SEPTEMBER 2021
For Milan Design Week September 2021’s edition Dimoregallery presents PAST, a museum-like exhibition celebrating the design masters of Italian Rationalism like Piero Portaluppi, Marcello Piacentini and Piero Bottoni. The incredible selection of the works completed during the 1930’s by these renowned Italian architects is presented in a welcoming domestic setting surrounded by the gallery’s walls’ warm shades of grey.
Each room of the gallery features a dedicated environment to always include one of Portaluppi’s designs paired up with pieces from the 1930’s such as a rationalist desk in the fireplace room or iconic historical creations including appliques by Ignazio Gardella and table lamps by Gae Aulenti. In this room, three unique two-seater sofas upholstered in silk fabric and designed by Marcello Piacentini for his own Roman residence called ‘Villa Quota 110’ takes centre stage.
The mathematically ordered design of rationalism meets with Dimore’s unexpected approach blurring the lines between historical and contemporary, different time periods, constantly emphasising the sophistication and variety of geometric forms that characterise rare pieces by another architect and academic of the period, Piero Bottoni, often accompanied by extremely modern creations such as the wood and crystal table by retro-futuristic designer Nanda Vigo.
To elevate PAST, Dimoregallery tapped into the archives of hand painted and hand embroidered wallpaper specialists maker de Gournay carefully sourcing from the firm’s extensive archive collection of Chinoiserie wallpapers. Within the exhibition, Bitossi Ceramiche also contributes with a selection of twenty-nine ceramics on the occasion of the inauguration of the Bitossi Museum Archive, at the Vittoriano Bitossi Foundation in Montelupo Fiorentino (FI).
ph. Silvia Rivoltella
