NEW YORK LOVES ITALIAN DESIGN
A real craze, judging by the last edition of NYCxDesign, where Italian flagship stores gave their best with a series of lavish parties, events and spectacular installations
Located in the heart of Soho, Manhattan, Greene Street is New York’s street of design. This year, once more, this micro-district dotted with shop windows and showrooms has decidedly spoken Italian. The last edition of the NYCxDESIGN reinforced the trend, with Italian flagship stores giving their best to represent Italian design and creativity.
The most packed – and successful – parties were hosted by great Italian brands, some of them additionally opening stunning pop-up stores especially for the NY Design Week. That was not all, though. The launches of the latest collections, and particularly admired set ups, have allowed Italy to experience a unique time in the city, that today hosts 7.500 design studios with over 50.000 professionals in the field.
To mention a few examples: Molteni&C with the grand opening of their new retail concept store, realized under the creative direction of Vincent Van Duysen, and a new release of products by Gio Ponti. Flos decorated their minimalist, sophisticatedly rough, true NY style settings with Michael Anastassiades’ latest, ultra-graphic lighting collections. The juxtaposition highlighted the beauty of the latter’s pendant lights, so much so that not a few people stopped, enraptured, in front of the showroom’s windows on the evening of the party, when the whole of the design world appeared to have assembled there.
A few steps away, the Cassina reception cocktail was hardly less sparkling. Around the exhibition at the Cassina showroom – an indisputable model of good design – stood out famous faces of the brand’s favorite designers, first among them Patricia Urquiola’s. Kartell, for their part, continued their celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the famous Componibili storage furniture collection by Anna Castelli Ferrieri, with an exhibition featuring the collection’s iconic pieces presented in new versions by great international designers such as Alessandro Mendini, Nendo and Mario Bellini among the many who took part in the homage.
The list could go on much longer. Italian design has still much to convey, and, from this point of view, New York has proved to be a particularly receptive environment. Artemide, Cappellini, Foscarini and all the other brands that have stood out during the NY Design Week were ample proof of this exciting reality.