Have you ever wondered how a design product becomes iconic? The variables involved are many: it is certainly an aesthetic question, of design and construction mastery, but it is also and above all the ability to satisfy the most disparate needs of consumers.
So why not mention some, in the year in which they are celebrated, revisited and transformed?
Here is our top 3 with 2022 design anniversaries
Poltrona Frau - Archibald
The older, the better: happy 110th, Poltrona Frau!
This special anniversary is celebrated by Poltrona Frau with a limited edition of the Archibald armchair redesigned by artist Felipe Pantone, well known for his paintings, sculptures, frescoes and murals that mix and merge together “analog past and digitalized future”.
Poltrona Frau’s CEO Nicola Coropulis explains that “this collaboration aims to shift the perspective of Poltrona Frau towards the future, not only in terms of a first collaboration with an international artist, but also on the theme of environmental protection. The new Pelle Frau Impact Less® completes a path towards sustainability that has always characterized the research and evolution of Pelle Frau®”.
This Anniversary Limited Edition Archibald, starting from the upholstery but not only, perfectly represents the brand’s evolution and entrepreneurial approach to a new and unexpected language that is vibrantly full of color and reaches an even higher level of research and experimentation for future developments.
And to make this moment even more special, the armchair is not only limited in edition but also in quantity: 110, as many as the age of the brand, will be the only pieces produced and sold.
Archibald Anniversary Limited Edition will be showcased in the Milan flagship store from June 7th to 12th, within the Salone del Mobile Event.
B&B Italia - Le Bambole
New proportions, new fabrics, new sustainability for the first 50 years of “Le Bambole”, Compasso d’Oro awarded in 1979.
Mario Bellini, the designer, says “I feel the pleasure of revisiting this family again because it confirms to me that it is anything but aged; on the contrary, it is enjoying a thriving and promising second life, a rebirth done in a big way, done with enthusiasm, with breadth, with decorations, and with the original flourishes. We have recovered its charm, its sumptuous floridity, its softness”.
It was born with cozy softness, plush roundness, and playful informality as the defining characteristics of a collection that perfectly represented the transformations of living in progress in the early 1970s and marked a point of no return due to its aesthetics, production technology, and unprecedented communication.
Today, the Le Bambole sofa evolves and becomes even more modern, favoring generous, curvy, and increasingly feminine shapes.
Aesthetics, comfort, and sustainability are all priorities in this collection, which is completely disassembled and thus easily recyclable, plus being made of mostly recycled materials.
If you’re curious to know the updated catalog, here’s a quick list: the Bambola armchair, the Bibambola two-seater sofa, the Bamboletto double bed, and, last but not least, the Granbambola three-seater sofa with a deeper seat.
Gufram - Cactus
Gufram is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its most prickly icon, the Cactus coat hanger, which was designed in 1972 by Guido Drocco and Franco Mello.
CACTUS®, which is soft, thornless, but prickly, and nearly as tall as a person, has been the subject of uncomfortable, free, and often ambiguous interpretations.
This four-armed hall tree, made of flexible polyurethane, perfectly represents the grit, imagination, and humour of the 1970s while remaining one of the most recognizable and contemporary designs to this day. One of the most well-known examples of Radical Design, it has been celebrated by several generations of artists, designers, fashion designers, and creatives, and it has been displayed in some of the world’s most important museums.
And how to celebrate this anniversary if not with ANDY WARHOL X GUFRAM? The new products – ANDY’S BLUE CACTUS®, ANDY’S YELLOW CACTUS®, and ANDY’S PINK CACTUS® – are a POP dream come true, as Gufram itself says, available in 99 pieces. Buy it now or regret it later!
