Sugar-free… who would have imagined that the suffix “free” (of gluten, lactose, palm oil, allergens – and so on, at length) would take on such importance in our lives today? Delightopia, our moodboard for the start of this fall, plays with doing just the opposite: a world of colors borrowed from candies, syrups and sugar coatings. You can stop counting calories, because the only portions to justify are those of our own creative ambitions.
The recipe is really simple: just add an ample dose of frosting to everything (in the figurative sense: silky-touch fabrics, box-of-chocolates decorations, old style) and you’re ready for a teatime effect, perched between retro tastes and contemporary sensibilities. With a hint of the world of the director Wes Anderson, to experience in person at the exhibition Wes Anderson: Asteroid City, until 07/01/2024, which just opened at Fondazione Prada in Milan.
But let’s not be too delicate: the imperative is to avoid the baby effect with overly infantile hues. The equation we’re after has to find a perfect balance of contrast and saturation: kudos for vintage rose as in the A Tutto Sesto wallcovering by WallPepper, or for the decidedly more amaranth hue of Piano B by Texturae. Then a touch of turquoise blends the various nuances into a whole.
One warning before we get started: remember to create contrasts and to challenge the old ton-sur-ton. Once again, we have a double aesthetic effort, two different settings with strong contrasts that vie for center stage, amidst sugary peaks. To find out more just read the labels carefully – but don’t worry, none of the ingredients we have used causes allergies.
Room 1, left:
For the opening curtain, the Piano B wallpaper designed by Servomuto for Texturae. A touch of old-style elegance, but with a trompe-l’oeil approach, perfect to frame a world full of imagination.
A classic, the 2097/75 chandelier designed by Gino Sarfatti produced by Flos lights up the room with its brass arms, available in chrome, matte black, matte white or gold.
In the background, like an imaginary landscape, the A Tutto Sesto wallcovering by WallPepper, where essential geometry creates a game of perspective.
The sophisticated Doge Sofa by Villari lurks behind a drape and introduces a note of teal in the space.
Behind it, the Feng screen in beech by the studio Testatonda for Gebrüder Thonet Vienna is an object-sculpture that adds rhythm to the space.
In the foreground, almost hidden, the Roy stool in thermoplastic technopolymer, designed by Alessandro Mendini for Kartell.
Room 2, right:
The Brooklyn Tins wallpaper by NLXL references the typical American cladding in relief-pressed metal. A touch of timeless glamour. And a delicate hint of rose.
The Rosso Jaipur surface in Fenix, the line of innovative materials created by Arpa Industriale, suggests the deep, dense red of black cherry syrup.
In pendant with the adjacent setting, the Trevira CS trimmed velvet by Dedar, flameproof and washable, becomes the passepartout of the composition.
The Coromandel small raised cabinet by Fornasetti, on the other hand, suggests exotic worlds and imagery, embodying an idea of refined contemporary luxury and creativity.
By contrast, the Zig Zag stool produced by Pols Potten, lacquered in a delicate tone of pastel green.
In the foreground, the Mira armchair covered in Softy Rosa fabric created by Draga & Aurel for Visionnaire.
Wow 323 is the ottoman-stool by Pedrali with padding in flameproof polyurethane foam, available in a range of finishes and colors for the covering.
Simple but striking, the FL/Y suspension lamp designed by Ferruccio Laviani for Kartell: made in recycled PMMA, it comes in a range of different finishes.
Making a clean break, a bit of bordeaux: the vase in opaline Murano glass by Venini, made by hand, with a characteristic effect of veiled transparency.
