Stamuli’s Memphis-style furniture is inspired by iconic artists
Swedish design studio Stamuli unveiled its eye-catching Tagadà collection at Edit Napoli 2021
Kieron is a freelance writer and Digital Consultant who doesn't consider himself a design lover but a user of design - which to him is more than enough.
LinkedinTagadà, which refers to the popular, high-octane amusement ride, is an apt name for a collection as vibrant as this. Made from a mix of CNC-cut MDF and plywood, Stamuli has created a series of pieces including chairs, tables and a mirror, each piece covered in colourful laminated surfaces from Italian company ABET Laminati.
“Using laminate was a spontaneous direction,” says Stamuli. “We were looking for a material with a full, neat color, non-tonal and non-nuanced, but with its own identity.”
Stamuli’s choice of bright colours and graphic interplay was influenced by Memphis and Studio Alchimia, a post-radical avant-garde group active in Milan during the 70s. The collection, which was unveiled during EDIT Napoli 2021, also draws inspiration from Italian artist Franco Summa, in particular Porta Del Mare (1993), an urban monument made of giant, multicolored rectangles.
“We explored different ways to build the chairs: assembling previous laminated components and mixing coated elements. The only result we considered successful is obtained through a handcrafted process in which the laminate is glued by hand on the chair structure.”
“The goal for these objects is to be perceived as pure colors, so to create a dissonance with the low tones of a domestic environment and to give the user the opportunity of an escape from the ordinary.”
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During the event, the studio also exhibited Unstressed, an aluminium chair designed in collaboration with Alessandro Bruzzone that won the first EDIT Napoli 2021 award. The design featured rectangular aluminium tubes bent into shape by hand to create a soft ‘pinched’ effect.
“We challenged ourselves in building a chair using a single industrial aluminum profile,” explains Stamuli. “The beauty of this object comes by the intrinsic properties of the material itself.”
“The concept for the Unstressed chair moves from the exploration of metal plasticity under stress. The handcrafted process expresses a new and softer language for a typical industrial material.” An exercise in technical skill captured in minimal form, the chair is in perfect contrast to the elaborate colour scheme of Tagadá.
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