Sunnei opens spacious Milan HQ in ex-recording studio
Founders Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo have populated the space with objects designed by friends of the brand
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Last week, Sunnei presented its S/S 2021 collection inside an empty swimming pool at Lido de Milano. The historic Milan venue – built in the 1920s and conceived by Cesare Marescotti and Cadario Armando Titta – features a series of pools with irregular shapes, fake jetties and small boats. A sense of place has always been important to the label. It presented its S/S 2020 show on the outskirts of Milan, in a painted underpass planned to be a blank space for multidisciplinary events. This project is currently on pause, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Now, founders Loris Messina and Simone Rizzo have opened Palazzina Sunnei – the brand's vast redesigned headquarters, housed over three floors and a stone’s throw from its Via Vela flagship boutique. The ex-recording studio has been transformed into a stripped-back, stark white space and been conceived as a multi-functional area for living, featuring meeting rooms, a photo studio, an archive and laboratory and outdoor courtyard.
In a celebration of its creative community, Sunnei has populated its HQ with bold and colourful design objects and artworks by friends and collaborators of the brand. Exclusive pieces include a custom outdoor table, formed from laser cut stainless steel sheets, designed by Milan-based NM3, a twisted pistachio green artwork created by Swedish-Chilean Anton Alvarez and furniture by excess marble specialists Bloc Studios. Other striking furniture pieces include a ‘Le Bambole’, a squishy chair and sofa set by Mario Bellini.
Palazzina Sunnei is a vibrant and eclectic representation of the vibrant design-cues associated with the label, and a marker of Sunnei’s architectural evolution. In the coming months, the brand is sure to offer more hope to Milan's artistic community, when its multidisciplinary events space whirrs into life.
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