Buccellati's artichoke with a heart of steel is reborn with masterly hand.
The latest creation from Italian silversmith Buccellati, founded in 1919, this silver artichoke celebrates both tableware and nature.
Presented for the first time at the prestigious Homo Faber public exhibition, which honors craftsmanship every two years in Venice (and whose philosophy means “the man who knows how to make tools”), this artichoke is a testament to great craftsmanship and a constant desire to pay homage to nature, an inexhaustible source of inspiration for the luxury house, whose natural motifs have become emblematic.
But why an artichoke?
"Artichokes have been a particularly important part of Buccellati's heritage since the 1960s, when the first silver artichoke, created for table decoration, cleverly concealed a lighter at its heart. This original piece was recently rediscovered at auction and is now part of the maison's historical archives.
This year, to celebrate the brand's rich history, Buccellati has reintroduced the artichoke as a centerpiece in a series of decorative objects. The collection, Armatae Flores, was presented at Homo Faber in Venice, in the exhibition space dedicated to the “Celebration” chapter.
The artichoke is a symbol of strength and protection. This plant with its tough, thorny appearance but tender, delicate heart, has become an emblem of resilience and prosperity, often celebrated in modern poetry and literature.
In ancient Greece, this vegetable was associated with the myth of Cynara, a young woman whom Zeus turned into an artichoke for spurning his advances. It was she who gave the artichoke its scientific name, Cynara Scolymus.”
More generally, fruit and vegetables are back in vogue in our homes. As evidenced by Buccellati, but also by Bordallo Pinheiro's creative cabbage ceramics, or Monoprix and one of its actual collaborations with Vicki Murdoch, the Scottish illustrator whose designs feature naturalistic or animal motifs that elevate broccoli, lemons or radishes to the rank of tableware.
So we asked to Fanny Parise, our anthropologist and expert on changing lifestyles and consumption patterns, to find out whether this relationship with the concrete is a way of spiritually nourishing one's soul, exploring one's artistic nature, a call to vitality or a quest for authenticity.
Read this conversation in our VOUS section!
HOMO FABER © Alessandra Chemollo / Michelangelo Foundation
Renovation of the former atelier of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.
Red and black brick, Le Corbusier glass pavers, wooden beams and metal framework.
These are the features preserved and revealed by the architectural duo Mikou, in this 450 sqm studio located along the historic rue Campagne-Première in Paris. This former artists' housing estate was indeed well acquainted with the inspiring Montparnasse district of the 20th century, as it heard the beating hearts of poets Louis Aragon and Elsa Triolet, saw the strong colors of the inventor of the eponymous blue, Yves Klein, touched the metal and compressed sculptures of the eminent César, before feeling the avant-garde ideas of the Bergé / Saint Laurent couple. Strolling through the building, you can still catch a glimpse of the effervescence of these singular creatives, through huge Art Deco-style bay windows, symbol of a Paris of timeless beauty.
It is certainly with this creative energy that the twin sisters of the Mikou studio, Salma and Salwa, played between tradition and modernity, to best embody the signature of the leather goods brand that now inhabits these historic premises, L/Uniform. Couture remains couture. And this time, this manufacturer of woven canvas bags and accessories, founded by Jeanne Signoles in 2014, advocates the utility of beauty. With initial models designed by the designer with everyday use in mind, such as a shopping cart or a tool bag transformed into a baby bag, the materials are also plastic- and nylon-free.
Even in the Saint Laurent era, the studio was “liberated from traditional constraints, where walls and gravity gave way to fluidity, allowing air and light to circulate freely”, and today it is enjoying a new breath of freedom, dear to the unforgettable duo Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent!
Faraglioni, the geological furniture collection by Etereo Design.
The end of summer is approaching, but design is here to remind us of its fond memories.
And it is the collective of architects Etereo Design, based in Milan and Dubai, who take us to the rocky shores of Capri, to discover the "faraglioni", these imposing stone spurs ("stacks", in geology) resulting from marine erosion and proudly overlooking the south of the island.
