During Milan Design Week, the De Padova showroom ( on Corso Venezia ) is renowned for always presenting a beautifully crafted scenic installation, skillfully incorporating its latest releases. With this historical pressure in mind, once again De Padova prepared for the Salone, with the freshness of change that comes from the decisive, distinctive character of its new products.
The display created by Jo Ann Tan, ” Everything becomes a Reality” – leaf through the pages to transform surfaces into volumes / re-create the three-dimensional sensation / and find yourself inside a veritable De Padova catalogue. The new releases are always the catalysts for an impressive installation that encourages visitors to enter a large open book, with sinuous pages that reveal and unveil the new developments and invite you to test out the new products.
Everything about the exhibition design, curated this year by Malaysian designer Jo Ann Tan, says simplicity – “the hardest thing in the world to achieve” according to Vico Magistretti who played such a large part in defining the De Padova identity.
“When someone says: I could do that, it means he knows how to re-do that…otherwise he would already have done it.” — Bruno Munari
Monocle magazine interviewing De Padova’s Ceative director Marco Velardi
Depadova 2012 New Product releases
YUVA sofa
The Yuva sofa, duo Aksu Suardi’s second design for this Italian company, was generated by the desire to reduce and take it back to the bare essence.
Aksu Suardi have reduced everything to the essence, expressed in soft, rounded forms but with the odd concession to detail, such as the decorative tacking-stitch seams in yarns of either contrasting colours or tone on tone, and the slender wooden legs.
The construction was based on the idea of a cushion, anchored at the base, which develops the back and arms before going on to form the seat that rests on the structure.
“The sofa, with soft, rounded lines, is based on the desire to reduce, to simplify, to get to the essential product while starting, in design terms, with observation of a cushion. It is a cushion fastened to a base, forming the back and armrests. The same cushion becomes the seat, simply placed on the structure.”
This is the principle behind the project by the designers Aksu/Suardi.
A principle that is developed and takes form also through the use of cushions with different forms and sizes, and the particular long stitching done with threads of contrasting colour, to underline the fresh, young look of the new sofa. The rounded corners enhance the soft, comfortable forms, making the product ideal for informal contemporary decors. The sturdy but soft padding guarantees comfort. The irregular sizing of the seat and back also helps to give this object unique character.
PILOTIS sofa
The application of an architectural element in a piece of furniture triggers a shift of scale that alters our perceptions.
The structure of the sofa, designed by Philippe Nigro, is made with five legs that gravitate around the upholstered seat. Sloping like the supports of a construction, these strong, stable legs in solid wood form a contrast with the soft heart of the sofa, creating a dialogue between support and what is supported, between the inside and the outside. With its unique design, this sofa becomes the protagonist of the living area, to create a cozy corner in a large layout or to form a special space of its own, set aside for relaxation.
Philippe Nigro describes his project for De Padova as follows: “As if on stilts, the seat becomes a suspended, intimate island, a sheltered place, a refuge for relaxation. Levitating over the floor, it generates a different position, a different vision of the outside world.”
RAILWAY table
“Railways are made of ties, that were once of wood, and tracks: long metal sections on which trains can safely move. Railways are solid and stand up to the elements, offering a comfortable, peaceful journey.”
For designer Luca Nichetto, this was the idea behind Railway: an outdoor table that stands out for its solidity, clean forms and functional rigor.
In round and rectangular versions, the latter in two sizes, the structure in painted white or anthracite gray steel is made by starting with an angle iron that runs along the edge of the top. The legs are attached to the iron, which supports the natural-finish teak boards. A synthesis of extreme elegance and rigor, the Railway tables are destined to become timeless, universally appreciated outdoor classics, thanks to their minimal style and refined detailing.
KEEL small table
“The name communicates the design idea, based on observation of sailboats. The vertical divider inserted in the table is like the centerboard that crosses the keel of a boat.”
This was the main idea of Form Us With Love when they created this new table for De Padova.
The colored wooden part at the center adds stability and crosses the whole structure, a single piece of curved wood that makes the table balanced and elegant. A small table that fits naturally into any situation, mingling with new pieces and items from the collection, traditional lines and ironic touches..
About Depadova 2012 new product Designers
Aksu / Suardi
The differences in their cultural backgrounds and formation is the key for a capacious working environment Sezgin Aksu (Turkey), Designer, studied in Germany (Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart) with Richard Sapper and Ingo Maurer and also in France. Silvia Suardi (Italy), Architect, studied in Milan (Politecnico di Milano) and also in Spain. They both worked for about ten years in Michele De Lucchi’s studio and have been working together since 2001.
They work from their Milan studio on interior design projects (for private houses and public spaces), exhibition design, furniture and graphic design. The differences in their cultural backgrounds and formation is the key for a capacious working environment, which influences their work in all its aspects, from the Architectural spaces right through to communications.
Agricole Asset Management (CAAM), Eurizon Capital Sgr Spa, DePadova, Gebrüder Thonet Vienna, Nurus, Poltrona Frau, Olivetti, Rosenthal, Rubinetterie Teorema, Serafino Zani.
Sezgin Aksu also lectures at the Istituto Europeo del Design (IED), at the Nuova Accademia delle Belle Arti (NABA) and at the Istituto Superiore di Architettura e Design (ISAD). Silvia Suardi works with many interantional magazines and in 2002, published the book Michele De Lucchi: Dopotolomeo (Skira). In 2007, she wrote the book Marco della Torre. Il progetto per l’arte, (Logos).
