For the Prada men’s SS19 show which was held in Milan, AMO, a research and design studio – that also presented the pop-up museum, housed in the Palais d’Iéna, where the Miu Miu SS12 show was held – stages a back-to-basics yet sophisticated setup that brings fashion into the foreground.
The rough imperfection of the venue in Via Fogazzaro, Milan, is counterbalanced by the Cartesian (relating to the French philosopher René Descartes’s mathematical ideas) precision of the set, which magnifies the industrial elegance of the space. The room is treated as an architectural field that controls the show’s dynamics: a grid defines the areas occupied by guests, while four different trajectories are left unoccupied for models to cross the room longitudinally, enforcing a strict serial layout.
A geometric pattern invades the room, a manifestation of the principles that organize the show’s choreography. Numbers and symbols define the exact positioning of the actors in the space, alluding to geographic coordinates of remote places.
To complete the set, inflatable stools by Verner Panton – an exclusive re-edition of the 1960s piece, produced by VERPAN for PRADA – were selected for their contemporary attitude, lightness and transparency. The entire room is covered in translucent sheets to produce an installation that disappears in the dim light of rare glowing sources, giving the room a psychedelic yet uncanny atmosphere.
The Inflatable Stool: An Exclusive Re-edition of the 1960’s Piece Produced by Verpan for Prada
Today you might be seeing an inflatable stool everywhere, but in the Men’s SS19 show by Prada, the Maison had an exclusive re-edition of the 1960’s piece designed by the late renowned Danish designer and pioneer, Verner Panton. Verpan, as the licensed producer of Verner Panton designs, has produced the inflatable stool, made from transport film that is welded together and inflated to form a cubic shape. The stool wears a unique VERPAN for PRADA inscription.
Introduced in the early 1960’s, the Inflatable Stool by Verner Panton was one of the first ever pieces of furniture made from inflatable material. The Inflatable Stool is a great example of Panton’s curiosity and bold approach to new materials. It also displays his unique flair for thinking in systems, as the cubes were designed to be used either individually or in multiples to create a lounge or daybed.
With the Inflatable Stool, Panton created an unpretentious piece that despite its unassuming presence offers an extraordinary visual quality to the seating experience, which can best be described as ‘floating on air’. At the time, Panton unfortunately was not able to perfect the method of welding, and the Inflatable Stool was never put into series production. The light and transparent material appealed to Panton, as it allowed for great mobility, flexibility and creativity in the design and usage of the products, and made it easy to move the pieces and adapt them to suit different circumstances and spaces.
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