New Creative Languages: Sartorial Spaces and a Colourful Craftsmanship

Projects by: Alessandro Mendini, Piero Lissoni, Nicola Gallizia, Wolfgang Tolk. One of the world's most appreciated brands for its architectural approach in designing space and its ideal of beauty consisting of pure shapes, extremely precise workmanship and research into materials and technologies, Porro takes part in the London Design Festival for the second consecutive year renovating the layout of the Porro London showroom, opened last year in the King Cross area north of the city, inside the majestic brick building along the bend of the Regent’s Canal where the headquarters of designer Tom Dixon are located. The company systems freely articulate the space, accompanied by extraordinary items with a disruptive character: distinct notes that together compose the chords of an ever-changing music, telling the public of architects and creatives just one of the endless possibilities of Porro’s tailor-made project. Explosion of colour, pure energy, patchwork of inlaid surfaces in cellulose acetate: Porro launches in London the new surprising Linea cupboards, result of an accurate research work in the Alessandro Mendini Archive conducted together with his daughters, Fulvia and Elisa Mendini, to the rediscovery of pieces with a timeless design not yet edited. On display the open cupboard with open module and drawer, and the close cupboard with 2 hinged doors, raised on a dark base, they share full parts with geometric optical motifs juxtaposed with coloured empty spaces: these new objects, edited in a limited edition of 50 pieces each, speak of a free use, outside the standards and logics of industrial production, all to be imagined in everyday life. Bold pieces with a radical design, in which red, blue and light blue details, illuminated by the light shades of yellow and white and made deep by black in chiaroscuro, tell about the need for decoration in contemporary life, eschewing a minimalism tout-court: an ode to creativity, to the beauty of craftsmanship and to the value of quality beyond the ages, revealing at the same time the fascination with an extraordinary talent, and also a homage to a great master of design like Alessandro Mendini. At the entrance visitors are welcomed by the Lullaby armchair designed by Nicola Gallizia, with sophisticated details such as the curved solid black-stained ash structure, the cuvée foot and the adherent brick-coloured covering. The Storage system of wardrobes and walk-in closets, designed by Piero Lissoni + CRS Porro, defines a transparent internal path, equipping the space and letting the light filter. The black-painted metal frame matches the interiors in black sugi, an extremely sophisticated and captivating finish. The light embedded in the shelf emphasizes Storage graphic design and follows its lines, transforming it into a stage for garments. Porro's continuous research on materials, manufacturing and shapes that give emotions is narrated by Materic Ovale by Piero Lissoni, with oval top and truncated cone base both in Latte ash: a silent object in the name of visual harmony, poetically minimal, which vibrates in the space enchanting with the delicate nuances of nature. It is surrounded by the Neve chairs with rigorous yet soft lines, with which Piero Lissoni reinterprets the classic wooden chair in a contemporary key. The Load-it book shelving system is a Porro signature item designed by Wolfgang Tolk in 1995 and characterised by protruding shelves that slice through the space. It is combined with the Modern suspended top in black-stained ash: an ideal solution for enhancing a transition space through a book shelving solution with home-working station and embedded lighting, consisting of magnetic spotlights that can be positioned at will along the electrified profile under the shelf. An idea of project where past, present and future seamlessly merge, and sartorial spaces mix with a colourful craftsmanship, while unveiling new endless creative languages.