Allodola reflects our modern day obsession with phones

Italian designer Francesco Faccin designs the perfect at-home gadget.

This project is part of the collection of the new Italian design brand Orografie, conceived by Giorgia Bartolini, curated by Vincenzo Castellana, and intended to showcase new and upcoming talent.

“Allodola is an object that would not have existed 10 years ago,” says Faccin.

He’s talking about the Allodola smartphone holder, which he designed last year as a solution to all our phone stabilizing woes.

Of course, he is right—whilst phone stands have existed since the nineties, there are few that fit the bill quite like Allodola.

A simple wooden rod makes up its frame, which is stabilized by what looks like a concrete base.

Atop there is a metal component, which keeps the mobile phone in place.

“The telephone can be easily positioned thanks to a magnet placed in the articulated head and, once removed, a mirror surface appears,” explains Faccin.

“Like the proverbial “Specchietto per allodole” (literally “mirror for larks” the equivalent of “smoke and mirror”), the telephone is an object that attracts us, making itself sometimes indispensable, sometimes illusory.”

Allodola is what happens when design meets art

It’s conceptual but fully functional and provocative of contemporary consumer habits and our dependence on electronic devices.

Needless to say, it would come in extremely handy when following a recipe or filming yourself on social media.

It would also be handy for taking calls or for more niche activities like reading music and playing an instrument.

“The telephone concentrates functions and expands our homes, transforming and transporting them elsewhere,” says Faccin.

“It is an extension of our brains, a prosthesis of our bodies, a contemporary fetish that has changed our lives.

Allodola is a “mute servant”, a place dedicated to the phone, which follows us in our domestic habits.”