FABRICA pays tribute to Andy Cameron, inspirational mentor and teacher, deep thinker and lovely friend.
Thank you for the eight wonderful years you shared with us.
We will fondly remember you.
London WC1N 1JD (UK)
After the presence at MOST during the “Salone del Mobile” of Milan, from the 22nd to the 24th of May, Searching for Cassiopeia, a limited edition collection of 12 concept chairs designed by Fabrica for the Italian Chair District, will be showcased at the Clerkenwell Design Week in London, a three-day festival celebrating design's creative richness, social relevance and technological advancements through an exciting programme of workshops, presentations, product launches and debates.
From 21st to 24th May: Crypt of the Museum of the Order of St John
St John's Lane, Clerkenwell, London, EC1M4DA
From 25th May till the end of June: W Hotel
10 Wardour Street, Leicester Square, London, W1D 6QF
Searching for Cassiopeia is an exploration of this constellation often known as Cassiopeia’s Chair. To those who have always thought that sitting is a banal and ultimately repetitive gesture, the project - which was recently presented at MOST, an epicenter for the freshest ideas in communication, food, culture, design and the digital industrial revolution instigated by Tom Dixon for Milan Design Week 2012 - shows that a throne is very different from a step, a chaise longue very different from a bench, a stool entirely the opposite of a small armchair. It shows that to relax after a day’s hard work you need the right backrest, and that there is nothing better than falling into soft padded mat with your loved one.
In the fall 2011, a group of young designers from Fabrica, Benetton’s communications research centre, visited some of the companies that make up the Italian Chair District, a centre for manufacturing excellence located in the hearth of Italian Region Friuli Venezia Giulia, where the value of tradition and experience, the importance of design and the attention paid to environmental issues merge together and are passed down from generation to generation.
From this encounter and from the comprehension of the expertise of the Italian Chair District, twelve designs were born, each piece an original and masterly interpretation of the act of sitting. The challenge set to the creative mind of Fabrica was clear: to create a sitting collection that highlighted the manufacturing skills and capacities of the Italian Chair District, giving prominence to the different manufacturing techniques available, extolling the industry’s distinctive features, giving importance to the various production phases while showing the world the range of materials the District is capable of melding and transforming. Bending, assembling, turning, painting and upholstering are just some of the techniques used in this collection.
Searching for Cassiopeia
CDW 2012 - Crypt of the Museum of the Order of St John
22nd - 24th May
10am - 9pm
W Hotel
25th May - end of June
Cary Murnion, co-principal with Jonathan Milott of Honest, a New York based video and interactive media studio, will hold a three-day workshop at Fabrica, from May 14th to 16th, 2012. Participation is free and open to a maximum of 10 external participants, selected by review of CV and portfolio that must be emailed to both omar.vulpinari@fabrica.it and ries.straver@fabrica.it. Lunch and facilities included.
Workshop brief: Using Humor to Trascend Social Restrictions and Create Dialog: Creating a Common Language with Laughs
Visuals that cross barriers and inspire someone to laugh can be very powerful. Having someone laugh while making that person THINK can be even more powerful and create something magical. Cary Murnion will be talking about how laughter inspired to start Honest, how it carries through in their own work a full 12 years later, and dissecting some of the work that most ispires them. He will figure out what are the elements that make these projects successful. He will also present some spectacular failures that ended up creating laughter without even trying. Together we'll laugh, we'll cry, we'll learn. Honest.
