Furniture tells a story with Cappellini

MANILA, Philippines - When talk turns to home furnishings, there’s furniture and then there are conversation pieces.

Italian design firm Cappellini creates wares that are highly functional, well-designed pieces that tell a story, with focus on function and innovation.

Opening its Manila showroom last November at One Parkade in Bonifacio Global City, the world-class furniture brand marked its debut in the Philippines in partnership with Dimensione & Suyen Corporation.

Founded in 1946, Cappellini is at the forefront of contemporary avant-garde design, globally praised for its craftsmanship and technology. With flagship stores in Milan, Paris, Bruxelles, New York, and Los Angeles, the Manila showroom marks its first in Asia. 

Take, for example, how the label manipulates common materials in very uncommon ways.

Made of aluminum, the Branch table is fashioned out of identical elements that interconnect seamlessly, like branches on a tree. The ends dissolve into each other, in a continuous movement. This creates an interesting visual play between the oneness of each element and the wholeness of the frame. This wholeness translates to the modular form of the table: When assembled together as a family of tables, two people can sit between each leg and the table can be for four, six, eight, 10, 12 people  a clever take on modern communal living, as envisioned by the Copenhagen-born, MoMa-exhibited Jakob Wagner.

Working with sheet metal, on the other hand, Japanese collective Nendo (literally “clay” in Japanese, alluding to the pliability of the designs headed by architect Oki Sato) creates the Drop bookshelf by laser-cutting and lacquering the material to a matte finish, to mimic natural elements like the rose-colored blossoms of cherry trees, to the warm gray of the stones of the brooks in their country.

The family of seating furniture  Superheroes  takes inspiration from Vietnam. Designed by Swedish design duo Glimpt, Superheroes was inspired by the work of skilled sea grass and plastic weavers in Ho Chi Minh City.  Threads are rolled around a tubing that is attached to a metal frame, a process that originates from a Vietnamese technique where paper thread is rolled around sea grass to make small bowls. Together they form a group of individuals, playing well together or on their own.

Garment, by Benjamin Hubert Studio, is a lounge club chair made from a single piece of textile, loosely folded around a distinctive geometric molded polyurethane foam form. This construction and loose cover allow for creases to become part of the character of the chair reminiscent of a piece of fashion and increase the sensation of visual softness. The chair’s construction is “stitch-less” as it is comprised of a single sheet of textile fixed onto the form with Velcro.

Playing with this concept of folding, NOM (Nature of Material), a series of stackable furniture from Israeli-based Bakery Studio, was created from laser-cut aluminum sheets. By folding the legs of the objects in planned and exact folds (which creates side effects of stretching and bending in the material), the designers were able to create a melding of steady construction with a soft, organic, upholstery-like shape.

This attention to metalworking also shines in Stockholm studio Form Us With Love’s (FUWL) Lace Metal Lamp.

While visiting a Swedish metal working factory called Häfla Bruk, one of Sweden’s oldest companies, FUWL chanced upon a new technique of manufacturing steel mesh with gradient-sized holes. This struck them as very poetic, resembling textile or lace. They then created a lamp using this technique, resulting in a nice contrast of lightness and fragility. The gradient holes diffuse the light in an atmospheric way. Another good thing about the production of the lamp is that no waste materials are produced.

As for wood, Israel’s Raphael Navot’s POH (Patchwork Oval Hemisphere) does away with labels, lending itself well to a table, a bench or a sculpture. The randomness starts from production, with a combination of rough wooden pieces  both old and new  combined randomly by hand to a massive block that is sent to a digitally controlled machine to carve the computer generated three-dimensional form.

This multi-purpose nature also marks Daphna Lauren’s Fruit Lamp and Sofa Lamp, floor and table lamps whose built-in bowls can hold loose change or fruit.

Lest you think that everything in Cappellini is about alchemy, some pieces also win precisely because of their elegant simplicity, like Jasper Morisson’s Gambetta collection of upholstered armchair, sofa, bench and coffee table with rounded backs.

So now, when you ask yourself, just what is it about Cappellini that makes it distinct from other luxury furniture brands? The answer is in the story. With more than 60 years of design expertise, the brand continually pushes the boundaries of design.

Visit the Cappellini Manila Showroom at the ground floor, One Parkade, 28th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

For information, call 736-3728 or visit www.cappellini.it.