WHO: Giorgetti designer Rossella Pugliatti is perhaps most famous for Hug, a contemporary armchair structured in walnut with soft pillows that cocoon its user in a cosy embrace, and Move, a rocking chair whose lightness of structure can be credited to two interlocking organically shaped ash wood frames. Both were designed for 117-year-old Italian furniture label Giorgetti, which approached Pugliatti to design pieces that reflected the language of contemporary design with values that walked the tightrope between beauty and technology.
“That is my basic premise for each primum movens (prime mover) in design, as well as in architecture,” she says. Pugliatti graduated in architecture at Milan Politecnico in 1995 before acquiring her Master’s in Industrial Design at the Domus Academy in Milan. In 1999, she won the bronze medal for a project at the International Competition of Architecture Europan 5, which led to collaborations with several recognised design studios. Her own studio was launched in 2011, where she now works to realise the visions of various interior design companies.
Her collaborations with Giorgetti, in particular, are professional commitments that require maturity of drawing and a momentum of planning feasibility. Most important to her is that the tenets of good design are always upheld. “It has to be beautiful in use, beautiful to the eye and beautiful to live next to,” she explains.
What: Emphasis on traditional crafts and natural materials defines, on the surface, the design philosophy of Giorgetti, although Pugliatti is quick to downplay this premise. “I don’t think there is a philosophy in the strict sense but rather a line of research totally devoted to beauty as an essential value in products, communicated in idea, prototyping, production and sales,” says the designer. The creative process is an unrestricted and organic one, never methodically conducted. Rather, it is driven by aesthetic suggestion, whose origin is linked to the aesthetic language: dance, cinema, photography, music, poetry, art of manufacturing, art of ceremony and creative thinking all serve as inspiration or catalysts. “The rest is merely accurate coordination with progressive phases starting from this premise,” she continues.
The most important consideration in furniture design is that the conscience of the real designer is never separated from his ability to draw beauty, according to Pugliatti. “That is only possible if your aesthetic sensibility is educated to the humanistic values of culture,” she says. “We Italians have, in fact, this characteristic in our DNA.”
As far as Giorgetti is concerned, this translates into ranges of furniture whose gently playful principles are flawlessly executed in solid materials and skilled craftsmanship. Move is a terrific example of the body of work the established company is known for producing. The wraparound seat is sinuous and comfortable with a delightful swinging style in a modern interpretation of a classic furniture piece.
“Working with the brand is always exciting because Giorgetti is a company in whose origins you can find the typical contents of the Italian productive culture: courage to face design challenges, manufacturing tradition of high quality and craftsmanship, constant dialogue with the future of technologies and steady synergy with the most advanced settings of Italian creativity,” Pulgatti remarks. “The latest collection to me is a versatile one because the brand attempts to reach exclusive levels of style with manufacturing, Italian tradition and product industrialisation in perfect harmony.”
Where: Giorgetti is available at Space Furniture, located at Lot 3-12 Intermark Mall, The Intermark, 348 Jalan Tun Razak, KL. For more information, call (03) 2166 2212 or visit www.spacefurniture.com.my.
This article first appeared in The Edge haven, on Issue #71 February 2015 + March 2015.