Living Divani unveils a new space in Milan, open now as an abstract showroom merging art, design and furniture. ‘We’ve been looking for some time for a space in Milan that could represent what Living Divani actually is,’ says Carola Bestetti, now leading the company as the second generation. Her parents Renata and Luigi Bestetti founded Living Divani in 1969, initially as a small workshop specialising in producing sofas.
Fast forward 50 years, and the company has become a furniture and design authority with a three decade-long collaboration with designer Piero Lissoni and contributions from some of the most interesting names in design today.
‘For us, this must become a window, a place to showcase the essence of Living Divani and and its many facets,’ continues Bestetti. ‘[We are] inviting our audience to live the Living Divani style: a brand with a strong soul, always in tune with its philosophy of rigor, clean lines and relaxed elegance, which has succeeded in reaching across the world of design with its own genuine and individual interpretation.’
The debut installation includes a series of ‘Frog’ chairs by Piero Lissoni, designed in 1995 and here featuring in their more hi-tech, modern versions made of carbon fiber and polyester weave
This is going to be the Italian brand’s first Milanese outpost, joining the company showroom at the nearby Azzano del Parco HQ. The two spaces present two different sides of the same multilayered story: while Azzano del Parco will showcase the practical side of the brand as well as offer visits to the manufacturing facilities, the Milan space is, as Bestetti calls it, ‘a slightly more bizarre project.’
The space’s design was created by Lissoni and its inaugural iteration is characterised by mirrored metal walls and floors and neon lighting, to offer visitors a distorted sense of perception. Inside, a hanging installation features Lissoni’s Frog chair from 1995, here in its more hi-tech version made of carbon fiber and polyester weave. Also in the space is more furniture by Lissoni and Massimo Mariani, creating a contract between conceptual and domestic.
‘This is neither a showroom nor a store,’ observes Lissoni. ‘The new gallery would like to be a sort of theatrical space, a place where to create and perform, from time to time, different representations, just like in a theatre.’ The designer explains that the current set up was chosen for its scenographic allure, but future iterations will show different aspects of the company’s creative journey, as the gallery’s modus operandi is based on a continuously changing aesthetic: ‘straddling the line between art and design, between risk and storytelling,’ says Lissoni.
INFORMATION
ADDRESS
Corso Monforte 20
Milan
-
What is the role of fragrance in contemporary culture, asks a new exhibition at 10 Corso ComoMilan concept store 10 Corso Como has partnered with London creative agency System Preferences to launch Olfactory Projections 01
-
Jack White's Third Man Records opens a Paris pop-upJack White's immaculately-branded record store will set up shop in the 9th arrondissement this weekend
-
Designer Marta de la Rica’s elegant Madrid studio is full of perfectly-pitched contradictionsThe studio, or ‘the laboratory’ as de la Rica and her team call it, plays with colour, texture and scale in eminently rewarding ways
-
What makes fashion and art such good bedfellows?There has always been a symbiosis between fashion and the art world. Here, we look at what makes the relationship such a successful one
-
Remembering Oliviero Toscani, fashion photographer and author of provocative Benetton campaignsBest known for the controversial adverts he shot for the Italian fashion brand, former art director Oliviero Toscani has died, aged 82
-
Distracting decadence: how Silvio Berlusconi’s legacy shaped Italian TVStefano De Luigi's monograph Televisiva examines how Berlusconi’s empire reshaped Italian TV, and subsequently infiltrated the premiership
-
Louis Fratino leans into queer cultural history in ItalyLouis Fratino’s 'Satura', on view at the Centro Pecci in Italy, engages with queer history, Italian landscapes and the body itself
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been doing this weekA snowy Swiss Alpine sleepover, a design book fest in Milan, and a night with Steve Coogan in London – our editors' out-of-hours adventures this week
-
Pino Pascali’s brief and brilliant life celebrated at Fondazione PradaMilan’s Fondazione Prada honours Italian artist Pino Pascali, dedicating four of its expansive main show spaces to an exhibition of his work
-
‘I just don't like eggs!’: Andrea Fraser unpacks the art marketArtist Andrea Fraser’s retrospective ‘I just don't like eggs!’ at Fondazione Antonio dalle Nogare, Italy, explores what really makes the art market tick
-
Miranda July considers fantasy and performance at Fondazione Prada‘Miranda July: New Society’ at Fondazione Prada, Milan, charts 30 years of the artist's career
