DOPPIA FIRMA 2022  

Sixth edition

Salone del Mobile, Milan – from 7 to 12 June 2022

Palazzo Litta, Corso Magenta 24

Open to the public

from Tuesday 7 June to Sunday 12 June, 10 am – 7 pm.

Last entry 6:45 pm

www.doppiafirma.com

·         A concept that promotes artisanal know-how and creativity in design

·         22 successful creative partnerships

·         Research that knows no boundaries, and reveals the genius loci of the different regions

·         Iconic objects conceived by Patricia Urquiola, India Mahdavi, Ugo La Pietra, Ferruccio Laviani, atelier oï, Sara Ricciardi, Philippe Nigro and other designers of international repute

·         Exceptional manufacturers like Bonacina, Seguso, Wonderglass, Longwy, Craman Lagarde, San Patrignano Design Lab, Silver Tre, Anfora Murano and many others.

Milan, April 2022 – On the occasion of the 2022 Salone del Mobile, the Michelangelo Foundation for Creativity and Craftsmanship is delighted to present Doppia Firma for the sixth time. These dialogues between design and artisanal excellence are a project of the Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte developed in collaboration with Living, Il Corriere della Sera’s magazine of interiors, design and lifestyle.

Doppia Firma is a project that sets out to promote an alliance between the innovation of design and the tradition of Europe’s master craftsmen and women. The aim is to present a unique collection, made up of original works or small collections that are the fruit of a creative exchange between a designer/artist and an artisan, or a manufacturer of excellence: works that stem from a cross-fertilization between the culture of design and a know-how that is an authentic expression of its region of origin.

For the new edition of 2022 the promoting partners have conducted a painstaking search all over Europe to find a series of works created in the spirit of Doppia Firma, which for some time now has set a benchmark both as method and as reference, becoming a format that is much appreciated at an international level and has inspired a number of initiatives in which the roles of designer and artisan interact, working together on an equal footing and with equal credit as creators (hence the principle of the doppia firma or ‘double signature’).

This significant selection has in part been made possible by the invaluable contribution of the Michelangelo Foundation’s international network, made up of important European institutions that promote the crafts.

The dialogue between creativity and high-quality manufacturing, between culture of design, talent and great expertise, finds expression in this edition in a particularly wide- ranging and varied way. The spirit of research and experimentation characterises several of the projects presented, often born out of a collaboration between designers and important schools of applied arts.

For 2022 as well, the materials and techniques through which designers and artisans have combined their respective and exceptional skills to arrive at new interpretations of functional or decorative objects are numerous: glass, ceramics, porcelain, marble, wood, rattan and textiles. The objects themselves, true narrative icons, are displayed in a sequence that winds its way through the magnificent rooms of Palazzo Litta, a spectacular baroque casket in the heart of the city and prestigious seat of the regional secretariat of the Ministry of Culture. The initiative falls within the ambit of the collaboration between Palazzo Litta and the Fondazione Cologni for the staging of an extensive programme of cultural events and joint exhibitions on the common theme of the arts and crafts.

Thanks to the expertise of the two institutions, 22 extraordinary creative partnerships have been promoted. The couples of designers and artisans, or craft companies of excellence, for Doppia Firma 2022 are:

-       Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga with Gianni Seguso, Italy

-       atelier oï, Switzerland, with Wonderglass, Italy

-       Ivan Baj with Andrea Zilio, Italy

-       Michela Cattai with Andrea Zilio, Italy

-       Clémentine Chambon, France, with Bonacina, Italy

-       Maurizio Galante and Tal Lancman, Italy and France, with Giorgio Linea, Italy

-       Pierre Gonalons, with Craman Lagarde, France

-       Martina Guandalini with Azimut and Simone Desirò, Italy

-       Eli Gutierrez with MadLab, Spain

-       Dimitri Hlinka with Nicolas Pinon, France

-       Greta Katz with Dylan Katz, Katztudio, Finland

-       Ugo La Pietra with Intro, Italy

-       Ferruccio Laviani with Villari, Italy

-       India Mahdavi with Longwy, France

-       A project by Renzo Mongiardino developed by the San Patrignano Design Lab, Italy

-       Philippe Nigro, France, with Jeff Mack and Chris Rochelle, United States

-       Hannes Peer with Del Savio 1910, Italy

-       Martin Potsch with Korbinian Stöckle, Germany

-       Sara Ricciardi with Silver Tre, Italy

-       Kustaa Saksi with the TextielMuseum’s TextielLab, Netherlands

-       Patricia Urquiola, Spain, with the Istituto Caselli e Real Fabbrica di Capodimonte, Italy

-       Zanellato/Bortotto with Incalmi, Italy

The well-known designer and art director Ferruccio Laviani was asked by the organisers of Doppia Firma to design and realise a site-specific piece specially for the exhibition in Palazzo Litta. The result is a work that happily marries design and craftsmanship, thanks to the collaboration with Villari, a company with a reputation for excellence in the production of artistic porcelain. ‘For the Doppia Firma project the inspiration came at once when I visited the rooms of Palazzo Litta where, in addition to the incredible spaces rich in history and decoration, the family coat of arms can be seen almost everywhere. This almost obsessive repetition of the chequered gold and black device was the element that guided my first sketches, which gradually shifted from a lamp to a bowl and finally a vase. I liked the idea of reworking the chequered pattern in a graphic and contemporary way (almost like an 8-bit videogame), to which I added the element of value provided by porcelain, utilised in a sequence of layers that give a three-dimensional shape to the object while concealing the various containers for flowers, made of gilded metal, to form a sort of contemporary tulipiere.’ (F. Laviani)

*A project by VGO Associates

Collaborations

Alessandra Salaris, an established interior stylist, is responsible for the display design of the exhibition at Palazzo Litta.

Laila Pozzo, a Milanese photographer specialising in portraits and settings linked to high craftsmanship, has documented the works.