Last year Ron Gilad was appointed creative director at Danese and since then he has created for the Italian design company minimalist pieces based on simplicity of forms and expression.
Though modern and hinting at technology, Gilad's functional pieces still have links with Danese's past and in particular with the designs developed for the company founded in 1957 by Bruno Danese and Jacqueline Vodoz by creative minds such as Enzo Mari, Bruno Munari and Franco Meneguzzo.
Gilad does not like standing still, though, and has a passion for transformations and the possibility of experimenting with dichotomies such as craftsmanship Vs industry and human beings Vs technology.
To coincide with Milan Design Week, Gilad has therefore launched a collaborative project presented at Villa Danese, the 1800s mansion and company headquarters located in Via Canova 34, Milan.
The designer invited Michele De Lucchi and Richard Hutten to add their touch to his pieces, injecting a quirky playful vitality and a special rhythm in their primitive geometrical precision, precarious balance and minimalist fragile forms.
Moving between industry and visual experimentation, mass production and small-scale fabrication, the designers created versatile products such as vases, fruit and decorative bowls and candle holders that can easily become the focal point in a room while engaging in a dialogue with any kind of decor, from modern to classical.
Among this year's new pieces there is also a lamp (Ina 2007) designed by Carlotta de Bevilacqua that employs light as an instrument, performing a function and radiating personality.
Through these collaborations Gilad hopes Danese will become a sort of research laboratory producing commercial pieces while preserving its role of experimental ground for creative minds. Hopefully Gilad will take things further in his next collaborations in future by picking creative minds from other disciplines, including fashion, textile design and photography. It would indeed be intriguing to see what kind of results he would get by opening the doors of the Danese workshop to professionals from other fields.
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