Living Divani boosts its visibility during Expo 2015 by opening a Temporary Store on the ground floor of Torre Velasca.
The dynamic and lively family-run enterprise that has made upholstered furniture its trademark chooses one of the city’s most suggestive and famous buildings and also one of its most well-loved architectural landmarks as a temporary exhibition space to present its collection, underlining the international vocation and strong Milanese character of its design. Torre Velasca, which was subjected to the cultural protection status by the Cultural Heritage Authority in 2011 thanks to its high historical and artistic value, is part of Urban Up, the property requalification project of the Unipol Group aimed at enhancing the value of some of the most important Milan buildings that it owns. In the occasion of Expo 2015, Unipol Group decided to open some part of this building pre-empting the refined and top-quality spirit of the majestic general requalification project of the tower.
With its four different settings fit for a dream-house, created with the contribution of Kerakoll for the finishings and Flos for the lighting, the Living Divani Temporary Store Torre Velasca designed by Piero Lissoni is a sophisticated contemporary haven, when a neon light sculpture on the ceiling, a tribute to Lucio Fontana, seems to absorb the energies and tensions of the city, bestowing unexpected moments of relaxing. The first living area introduces visitors to the refined world of Living Divani, playing with the visual cross-reference between the Lipp sofa, a interpretation of the refined capitonné working with the brand’s typical contemporary geometric spirit, and the new Easy Lipp sofa which recaptures the characteristic features and tempering them, like the quilting and the slender metallic leg, moulding the settings with character and lightness.
The scene is completed with the Plane coffee tables by Massimo Mariani with an oblique slab in solid walnut encased between panels of glass, and the B3 coffee tables by Victor Vasilev, characterised by its tops placed at different heights that appear to hover in the air and Starsky by David Lopez incomes, with stackable circular tops decorated with a delicate motif inlaid. The display setting is finished off with the Inari console table by mist-o, a piece of furniture-sculpture which merges traditional Japanese style with Italian design: an opaque black macro-ideogram which personalizes an area of the house, an office, or a hotel room, creating a refined writing area.
The second relax environment is dominated by a large Extra soft composition with an informal appearance and soft comfort, where welcoming and cosy elements are placed alongside each other in regular geometries, surrounded by steel sheet Family Lounge coffee tables and Confident armchairs, with their rounded forms, in olive velvet. The third setting, screened by the Off Cut bookshelves designed by Nathan Yong in the new charcoal dyed finishing with glass shelves, offers a lunchtime the area that can also be used as a meeting room with the Wedge table by Arik Levy in charcoal dyed chestnut wood, whose sculptural base is inspired by the lightness of origami, together with the Maja_D Chairs/armchairs with a house.
In the night-time area, the Rod Bed characterised by the headboard in fabric embellished by quilting details and buttons is accompanied by Stilt bedside tables by Marco Guazzini with drawers of different heights and sizes and Moon Bedside tables by mist-o, consisting of two side by side circle that reveals, when open, its internal surfaces. The Track bench by David Lopez Quincoces with its basic design embellished by the lively finishings of its legs are accompanied by small sculptures in the form of Gray armchairs here in China red lacquered frames and woven backrest in Scooby with square weavings, alongside the fluid forms of the coffee tables from the Rabbit & the Tortoise Collection designed by Studio Juju, also varnished in ruby red.
Finally, the walls feature the FJU desks by khaschisch in the new Stone Oak®finishing, offering a practical workspace that can be closed to free up space whenever you need, creating a wall-mounted container for small objects or a magazine rack. The displays also continue outside the showroom in the square surrounding the tower with an outdoor setting designed by Piero Lissoni and conceived as a temporary public space donated to the city, thus highlighting the three different souls of the Living Divani collection.
