During the last Milano Design Week Cappellini launched AXO IN FABULA, the project that investigate the theme of socio-cultural regeneration through Elena Salmistraro’s imaginative and surreal language.
The company presents AXO, a funny salamander, shifting in appearance and with an extraordinary ability to regenerate itself.
AXO is a rag doll, such as those of the past which were sewn by grandmothers reusing, re-assembling and regenerating pieces of fabric giving life to unique pieces. Then and now, the rag doll preserves a message of environmental sustainability enriched today as a social value: AXO, in fact, was born from the collaboration with the Cooperativa Alice, promoter of "Ethically made in Italy", the first made in Italy supply chain guaranteed by WFTO (World Fair Trade Organization), together with Il Laboratorio based in Quartoggiaro and Fiori All'Occhiello in Baranzate.
AXO IN FABULA is the result of an exciting choral project focusing on the impact of the textile industry on the environment, but also the importance of the re-inclusion of women and fragile categories in society, to offer them a new opportunity for life and a rebirth. An installation of abstract works defines the path inside the Cappellini showroom, telling the genesis of the project and its concept of change and regeneration. It is a journey through sculptures also made of fabric immortalizing the moments of AXO's growth, from birth to transformation, from its being a fabric-cell to becoming a dream-doll.
The path towards rebirth goes on in the Cappellini showroom also through the reissue of iconic pieces and new products. Among the big names comes back Jasper Morrison with his San Siro: an armchair with a precise design, rigorous shapes and perfect proportions, renewed with new upholstery. Morrison also exhibits the iconic and versatile collection of Tate chairs, offered with new finishes and upholstery and also a remake of the elegant Day Bed, the first product presented by the English designer for Cappellini together with Thinkingman's chair, revisited for the occasion in a light gray velvet and black nylon according to the most contemporary haute couture trends.
Reinterpreted in a new natural finish there is also Hiroi, the essential seat designed by Cyril Dunděra &Matěj Janský both for the home and public spaces. New shades give new life to the two-tone sphere Cord Lamp by Werner Aissingler; the Litos sofa by Sebastian Herkner is enriched with corner and terminal elements allowing the creation of new and wide configurations.
The set-up is completed by some iconic creations of the brand such as the very thin Vendôme table and the small Gong tabletop by Giulio Cappellini, the Riga desk by Marc Newson and the sinuous Side1 designed by Shiro Kuramata. There is no shortage of projects perfectly interpreting the theme of transformation such as the soft and multifaceted Lud'o armchair by Patricia Urquiola and the Marfa seat collection designed by the Cappellini Design Team.