“We create beauty to transform the world. Every space is a work of art where harmony is everything,” says Mirko Sala Tenna, co-founder of Etereo Design, alongside Stefania Digregorio. “The choice of materials is crucial for us. In "Faraglioni", this care is evident, from the surface to the depth of the piece, which aims to evoke the strength of nature by replicating its most majestic elements: water and rock.”
This collection of exclusive pieces, represented by the renowned Nilufar gallery, brings together all the Italian know-how, combining molten glass from Venice with the appearance of sea foam with a bronze structure from Brianza, perfectly imitating the stacks.
More information on Etereo Design and Nilufar
Lucille Boitelle, the ornamental painter!
Ornamentalist, an artist or craftsman who invents, reproduces, draws and creates ornamentation, in architecture, decoration of objects or decorations, sculpture, cabinetmaking or even typography.
And it is with enthusiasm that Lucille Boitelle puts her creative gestures at the service of this rare artistic profession.
On canvas, paper or fabric, the one who grew up in a troglodyte house likes to draw resolutely modern panoramic motifs and decorations, from delicate narrative poetry to botanical curiosity.
From furnishing fabrics to wallpapers, Lucille's ideas come to life in collaboration with prestigious publishers like Pierre Frey, Nobilis and Larsen.
With a pronounced taste for bringing heritage archives and fragments of history back to light, Lucille will exhibit her decorative art during 2024 Milan design week at Labo cultural projects !
More information on Lucille Boitelle.
The first immersive platform dedicated to architecture and interior design, showcasing natural materials in virtual reality!
The result of a collaboration between innovative natural stone supplier Solid Nature and digital platform Deco Hub, this showroom fires the boundless imagination of every designer who tries it.
And it was architect and 3D artist Alba De La Fuente who realized this first VR playground, through various living rooms, a bathroom, a living room, or even a bedroom in honey-colored Onyx, which we love!
Technology, design and nature form an ever-evolving trio, where the durability and infinite possibilities of natural stone are meticulously staged through the visionary eye of this sanctuary at the cutting edge of creativity.
More on decohub.io
It's beautiful, it's poetic, it's powder pink, it's 'UNCLASSIFIABLE', the first art book by Argentine digital artist Andres Reisinger.
348 pages divided into five chapters that trace the intimate, immersive vision of the creator of this new, "unclassifiable" genre of art, straddling the line between art and design.
It tells the story of the equally famous Hortensia armchair, symbolizing the beauty of nature, the fruit of a digital imagination turned into reality, published by Moooi.
The print is available in a limited edition of 1,000 copies on the artist's website.
It's well worth a look, if only to see life in pink!
He's THE mid-century American photographer (1910-2009) who modernized architectural photography.
His pictures of Californian architecture are engraved in the memories of the 20th century.
And with good reason. The American has somewhat shaken up the codes of architectural photography of the time, which advocated a strict image with no apparent disorder. But how? By breathing life into it. Like a woman drinking a cocktail by the pool, a towel lying around or an orange cut out of a saucer... That's what, in part, made him different: humanizing and telling a moment of life in the story, through characters in action in the environment. "When I started working, I realized that very few of my colleagues showed people in their work, but I thought that if I photographed architecture, I'd want to show its functional side." "My images always tell a story, maybe because you see people in them," he said.
He also played around with "pro" equipment, having started with a Kodak Vest Pocket, a veritable mantra of most great photographers who go out of their way to say that it doesn't matter what the camera is, it's the moment, the framing and the light that count to make an iconic photo. "What matters least in the photos I take is the camera," he used to say.
