A different take on classic, cutting through the epochs, timeless, a crosscutting and therefore powerfully contemporary home furnishing category: this is what inspired the exhibition – conceived by Simone Ciarmoli and Miguel Queda – devoted to a style drawn from important taste and cultural heritage, influencing the present and building a bridge to the future.
Three amazing and spectacular installations – the concept underpinning the exhibition is “wonder” – the sort of classical wonder that breaks all conventions, becoming an inalienable spur for building a new lifestyle – eight rooms, each with its own particular atmosphere, showcase the many different essences of classic with pieces of furniture chosen as witnesses to a crosscutting and unique taste, leading to a space inspired by the Olympic Theatre at Sabbioneta.
A short film signed by the well-known and much respected filmmaker Matteo Garrone forms an integral part of Before Design: Classic, documenting classic style with a fresh eye and an unconventional approach. The curators, Simone Ciarmoli and Miguel Queda, were extremely keen to include this short film, set in a fascinating and magical place, recognising Garrone as the ideal interlocutor for interpreting and transmitting a crosscutting and timeless overview. A number of children, chosen by Garrone to represent small custodians of taste, retrieve and preserve precious articles of furniture, saving them for the future. Garrone’s film responds to the challenge of Before Design: Classic, in an innovative and non-captioned manner, successfully conveying the idea of enduring beauty that survives to be passed down over the ages in a picture show that dovetails seamlessly with the basic concept of the project.
HALLS Mirabilis The suspended and enchanted backdrop against which the little protagonists of the film move has been recreated in the first room. The atmospheric spaces of the Piscina Mirabilis have been reconstructed with all their charm, playing host to a few select pieces of furniture, witnesses to and interpreters of a timeless concept of beauty.
Light Room A small number of sophisticated and precious pieces stand out against an industrial structure, created with metal tubes reminiscent of a warehouse or depot. The contrast serves to enhance the elegance of the furniture, along with fluo backgrounds and theatrical lighting effects that pick out different details, sumptuous fabrics, decorative objects and exquisite frames.
Liberty Room The originality and freshness of Liberty style are evoked by the use of bold colours, reprised in a number of extremely classic chairs, upholstered in multicolour PVC, and precious coloured insects. The zoomorphic touches, typical of the period, also feature in the stunning “peacock” rug, a one-off handmade piece, and in the colourful invasion of different subjects from the animal kingdom.
Shadow Room A quest for the essence of classic furniture, taking an unusual route: a silhouette projected onto wall, is gradually pared away to reveal original elements, in a game of contrasts contrived by the light. Bold black and white characterise the wallpaper, specially produced for the project, inspired by classical statues in the Archaeological Museum in Naples.
Theatre This is the heart of the exhibition. Matteo Garrone’s atmospheric film, devoted to the quest for beauty as an asset to be passed down and valorised, plays on a loop. A truly classical layout, inspired by the Olympic Theatre, with fabulous trompe-l’oeil decoration by Frangi, reproducing capitals and statues, and containing inviting small armchairs made with specially selected Dedar fabrics that cry out for people to sit down and enjoy Garrone’s film.
Convivium Gold is the dominant note in this room, given over entirely to conviviality around a table, even the floor and walls. The table, with its intarsia of different marbles depicting the head of an ancient statue is animated by a projection of moving hands and artwork by Marco Basta, who has designed antique vases on porcelain plates.
Music Room An imposing grand piano forms the centrepiece for this room with its seventeenth-century grey-blue overtones; a spiral of chairs, covered in textured velvet by the artist Lisa Rampilli, rises up like notes set free in the air. A special technique that works by subtraction serves to reveal hands, shown here making gestures associated with the world of music.
Ghost Room An enchanted and evanescent atmosphere for a bedroom from a bygone age, with a large four-poster bed in the middle of the room, magic symbols, fine outsize nightgowns and nocturnal impressions. Little crannies open up against a double wall of tulle, moved by mysterious currents, revealing different, atmospheric images of the Mirabilis.
