Have fun with the furniture

The furniture is colourful, playful and creative in the Italian Festival being hosted by the Italian Embassy at the Crystal Design Centre all this coming week.

 

Chairs are probably our most “interactive” furnishings – we spend so much time in them. And on view are new standards in comfort from Magis and Arper, complete with innovative materials that lend striking looks.

 

Founded in 1976 by Eugenio Perazza, Magis is among the pioneers in using environment-friendly plastics that are recyclable, yet retain durability. Hi-tech mould spraying is used, and the results are as simple as they are eccentric. 

 

Three award-winning chairs communicate casualness and positive thinking. The “Spun” spinning chair, designed by Thomas Heatherwick for Magis, is suitable for both indoors and outdoors, the seat, backrest and frame all in one unique spinning-top design.

 

When upright, the shape is geometric, looking like a sculpted vase. But turned on its side, it forms a comfortable and functional chair that rocks from side to side or spins in circles.

 

The Triolli kid’s chair by Finnish designer Eero Aarnio is whimsical and creative, an icon for children of the 20th century. The moulded-polyethylene chair is smooth, durable, modern and practical – it can be adjusted vertically or face down horizontally to serve as a rocking chair or a low-seat or high-seat chair, and also works inside or outside the home. 

 

Aarnio also designed the Puppy, shaped just like a real puppy but one that children can sit on or be used to keep jewellery, scarves, belts or and neckties around the dog’s neck. The polyethylene plastic chair comes in white, orange or plain green – or, if you want more of an impact, in glow-in-the-dark green – perfect for the garden in the evening.

 

Luigi Feltrin founded Arper in 1989, another leading maker of contemporary furniture for every occasion. It’s got the Loop sofa, elegant overall and delicate in the details. The Loop is a soft, modular sofa that can be set at 90 or 180 degrees, in short clusters or long segments, concave or convex corner units, and the arm rests can be detached. 

 

Arper’s Pix stool is a colourful seat for casual lounging, available in a wide range of fabrics and colours. You can turn it into one seat or five for individual or modular seating. 

 

Specialising in outdoor furniture, Serralunga originated in 1825 when Biella Serralunga made flowerpots with a mix of hard and soft materials. Jean-Marie Massaud’s Missed Tree pot looks like a tiny forest once it contains the right type of plants.

 

The polyethylene Missed Tree, redolent of its natural elements, also boasts a steel base. There are two versions, one formed of a single body and the other with a branch, suggesting endless possible combinations.

 

TAKE A SEAT!

>>> The Italian Festival continues until June 17 at the Crystal Design Centre on Ekkamai-Ram Indra Road. It’s open daily from 10 to 7. 

>>> Find out more at (02) 101 5999 and www.CrystalDesignCenter.com.

>>> Jeramai Pitakwong of Baan Lae Suan magazine, Chaiyong Rattanaangkul of Wallpaper magazine and Pongthep Sakulkhu of August Design Consultant will speak at a free seminar on “The 51st Milan Fair Update” on Thursday at 2pm in the Crystal Ballroom.