Once again this year, Knoll has called on OMA, the studio co-founded by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, to design and install the firm’s stand at the Salone del Mobile. The space has been created to adapt to the flow of visitors, thanks to the unique choice of using mobile partitions to put this idea into practice. The walls of the main diagonal slide, making it possible to divide the stand into two separate sections, or to keep the area as open as possible.
OMA has chosen different materials that reinforce the concept of heterogeneity and create perfect backdrops for the products of the Knoll collection: soft and solid, organic and synthetic, transparent and opaque.
The first particular feature is that the new stand by OMA is a hypermodern version of the pavilion of Mies van der Rohe, where natural stone – today as in the past – plays a key role at center stage. As an expert partner of OMA in the implementation of complex architectural projects with natural stone, SolidNature has contributed to transform the design concept into pure presence, testing the limits of material transformation with elegance and lightness, using some of the world’s most exclusive types of marble, like SolidNature’s signature travertine.
The “Architectural Glass Panels” by Sabine Marcelis represent a true experiment, combining glass, metal and touches of color to create architectural panels that act as spatial dividers or theatrical wings. OMA asked the designer to create a custom project for “This is Knoll” at the Salone del Mobile 2016. The work completes the theatrical choreography invented by OMA, bringing out its playful, unconventional side. A sign, a color, a material.
The new products become the characters of a narrative, establishing a relationship with their surroundings while generating change and innovation. A new way of living based on personality and creativity, conceived for the places of the home and work, from the most private rooms to the most public facilities.
Past the entrance, where the dynamic 04 Counter worksurface of the “Tools for Life” collection designed by OMA in 2013 is on display, the focus shifts to the new creations for 2016: first Avio by Piero Lissoni, in different compositions perfectly mingling with the classics of the collection; then the new chairs by Marc Krusin. The path inside the stand reveals new interpretations of design icons mixed with the latest pieces, harmoniously shifting from minute details to elegant, unexpected settings.
"Our space at the Salone illustrates the innovative spirit of Knoll design through the new creations developed for this year by Piero Lissoni and Marc Krusin, celebrating the past and future story of the brand at the same time," says Demetrio Apolloni, President of Knoll Europe. For Benjamin Pardo, Executive Vice President for Design of Knoll, “OMA has created our stand to emphasize the contribution of our founders, who brought the benefits of modern design into both homes and places of work.”