And then he dared. Originally, he was not a professional photographer, but it was a friend, assistant to the famous architect Richard Neutra, who asked him to photograph his last project in 1936, the Kun residence. Neutra liked the young novice's contrasting, geometric style, so much so that he launched him. But it was above all John Entenza, the editor of Arts and Architecture magazine, who created the "Case Study House Program" to promote modern-style houses produced at low cost through a system of sponsorship by the construction industry. His photos flooded the magazines of the day, such as Life, Time and Good Housekeeper, and made modern American architecture of the mid-century period an iconic reference style, illustrated by the famous buildings of Richard Neutra, of course, but also John Lautner, Oscar Niemeyer, Van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright and Pierre Koenig.
The man who claimed to be just a salesman, "I'm just a salesman, I sell architecture", nonetheless elevated architectural photography to the status of a work of art.
© Taschen Photos .
"archinaturelle", the archi-nature photo book!
Vanessa Bosio is a photographer of the moment. Self-taught for 7 years, she freezes the ephemeral, from architectural projects to backstages or set photos. She recently self-published her first "archinaturelle" photo book, photographic diptychs of architecture inspired by nature. But not just any ! That of sulphurous Lanzarote. Like a declaration of love for this island, the main character of the book, Vanessa highlights the eye of the native César Manrique, painter but also architect and sculptor, to whom was entrusted the artistic direction of the island. Inspired by plants and minerals, he created an aesthetic in perfect harmony with nature, which he has always protected and defended. Encounter.
Why did you call your book "archinatural"?
I titled it “archinatural”, voluntarily in small letters, because the subject that interests me is to highlight architecture that would have been inspired by nature. Hence architecture + nature = archi-natural! I also think that's a nice word is a nice compliment.
What place or architecture would define you? And why?
Empty spaces, no doubt, because space is luxury. And also small spaces, such as prisons, convents or huts. I remember the exhibition "La disparition des lucioles" in the Saint-Anne prison in Avignon which highlighted the life of the prisoners formerly detained in these places, and oddly the small space of the "toilets" literally bothered me and fascinated at the same time.
What is your relationship to creativity?
Minimalist, geometric and colorful. I try to optimize beauty and spaces, non-places, in architecture. I don't do any photo editing, everything is raw.
The round shape also reassures me, especially that of Pierre Cardin's Bubble Palace in Cannes, created by the architect specializing in organic Antti Lovag, or the PCF (French Communist Party) in Paris by the famous Oscar Niemeyer. Besides, my son's name is Oscar!
Is natural pop culture?
Pop for me means popular, so yes nature touches everyone in one way or another. We are all connected to nature and we should all be inspired by it.
The audio of the book listening here, and via the QR code below.
Jacques Polieri, a major set designer and pioneer in the invention of "stage architecture".
It was during a research day on scenography and/or symbiosis at the BNF (Bibliothèque Nationale de France), where his archives are on display, that we learned of Jacques Polieri's existence.
In short, he's the man behind modern scenography. Let's just say that in the 60s, Jacques Polieri (born 1928 in Toulouse) was a pioneer in the use of new technologies in theater space. Gone were the Italian boxes of a set contained between 3 walls; Polieri opened up the visual and sound space, using inclined planes or light effects, the integration of sounds and screen projections, as if the space became multidimensional. He also deconstructed the relationship to the body by depersonalizing it, using academic black suits. This was the birth of stage architecture, in other words, scenography.
In fact, before 1970, the terms "set designer", "set painter" or "scenic device" were used, but after 1970, they became "scenographer".
In 1956, with architect Le Corbusier, he created the Festival de l'Art d'Avant-Garde in Marseille. In the course of his innovative experiments, Polieri staged a number of avant-garde authors, including Tardieu, Mallarmé and Ionesco, and also mixed artistic genres, staging works by painters Miro and Klee, including Kandinsky's "Sonorité jaune" in 1976.
From this inspiration comes Öyvind Fahlström's multimedia piece "Kisses sweeter than wine", staged at the 9 evenings Theatre & Engineering festival in New York in 1966. A shirt that smoked, sound-producing pillows and snowflakes that moved inversely towards the sky - a true revolution that got the whole of New York jazzing at the time!
