This event, which chose Naturalis Historia as its overarching topic, was inspired by Pliny the Elder and began with the observation of nature as a unifying theme. Intrigued?
The sixth annual Lake Como Design Festival was in the charming city of Como from September 16 to 24. It allowed one to learn about the city’s and region’s architectural and artistic heritage through a startlingly fresh cultural lens. It was hosted by historic, obscure, or neglected locations.
What precisely is the Lake Como Design Festival?
It is an annual themed event that aims to create a unique dialogue between history, architecture, design, and art. Wonderlake Como, a collection of concepts and individuals with an extraordinary point of view, created and promoted the event.
“Lake Como Design Festival 2023 was a real accomplishment for us because it allowed us to proudly reflect on the path we have taken and motivated us to look to the future!” Festival founder and creative director Lorenzo Butti shares.
Acqua Chiarella teamed up with the Lake Como Design Festival as their Sponsor for the third consecutive year in order to further introduce people to the purity of Chiarella Water and let them be mesmerized by its exceptional freshness.
Water is transformed into art when it is used as a medium, and “the story of Acqua Chiarella begins with the beauty of the Alps that surround Lake Como, where our precious liquid emerges to offer a unique and inimitable drink!” says Acqua Chiarella creator Andrea Vaccani.
In their Lorenzo Palmeri-signed project, glass is transformed into a narrative thanks to the preference for engraving in displaying the emblem and the decision to use reliefs on the surface where the mountains and Lake Como are identified. For example, the origin and the area, two values that serve as the cornerstone of the Acqua Chiarella brand.
A design change to the top includes a sign line to identify the type of water. With red denoting natural water and blue denoting sparkling water.
The Natural History
The symposium chose Naturalis Historia as its overarching theme. Focusing on the macro-areas of Botany, Mineralogy, and Zoology, with the observation of nature as a unifying theme. Pliny the Elder, who was born in Como in 23 AD and whose 2000th anniversary was this year.
This tribute to Pliny the Elder was an effort to bring together the rich aesthetic and cultural history of this region of the world and connect it to contemporary innovation in all of its forms.
In order to give tourists a wide range of ideas and feelings that begin in Como and extend around the world, we intended to use Naturalis Historia as a guide to travel through design, art, architecture, handicraft, and literature. Adds Butti.
Back to Nature, The Other Animals, Between Art and Nature, Stories of Fabrics, The Contemporary Design Selection, and guided tours of the Festival and Como’s Rationalist architecture were all included in the Naturalis Historia program.
Return to Nature
Back to Nature was once a collection of items and home decor accessories from various realities brought together by a consistent natural inspiration that cut across several ages and production techniques. It was located in the exclusive spaces of Villa Olmo.
The villa’s many rooms served as the setting for a series of projects that brought together designers, artists, editors, and galleries of modern and contemporary design. This resulted in a one-of-a-kind exhibition that was set within a sizable Italian garden and looked out over the first basin of Lake Como.
For instance, Kris Rhus’s stirring floral installation The Second Song: Falling to Earth, in which 30,000 flowers symbolically streamed continually from the abundance of the sky above and dropped to the ground, served as a welcome to guests.
Here, the blooms appeared to form a layer of petal clouds that would feed the earth below them as they collectively descended, producing an abundance above the geometric patterns of the ground.
Furthermore, The Mumo Forest exhibition at the Grieder Contemporary Gallery included a collection of delicate glass sculptures by Austrian artist Melli Ink that were inspired by mushrooms and mandrake roots.
She discovered that they can be both healing and harmful while investigating the complexity and entanglements that occur between them and other natural elements.
The Draga & Aurel and Giuliano dell’Uva-designed Lewit bed was on display at Galleria Rossana Orlandi. Paired with the Memoria duvet cover and a Draga & Aurel-designed jacquard plaid that were both by Somma1867.
It was a free-standing piece of furniture that mixed modern design with overt allusions to the artistic avant-gardes of 1960s-1970s.
The Choice of Contemporary Design
The Contemporary Design Selection, on the other hand, was in Villa Salazar. And was an open call for independent designers, artists, galleries, and editors curated by Giovanna Massoni. It shed light on climate change, resource scarcity, sustainability, and circularity.
For this project, it renewed its partnership with Catawiki, through which the paintings displayed would be auctioned through an online auction run only by the top online auction site and event partner.
when nature is in bloom
The installation “When Nature Blooms,” produced in partnership with fellow Broadview Group businesses Formica, Homapal, Getacore, Westag Türen, and X-KIN, was on FENIX and Arpa at the Lake Como Design Festival 2023 inside the exquisite Villa Casa Bianca.
Casa Bianca, a lovely multi-story mansion with views of Como promenade with extra additions created by architect Luigi Caccia Dominioni.
The florist and flower stylist Letizia dei Fiori designed this site-specific arrangement. Offering a reflection on how nature and people interact while giving the area a more interesting feel.
Inside the villa’s rooms, the Dutch design firm Van Beek & Dings created an intriguing composition of various settings . Like Formica, Homapal, and Getacore along with Westag Türen doors and X-KIN wall coverings.
Setting and furniture components were of FENIX matt and soft-touch surfaces. Showcasing the material’s incredible adaptability and some of the brand’s most recognizable colors. Including Rosso Jaipur, Nero Ingo, and Verde Comodoro.
The architect Caccia Dominioni created everything from free-standing bookcases to the spacious kitchen, as well as pedestals, dividing walls. Also, the stunning sunshade panel with Moresque-inspired motifs at the top of the staircase.
Moreover, Tuet, one of Arpa’s most recent developments, formed the bedroom’s dividing components and cover various furniture pieces. It adopts the traditional ribbed design of hardwood boiserie.
The materials occasionally work together for benches, low tables, shelves, nightstands, and other small furniture pieces. To reaffirm the inspirational possibilities of brand integration and the complimentary relationship between Broadview enterprises.
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