Silvia also lectures on design and exhibition design in several design and architectural schools. They won several international awards including the Red Dot Design Award, Design Award USA, Design Turkey Award, Design Nominee (Germany)
Philipe Nigro
Born in Nice, France, in 1975. Works between France and Italy.
Studied Decorative Arts (Bac F12, Industrial Design BTS at La Martinière in Lyon, DSAA Product & Furniture Design at Ecole Boulle in Paris).
Since 1999 is a freelance designer, developing projects for Nube Italia, Felicerossi, NavaDesign, and collaborates with the Studio De Lucchi in Milan, participating in numerous projects of product design, furniture, lamp, interior design, special event management and scenography for companies including Olivetti, Poltrona Frau, Artemide, Alias, Caimi, Feg, e Listone Giordano.
Since 2005 is supported by the VIA to take part in forward-thinking and experimental furniture projects, thanks to which he conceived the shelf “Spiral”, the modular boxes “Storage-Unit”, the sofas “Intersections”. Most recently in 2009, the prototypes of the double chair “Twin-Chairs” and table basement “Universal base” also realized thanks to the VIA grants, enter in the collections of the Centre Georges Pompidou.
Some of these projects are edited such as “Cross-Unit” by Sintesi in 2008. In 2009 the sofas “Intersection” announce the beginning of collaboration with Ligne Roset who edit them and develop the range under the name of “Confluences”, who won the German Red Dot prize Best of the Best 2009 and Young & Design competition, and enter in the collection of the FNAC (fond national d’art contemporain). For Ligne Roset he did also T.U., Flax, Passe-passe, Stripes, Entailles, Résille, e Passio.
In 2010 is part of the INTERNI Think Tank exhibition with the Think Station for De Castelli. Other collaborations with Piba Marmi (Saturnia), Skitsch (tables Triangolazioni, shelf Squilibri, chair & tables for children BuildUp), Serralunga (outdoor sofa Canisse), Artuce (outdoor lamp Noctiluque), Glas Italia (mirror Nu), Testi (shelf Niche), De Padova (sofa Pilotis), Foscarini (lamp Nuage), Discipline (chair Smusso).
Luca Nichetto
Luca Nichetto was born in 1976 in Venice, where he studied at the Art Institute. Afterwards he attended the University Institute of Architecture of Venice (IUAV), where he earned a degree in Industrial Design.
He began his professional career in 1999 by designing his first projects in Murano glass for Salviati. That same year he began his collaboration with Foscarini, for whom he not only designed products, but also worked as a consultant on new materials research and product development (2001–2003). In 2006 he launched his own design firm, Nichetto&Partners, which specializes in industrial design and offers its services as a design consultancy. In 2011 he also opened another professional office in Stockholm, Sweden.
Over the course of his career, Nichetto has been awarded a number of international prizes, including the Gran Design Award (2008), the Chicago Atheneum Museum of Architecture’s Good Design Award (2008), the IF Product Design Award (2008)
and the Elle Decoration International Design Awards’ (EDIDA) Designer of the Year award in the Young Designer Talent category (2009).
Apart from participating in various design exhibitions in Europe, the U.S and Japan, Nichetto has also been the subject of important retrospective shows mounted in prominent European cities, including Venice, London, Paris and Stockholm, and he has served as art director for a number of international design events. In addition, he has been invited to sit on prestigious juries for a variety of design competitions held both in Italy and abroad. Today, Nichetto collaborates with a wide variety of Italian and international companies, including Bosa, Casamania, Cassina, David Design, De Padova, Discipline, Established & Sons, Fornasarig, Foscarini, Fratelli Guzzini, Gallotti & Radice, Glass, Globo, Italesse, La Chance, King’s, Kristalia, Mabeo, MG Lab, Moroso, Offecct, Ogeborg, Petite Friture, Salviati, Skitsch, Skultuna, Tacchini and Venini.
Form us with Love
Form Us With Love is a Swedish design studio founded in 2005 who aims to challenge the conventional through design initiatives. From it’s studio in the center of Stockholm FUWL is working with an international client base. FUWL was started by John Löfgren, Jonas Pettersson, and Petrus Palmér.
They met studying Product Design at Kalmar University, in deepest, darkest Småland, a county in southern Sweden known to be the heartland of Swedish furniture manufacturing. Even if the number of products that carries its name is big for a relatively young design studio, the biggest achievement for FUWL isn’t the actual product, but the process of thinking, creating and communicating design. Through its relentless search for new opportunities and collaborations FUWL has shown that there are still great opportunities right under our noses.
DePadova always renews itself with detailed attention to its existing historical pieces adapting them to the new requirements of use and taste.
They have introduced the sofa Chat with less deep sitting which is better is adapted to reduced spaces / The Silver chair with a new red color for seat and back / Credenza, in new colours of white and orange / Florinda chair, with the new finish of the structure color Mocha
At last, for the first time in its long history, De Padova has created an identity advertising campaign to support of the brand and its visibility in the world
De Padova will highlight in its upcoming advertising campaign the company’s overall consistency for both products and company design essence and personality.