His archives can be consulted at the BNF (Bibliothèque Nationale de France), performing arts department.
He's THE mid-century American photographer (1910-2009) who modernized architectural photography.
His pictures of Californian architecture are engraved in the memories of the 20th century.
And with good reason. The American has somewhat shaken up the codes of architectural photography of the time, which advocated a strict image with no apparent disorder. But how? By breathing life into it. Like a woman drinking a cocktail by the pool, a towel lying around or an orange cut out of a saucer... That's what, in part, made him different: humanizing and telling a moment of life in the story, through characters in action in the environment. "When I started working, I realized that very few of my colleagues showed people in their work, but I thought that if I photographed architecture, I'd want to show its functional side." "My images always tell a story, maybe because you see people in them," he said.
He also played around with "pro" equipment, having started with a Kodak Vest Pocket, a veritable mantra of most great photographers who go out of their way to say that it doesn't matter what the camera is, it's the moment, the framing and the light that count to make an iconic photo. "What matters least in the photos I take is the camera," he used to say.
And then he dared. Originally, he was not a professional photographer, but it was a friend, assistant to the famous architect Richard Neutra, who asked him to photograph his last project in 1936, the Kun residence. Neutra liked the young novice's contrasting, geometric style, so much so that he launched him. But it was above all John Entenza, the editor of Arts and Architecture magazine, who created the "Case Study House Program" to promote modern-style houses produced at low cost through a system of sponsorship by the construction industry. His photos flooded the magazines of the day, such as Life, Time and Good Housekeeper, and made modern American architecture of the mid-century period an iconic reference style, illustrated by the famous buildings of Richard Neutra, of course, but also John Lautner, Oscar Niemeyer, Van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright and Pierre Koenig.
The man who claimed to be just a salesman, "I'm just a salesman, I sell architecture", nonetheless elevated architectural photography to the status of a work of art.
GAG, the DTF clip in the heart of the Muralla Roja!
If pop culture often appropriates the achievements of cult architects, the Spanish Ricardo Boffil, who died in 2022, is once again being emulated in the latest clip from the group de rap DTF 94, where the rappers walk the maze of the Muralla Roja in Alicante, superb modern fortress of Mediterranean Arab inspiration.
This is not the first time that the group, founded in 2015 and protected by PNL, produces a clip in such a cinematic setting. In 2019 for "Veni Qui", it is in the ancestral city of Nefta in Tunisia that they go to shoot... and Nefta is where an independent film was partly made which has had some success: Star Wars !
Ricardo Bofill meanwhile, is a regular on the big screen. La Muralla Roja is also invited to Squid Game, the Korean series that has become cult and a global hit for Netflix, and its spaces at Abraxas in Noisy-le-Grand, near Paris, set the scene for the science fiction series Hunger Games .
Urban culture more than ever is inspired by architecture, and music is listened to, but also watched!
Founded by the architect Le Corbusier and the painter Amédée Ozenfant in 1920, and published until 1925, L'Esprit nouveau was:
L'Esprit nouveau, the first magazine in the world truly devoted to living aesthetics.
It was the influential Amédée Ozenfant who introduced Le Corbusier to his new aesthetic doctrine pictorial, the purism, in response to the “complications” of cubism. Together, they developed the artistic theory, based on a notion of return to order, perfection and machinery, published in the fourth issue of the journal, under the test Purism. It was at this time that Le Corbusier, Charles-Edouard Jeanneret of his real name, took this pseudonym.
The Ozenfant house-workshop, near Parc Montsouris in Paris, eastone of the first architectural illustrations, imagined by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, his cousin. We also find there the famous roof terrace, one of key signatures of the architect.
The digitized journals are available on the website of the Library of the city of architecture and heritage. Many are the sizes artistic, scientific and literary of the time to have contributed to it, an "inspirational" nugget!
© Archive photos of the Ozenfant house-workshop, avenue Reille in the 14th arrondissement in Paris.
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