Dolce & Gabbana’s Metropol Theatre stages Ferruccio Laviani’s design hits for Emmemobili
There’s a long legacy of collaboration between Ferruccio Laviani and Dolce & Gabbana. The Italian furniture and lighting designer conceived the interior of the label’s Metropol Theatre in Milan in 2005, created furnishings for the brand’s Carlo Goldoni headquarters a year later, and in 2016, worked with the brand on the setting of its Haute Couture women’s show at the Teatro alla Scala. Now, for Salone del Mobile 2018 Dolce & Gabbana’s Metropol Theatre features a hit of high drama – raising a curtain on a new exhibition celebrating Laviani’s most standout furniture designs for Cantù-based wood specialists Emmemobili.
The Metropol Theatre hosted an exhibition of Laviani’s lamp designs for Kartell (including his popular best-selling Bourgie table lamp) back in 2008. For this latest retrospective, ‘Peep O-Rama. The Furniture Show. An Overview of Ferruccio Laviani’s Furniture Collection for Emmemobili’, viewers are offered a glimpse of his colourful, graphic and distinct furniture designs. Take a modular lilac cabinet from his ‘Portico’ collection, inspired by U-shaped structures and an Eighties aesthetics, a solid oak ‘Twaya’ table, carved to appear as if it is topped with a tablecloth, or the ‘Evolution’ sideboard, formed from graphic and classical wooden sideboards spliced together.
In keeping with the prevailing theatrical mood of this year’s fair – Lasvit staged the Monster Cabaret, Gufram created a disco and David Rockwell conceived The Diner – this exhibition has been curated with a vibrant, dramatic and humorous flair. Pop art-centric posters form the backdrop to the space, presenting Laviani’s designs as protagonists in plays, like ‘That Fiery Cabinet’ and ‘Unashamed Furniture.’ Items are displayed behind long red velvet curtains, positioned on the raised seating where Dolce & Gabbana’s show attendees view the brand’s seasonal fashion shows. Viewed as a body of work, although diverse his Memphis roots (Laviani began his career in the studio of architect Michele De Lucchi) shine through in the graphic sensibility and boldess of forms.
With the exhibition only on display until Sunday, be sure to take a peep before the show ends.
INFORMATION
’Peep O-Rama’ runs until 22 April. For more information, visit the Laviani and Emmemobili websites
ADDRESS
Dolce&Gabbanna Metropol
viale Piave 24
20129 Milan
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
The new Frederic Church Center at Olana complements its leafy Upstate New York site
Tour the Frederic Church Center for Architecture and Landscape, now open at Olana, a historic site in Upstate New York, courtesy of architecture studio ARO
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper editors have been doing this week
A week of jetsetting has seen the editors in Tokyo, Milan, Vienna, Miami, New York and drinking Guinness with Jonathan Anderson in London
By Bill Prince Published
-
The Living Places experiment: how can architecture foster future wellbeing?
Research initiative Living Places Copenhagen tests ideas around internal comfort and sustainable architecture standards to push the envelope on how contemporary homes and cities can be designed with wellness at their heart
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Faye Toogood brings new life to Matisse’s legacy
Milan Design Week 2023: tapped by Maison Matisse, the London-based designer has taken inspiration from the French master’s forms to create a collection of heirloom-worthy objects
By Sam Rogers Published
-
Prada Frames 2023: Milan programme announced
Programme announced for Prada Frames 2023 at Milan Design Week, the annual symposium curated by Formafantasma at Luigi Caccia Dominioni's Teatro Filodrammatici from 17 to 19 April
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
Alessi Occasional Objects: Virgil Abloh’s take on cutlery
Best Cross Pollination: Alessi's cutlery by the late designer Virgil Abloh, in collaboration with his London studio Alaska Alaska, is awarded at the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2023
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Salone del Mobile 2023: highlights from Milan Design Week
In pictures: our highlights from Milan Design Week, held during the 61st Salone del Mobile 2023 (18-23 April)
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
USM launches blushing pink limited edition of its modular furniture
Following an installation during Milan Design Week 2022, USM launches a new pink limited edition of its Haller range
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
‘You don't want space; you want to fill it’: Milan exhibition
Making its debut during Milan Design Week 2022 at Marsèll Paradise, a new exhibition by Matylda Krzykowski, explores how we approach the space we live in (until 15 July 2022)
By Cristina Kiran Piotti Last updated
-
Kohler and Daniel Arsham brought experiential art to Milan Design Week
Looking back on Daniel Arsham and Kohler’s Divided Layers installation, and the brand’s latest bathroom collection
By Simon Mills Last updated
-
Men’s mental health takes centre stage at an art and design exhibition by Tableau
‘Confessions’, which travels to Copenhagen’s 3 Days of Design following its debut at Milan Design Week 2022, features commissioned work by 14 male artists, designers and architects, reflecting on toxic masculinity, vulnerability and mental health
By TF Chan Last updated