Project by Arianna Lelli mami and Chiara Di Pinto, creative directors at Studiopepe
Additional collaborators: Matteo Artemisi and Sonia Pravato
c/o Brera Design Apartment
When we decided to present a project of our own creation for the Fuorisalone, we felt we wanted tell the tale of not just a place but also a gesture, a ritual, more specifically, the “visit”.
These are the origins of The Visit.
Visiting is an act that implies a physical location as well as people who host and are received there. We started out with the intimate setting of an apartment, home to the people who inhabit the city.
We believe that a home is the physical transposition of our inner world. We envision it on a human scale, full of the things that make us content, frequented by people we like, a dynamic world that evolves with us, with fluid barriers and nomadic furnishings whose function can be transformed over time.
A place where beauty envelopes us and accompanies us throughout everyday life.
The project was made-to-measure for this apartment. It’s a space that was once inhabited, with real dimensions, intimate, with lingering memories. It’s located in an urban context that is tightly interwoven with the art world while moving progressively towards the world of design.
However, it is becoming increasingly irrelevant to create distinctions between the disciplines connected to visual creative expression: design, art, and fashion. Creativity has many facets and we would like to share our vision that encompasses all of these worlds. Life itself is a free-flow of experiences.
Living an experience is the basis of The Visit, the experience of entering a space that tells the story of the people living there, not so much through fictitious signs of a life lived, but through the careful, meticulous stratification of signs, codes, and visions. For us, this, is a “home” in the deeper sense of the word, whether it be a private home or a boutique hotel, or any place related to the concept of welcoming and storytelling.
The Visit is structured in a flat in Milan that dates to the early 1800’s: a succession of rooms with broad windows, stucco, and herringbone parquet. Although we respected the original floorplan, we did not want to be overly limited by it. Several spaces were redesigned through the use of curtains placed scenically between one room and another. The doors and windows have been “incorporated” into the broad design of a Wall Drawing, one of the characteristic elements of the project.
The Wall Drawings that echo the ateliers of artists such as Mondrian or the Bauhouse movement become an outer skin of sorts, a pulsating upholstery that composes the fabric that permeates every setting. The furnishing elements, from the most important down to each individual object, coexist in a mutual dialogue with the colourful backgrounds that surround them.
The rooms interconnect in a continuous play of chromatic and patterned echoes.
Our objective was to create an experience of all that is beautiful, through the use of stylistic stratifications that tell stories, speak of research, recount a particular Milanese atmosphere that is both creative and sophisticated. The masters of the past actively converse with design research. The companies selected as partners are numerous, and each represents excellence. The furnishings are by big names such as Gio Ponti as revised by Molteni, Vittoriano Vigano with Astep, Jean Prouvé with Vitra, Angelo Mangiarotti with Agape home, and Ettore Sottsass with Bitossi.
These are masters who, above and beyond any definition, have worked with the concept of necessity, an almost visceral necessity to create projects, both useful and beautiful. These pieces continue to be contemporary and convey a sense of purpose.
As we were saying, the home is the mirror of who we are, and all of us are constantly in the process of researching and evolving: we fell in love with the artisanal tradition as revisited by Pietro Russo, the neo-bouguois spirit of Spotti Edizioni, the modernism at Atelier de Troupe and Lambert&Fils, the visionary creativity behind the textiles by Bonotto Edizioni, the handmade designs by CC Tapis, and the wild delicacy of the flowers by Green Wise.
The selected decorative elements incorporate both the rigorous poetry behind Sfera and the contemporary elegance of Atym, as well as the freshness and colourfulness of Bitossi Home.
Last but not least, the materials: a nearly infinite alphabet of colours from Sikkens, joined with the floor and wall coverings by Florim, characterized by their extremely versatile composition, that in this case were cut according to our design to create domestic murals, or the soft touch surfaces by Fenix that have become sculptures that pay homage to the Memphis movement.
The Visit is a project that will persist beyond the days of the Salone del mobile and will continue to be animated by talks, dinners, encounters, experiences. All strictly by appointment. There will be a telephone number for setting an appointment by phone or text message. The “tenant” of the home will be delighted to host you and tell you a story…about a project that is, above all, a gesture.
Companies involved in the project:
AGAPE, AGAPE CASA, ASTEP, ATELIER DE TROUPE, AYTM, BONOTTO, CC TAPIS, CEDIT, FENIX NTM, FLORIM, GREEN WISE, LAMBERT ET FILS, LEFTOVER, L’OPIFICIO, MOLTENI, PIETRO RUSSO, SFERA, SHUJ, SIKKENS, SPOTTI EDIZIONI, VALVERDE, VITRA
Thanks to:
BANG & OLUFSEN, BITOSSI, BITOSSI HOME, FUMAGALLI E DOSSI, MASSIMO ALBA
