BY THE FIRE

A geometric yet sensual setting unfolds around two fireplaces, the unusual and evocative central theme through which director Luca Guadagnino, making his Fuorisalone debut as an interior designer, chose to direct our gaze.

The first, in fluorescent ceramic, presents a striking and unexpected combination of colours, juxtapositions and shades that captivates at first sight.

The second, in austere stone, makes explicit yet subtle reference to the geometries favoured by the masters of Milanese Novecento.

Similar yet distinct, the two fireplaces, the focal point and fulcrum of the entire project, echo one another as they face each other from opposite sides of a cabinet of curiosities. They form the mineral root of the project, which then blossoms and branches out to encompass the surrounding space in its entirety.

Around them are two sections of wood panelling, in palm wood and oak, whose powerful graphic pattern unfolds in three dimensions like an optical tangle.

Underfoot, a single immense wool and silk carpet designed by Nigel Peake for Manufacture Cogolin displays the same bold chromatic intensity.

Opposite stand three “Digamma” armchairs by I. Gardella, accompanied by a ceramic work by Francesco Simeti.

Finally, an explicit and deliberate homage to Carlo Scarpa brings the entire setting to its definitive resolution through the “pleated calico” that the Master used for the installation of the Antonello da Messina exhibition at Palazzo Zanca in 1953.