During Milan Design Week, Visionnaire unveiled a striking installation in its showroom named ‘Insulae’ designed by Marco Bonelli and Marijana Radovic – aka m2atelier –, transforming the space into a new dimension in which architecture, nature and dreams take centre stage. A secret garden is revealed to the viewer in the large central hall through arches that define its perimeter, but allow it to be traversed and invite visitors to explore it. This garden is the heart of the project, encircled by five of Italy’s symbolic places.
These places are islands that you can observe from all angles, appreciating their uniqueness. In this imaginary archipelago, the sea separates them, yet holds them together, evoking the Italian coastline in all its dramatic beauty. Each island hosts a family of products from the Caprice collection designed by m2atelier and features a special set-up with videos integrated into the architecture of the backdrops which – thanks to immersive projections – characterise the islands, making them alternately indoor/outdoor spaces. The main floor of the gallery also hosts products from the Babylon Rack collection designed by Alessandro La Spada, which are harmoniously integrated in the Insulae project.
A summer trip or imaginary escape to the world’s most famous Italian islands: Sicily, the archaic cradle of our civilisation; Sardinia, lunar and mysterious; Capri, a midsummer night’s dream; Elba, the scent of flowers; Ponza, wild and passionate. Each island features an immersive natural setting with which the products dialogue in unison, or perhaps they are one soul, the soul of that place. The landscaping, based on an analysis of the areas’ typical Mediterranean vegetation, was carried out in collaboration with Gruppo Giardini, which oversaw the layout and selection of the trees with an all- Italian sensitivity, creating emotions through the harmonious shapes, colours and scents.
The platform coverings, together with the videos, are designed to emphasise the functional duality of the platforms and to create continuity between the indoor and outdoor areas. The Sardinia platform has a stoneware floor and wall covering called Deconcrete by Ceramica Sant’Agostino. With Deconcrete, the idea was to revive the timeless concrete Terrazzo motif with mosaic flakes: a balanced composition distinguished by its design, colour and vitality, which is also perfect for home interiors. In the central garden, a path composed of large Set Concrete tiles by Ceramica Sant’Agostino, a true fusion of different materials – concrete-effect porcelain stoneware – was created to cross the grassy area.
Visionnaire took also part in the Supersalone with a new installation of “Pavone” by Marc Ange, a manifesto of art-design on the theme of “diversity & inclusion,” and above all a poetic expression of contemporary beauty.
Visionnaire was also present at Alcova, the traveling Kermesse of the Fuorisalone conceived by Joseph Grima and Valentina Ciuffi in 2018 and dedicated to designers, artists, galleries and institutions united by a pioneering vision of the culture of design, innovation and experimentation. From the evocative spaces of the former panettone factory of G. Cova & Co in NoLo district, Alcova arrives this year in a former military area in the Inganni district. An abandoned urban forest and buildings from the 1930s invaded by uncontrolled vegetation are the ideal stage for the installation “De Rerum Natura” by Gunilla Zamboni, known as Gupica.
“The dialogue between art and design is very current for us. – says Eleonore Cavalli, Co-Founder and Art Director of Visionnaire – We live in a special relationship with art, which someone even defined as a “trailblazer”.
We were forerunners of this trend, getting energy from the contamination between music, dance, video and sculpture with particular attention to craftsmanship excellence and strictly Italian production. Our collections are intertwined with the research of numerous artists who contribute to the multiplicity of languages of objects and furnishings. It is from these elective relationships with artists, – such as Gunilla – from these contaminations, the unique projects such as Aracea and our collaboration with Alcova are born”.
