Riddhi Doshi
The famous Italian Meta-Luxury brand Visionnaire’s Beauty 2020 Collection of furniture and lighting is, perhaps, one of the most avant-garde collections this year. The pieces are created by top designers such as Alexandro La Spada, Mario Lipparini, Marco Piva and Draga&Aurel.
One of the most popular pieces of the collection is the peacock throne and chairs, designed by Marc Ange. This was first presented at Miami Art Basel in December last year. The armchairs, prêt-à-porter versions of the throne, have been put forth in five different colours.
Vissionaire’s new range of furniture and lighting stands out for its fine workmanship, exceptional materials and emphasis on sustainability. The brand’s Art Director, Eleonore Cavalli tells us more.
What is your take on beauty?
Beauty is a word with intense, multifaceted meaning. Besides indicating an outlook of positive energy and hope, the contemporary beauty narrated by Visionnaire in our new 2020 collection sums up an attitude of creating extraordinary, unique projects and objects. We began conceptualising the collection in May 2019 and went through a process of constant technological research, experimentation with materials and the juxtaposition and mixing of elements.
Which is your favourite piece of furniture in your house? Why?
I am in love with our new Beauty Collection and I recently redecorated my home with some gorgeous pieces. The new capsule collection designed by Draga&Aurel is the one that inspired me most. Amos dining table is a true table-jewel, two metal armrests shaped by moulding in the sand for a lunar effect, embrace the concrete base, poured into a reinforced form and subjected to an exclusive erosion technique.
The Desmond low unit designed by Mauro Lipparini is another product that I love. This product is the focal point in the centre of the room that enhances the perception of roundness without edges, increasing the preciousness of the glass volume. The central element in Eucalyptus Frisèwood acts as a pillar for the suspended glass volume, which lends the whole composition a feeling of lightness.
I have added the Montparnasse sofa by Mauro Lipparini to a living room setting, which I really like. The modular sofa is conceived with the same stylistic language, structured and balanced configurations – made of horizontal linear volumes that recalls modernist architecture and rationalism references.
In the pandemic and post it, what do you think is the role of design?
Looking back a few months, we can certainly say that the house has been the centre of life for each of us. At this moment, people had the opportunity to live their home, their family and to enjoy the intimacy and comfort of their dwellings. Each has progressively “appropriated” some corners rather than others and has discovered or re-discovered their connection with them. With this in mind, I believe that all residential projects will be rethought: man’s experience with nature, which has become essential and privileged during this isolation, requires a constant search for balance in the project between built and natural environment. Visionnaire has been carrying out this research for years and will continue to do so.
As regards the product and the customers’ purchasing behaviour in the world of luxury, we are observing the phenomenon with great attention. We believe that this situation will accelerate the change in the concept of luxury, a process that has already been in progress for some time. Luxury will no longer be understood as ostentatious, but as a vector of values. Each product will have to have an intrinsic value and must be able to build emotional ties with those who seek them. Emotionality and empathy with objects will strongly determine purchases. And now, the biggest challenge will be to propose the real experience, capable of generating an emotional connection through digital communication.
Which is the biggest design trend right now?
A very interesting aspect that we are observing and that concerns our customers closely, is the ever-increasing attention to the presence of wellness areas within their homes. The concept of wellness is also being transformed into a function of this pandemic. People want to be able to feel safe, even without resorting to hospital facilities. Hence, it is the desire to think of a design of ‘well-being’ no longer intended as only body care but also as care for one’s own health. Therefore, the concept of ‘Intensive wellness’ in which health, body, mind and the highest quality of housing standards, converge in a new way of thinking about a project.
Read: The new luxury design language in the pandemic
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