After great success in Miami and Milan, FENDI is bringing its Design Performance program to DesignMiami/Basel 2012. This young program seems to be gaining traction and popularity as it offers everything people seem to be interested in: a rare view into designer's workshops, the use of discarded FENDI materials and live demonstrations of the processes that mold well-crafted design work. The blend of both a traditional and experimental production makes for an interesting design exhibition which celebrates the process, material and the value of each crafted product.

This year, FENDI has invited the Italian design studio Formafantasma to develop CRAFTICA, a new body of work exploring leather craft in conjunction with other hand-worked natural materials. Formafantasma’s designers Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin were selected for this collaboration because their young and creative studio have a proven record in creating refined and seductive work while being inventive with their material exploration.  We know leather has not gone anywhere but lately, we have seen a sudden new love for it. It is visual, tactile and demands specific techniques when treating it and designing with it. We have a complex relationship with it as it requires the sacrifice of an animal for us to see the gift of this material.

The CRAFTICA project used discarded leather from FENDI’s manufacturing process. Formafantasma has intimately engaged with the leather and paired it with other materials such as marble, oxidized metal, glass, wood, and other unprocessed natural materials to create arresting new forms. The collection displays an array of forms and function but always exposes the beauty of this composition of natural materials.

Each and every piece takes you on a journey; as you move in any direction, you notice the different natural materials and wonder where it came from, the technique it takes to make the piece and how we preserve the material for it to be witnessed. The Salmon stool shows the complexity of the scales and the reflectivity of the skin. The cultivated sponge shows the comfort of the seat and the leather’s simple connection to the functionality of the stool. Another interesting furniture piece is the Wolffish-pig stool,  soft and light, the irregular spottiness of the Wolffish skin delivers immediate dimension and visual texture to the stool.  This entire collection makes you reconsider your pre-conceived notions concerning the functional and archetypes of furniture or objects. Whether it is a spoon, mask, stool or room divider, the exploration of leather by Formafantasma and FENDI truly captivates the imagination of the process, technique and final pieces.

DESIGN MIAMI/ BASEL 2012,
HALL 5, MESSE BASEL, MESSEPLATZ
4005 BASEL, SWITZERLAND
GENERAL PUBLIC:
TUESDAY, 12 JUNE TO SUNDAY 17 JUNE 2012
DAILY FROM 11AM-7PM