At Italian design house Moroso, the second-generation family affair has created and curated an extraordinary collection of armchairs (as well as an extensive array of other furniture pieces). A melange of shapes and sizes, every seat is an individual character in a cast of colourful personalities.
Diversity
Through its eclectic approach to design, Moroso is ‘celebrating diversity’: the diversity between spaces and the people who inhabit them; the diversity in design as an expression of varied perspectives and forms. Moroso thinks of its many designs as ‘places in places’—more than functional objects, the brand’s designs add a certain level of iconicity to a place. Every Moroso product has a particular design idiom, something that is especially pertinent to its broad range of armchairs. By working with multifarious international designers, Moroso offers a chair for every occasion, situation and location. The ‘too many chairs’ dilemma is not—it would appear—one that troubles Moroso.
Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola has created a veritable army of designs for Moroso. In the ‘Lowseat’, Urquiola designed a flexible modular seating system, whose back also offers a moment of rest. Photo courtesy of Architonic.
Lowseat as a modular seating system. Photo courtesy of Architonic.
Dutch designer Edward Van Vliet created the ‘Karmakoma’ armchair as part of a collection inspired by ‘damask embroidery, oriental symbolism, floral patterns and digital grids.’ Photo courtesy of Architonic.
Ingenuity
Moroso came into being in 1952. Originally managed by Agostino Moroso, the company is now run by his two children: Roberto Moroso, the CEO, and Patrizia Moroso, the creative director. Established in post-war Italy, Moroso was part of a culture that believed in ‘doing things and doing them well’. With prescient insight and an openness to novel ideas, Moroso has employed considerable ingenuity to create an idiosyncratic world of design. In researching new ideas, Moroso draws on the arenas of industrial design, contemporary art and fashion. Its research is a journey of discovery and possibility.
Designed by Patricia Urquiola, ‘Bohemian’ utilises button tufting, creating a seat that resembles a shawl draped on its frame. Photo courtesy of Architonic.
Working with a roster of celebrated designers, Patrizia Moroso asks that they refrain from imagining a single object, but instead ‘imagine a new world and project it into the future.’ A tall order perhaps, but one that is translated across Moroso’s myriad of design moments. At Moroso, the armchair represents ‘a privileged area of design and production research’.
Spanish designer Javier Mariscal’s ‘Alessandra’ armchair is a postmodern affair, inspired by a world of comic books. Photo courtesy of Architonic.
Tord Boontje’s ‘Senegal-O’ chair was inspired by a dreamcatcher, made by the designer’s daughter (Evie) for his birthday. Like Boontje’s Shadowy chair, the Senegal-O chair is handwoven by skilled Senegalese craftsmen. Photo courtesy of Dezeen.
‘Bouquet’ was designed by Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka. The chair’s ‘bouquet’ of petals is made using squares of fabric, each one painstakingly hand-folded and sewn. Photo courtesy of Architonic.
Gerard is a writer, a thinker and a modern-day gentleman living in a modish neighbourhood in south Belfast. Walnut Grey Design is his popular manifesto of good design. From Gerard’s discerning perspective, design should be aesthetic, smart, honest and gratifying. Moreover, it must be for keeps.
A self-confessed urbanite, Gerard is enthralled b[...]
