futuristic family The Jetsons, there is something slightly eccentric about it. It meshes Wander’s typical style of designing almost in caricature; the thin legs are a contrast to the generously wide chair.
A clean white leather is used for the chair’s back. The back is embossed with a feminine floral print, but it so light and subtle (one has to look closely) that it is wholeheartedly Poliform in spirit. With versions presented both with a white, or a black seat lining, the contrast is strong.
“I love contrasts, and I love to show that the contrasts most of the time have no reason to exist, and yet they can live together just like that,” says Wander.
Explaining that it is sometimes a feminine alter ego that inspires him, he proudly says, “Inspiration is never from outside, it’s from inside … I don’t understand why people have a problem with the [notion] of different personalities inside. I have thousands and I love all of them, there is an endless amount of opportunities in every person, an endless amount.”
“If you look to all the work I’ve been doing, it lives on the question whether there is something like nature, whether there is something like an artificial world, because I feel neither of them exists. I think design is seen as an artificial activity, whereas in fact it is part of the nature of man to invent ideas, to do beautiful things.
“If you look to the world, 70-80 percent of human activity will be organized around making things for each other, making things more alive, pretty, safe. That’s why it’s very normal for me to see the artificial, and the natural world, they are one world and I love to do games with them. I love to play with that world because I like to show there is nothing like an artificial world.”
Poliform also presented a beautiful armchair by Jean-Marie Massaud: the Wallace chair. Like a piece of paper that has been balled up and crumpled, then spread out, the various dips and folds in the chair are what give shape to its arms, as well as texture and a sense of body to the armchair overall. So beautiful, it is also quite ergonomic, wholly comfortable yet ironically, compliments all other pieces of Poliform.
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The Venus Chair.
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Jean-Marie Massaud’s Wallace chair.
