Following the rebooted Milan Furniture Fair last September, More Space takes a look at the work of new faces behind Acerbis and Living Divani, a group of young international designers who are busy rethinking interiors in a fresh way while digging deep into the archives.
In 2019 designers David Lopez Quinococes and Francesco Meda took the creative helm of Acerbis, a company founded in 1870 by Benvenuto Acerbis in Bergamo, Italy. Back in the 1960s Acerbis introduced innovative industrial production and began collaborating with design trailblazers Vico Magistretti, Nanda Vigo, Gianfranco Frattini, Mario Bellini and Andrea Branzi. That approach continues today as the Acerbis family is shaped under the brand ambassadorship of Enrico Acerbis who represents the family’s fourth generation.
Since joining Acerbis, Quinococes and Meda have dug into the group’s richly layered back catalogue to explore the brand’s early experimentation. From the archives, they have now developed the ‘Remasters' collection with re-editions including the 1974 Life sofa and 1976 Jot chair, 1980s classics including the Menhir and Creso tables (the latter receiving a coveted Compasso d’Oro Award in 1989), and the 1994 Storat cabinet that has been re-worked in bright lacquer and wood contrasting.
The 1974 Life sofa rereleased by Acerbis in 2020. Photo inside the Acerbis showroom in Milan © Alberto-Strada c/o Acerbis.
In the tradition of the Bauhaus and the masterful use of the cantilever, the Jot chair's tubular chrome-frame and swooping form has been updated with raw hide leather. While Roberto Monsani’s Life sofa and its flexible, modular design has been slightly elongated and tweaked to create new versions in dark stained walnut, black ash, and upholstered in silky-soft velvet. It’s work that has been recognised by Elle Decor Italia who recently nominated the duo for a 'Designer of The Year' gong at the magazine’s 2021 International Design Awards, and highlights the furniture house’s potent heritage and new design chapter.
The Menhir table by Acerbis. Photos c/o Acerbis.
Designers David Lopez Quinococes and Francesco Meda who joined Acerbis as creative directors in 2019. Photo c/o Acerbis.
The Jot chair designed in 1976 and re-released in 2020 as part of the ‘Remasters' collection by Acerbis. Photo c/o Acerbis.
The Storat cabinet re-released in 2021 has been re-worked in bright lacquer and wood contrasting and forms part of Acerbi's ‘Remasters' collection. Photo c/o Acerbis.
The multifaceted Life sofa first designed in 1974 and re-released by Acerbis in 2019 for their ‘Remasters' collection. Photo c/o Acerbis.
The classic Creso table that received a coveted Compasso d’Oro Award in 1989. Photo c/o Acerbis.
Studio Mist-O’s Tommaso Nani and Noa Ikeuchi who run their design office from Milan and Tokyo. Photo c/o Living Divani.
The additons to Mist-O's Moon collection for Living Divani include Moon Eclipse (left), Moon Satellite (centre) and Full Moon, a range of clever storage vessels. Photos c/o Living Divani.
Inside the Moon Eclipse by Mist-O for Living Divani released in 2021. Photo c/o Living Divani.
Interior detail of Full Moon by Mist-O for Living Divani released in 2021. Photo c/o Living Divani.
Designer Marco Levit and the Lemni armchair for Living Divani. Photos c/o Living Divani.
Island side tables and coffee tables, following, designed by Stephen Burks for Living Divani. Photos c/o Living Divani.
The Kasbar sofa system designed by David Lopez Quinococes for Living Divani in 2021. Photo c/o Living Divani.
The Sailor storage system designed by David Lopez Quinococes for Living Divani in 2019. Photo c/o Living Divani.
The Era Skitorio desk designed by David Lopez Quinococes in 2020. Photo c/o Living Divani.
While the Milan-based David Lopez Quinococes also works closely with Livng Divani under the creative direction of Piero Lissoni and Carola Bestetti whose perceptive design scouting is focused on a new generation of designers, and has described their collection of projects by young talent as “the balance between different cultures, perceptions and experiences”. Based in Milan since 2005 where he began a collaboration with Piero Lissoni before opening his own studio Quincoces-Dragò & partners, he practices architecture, graphics, interior and industrial design. Quinococes completed the Sailor storage system and the Era Skitorio in 2020, and the Kasbar in 2021, three pieces that focus on what the designer describes as "relaxed and informal without giving up the elegance and delicacy of forms”
Other new pieces at Living Divani include the highly detailed Islands table collection by African-American designer and architect Stephen Burks who sees design as the final frontier of culture and whose studio Man Made based in Brooklyn, New York, was founded by Burks to highlight the hand of the maker. “I got into design through art,” he remarked recently, “our practice is about the scale of the hand, the body and the interior." Also new to Living Divani is the Lemni armchair by Italian designer Marco Levit. A beautifully sculptural piece, the seat made of saddle leather hangs on a black tubular steel structure with clear lines and a lot of style. While Italian/Japanese design studio Mist-O’s Noa Ikeuchi and Tommaso Nani, who are based in Tokyo and Milan, have expanded their 2014 Moon bedside table into three new versions – Full Moon, Moon Eclipse and Moon Satellite – creating a range of multifunctional storage units that, like all of the duo’s work, finds common ground in the simplicity of their design expression.
With the geographically spread of design teams working with Living Divani and Acerbis, its the broad insights of their cross-cultural collaboration that benefits each and every project.
Living Divani and Acerbis are available exclusively from Space – Australia and Space – Singapore and Malaysia.
