USM-Haller is celebrating its birthday, we’d like to move into an embassy and flower-shaped lamps are fighting the winter blues for us: here are our current favorites from the design world.
We Love
MAKEOVER DELUXE
What associations does the word embassy trigger? Paperwork, bureaucracy and the like? Normally, at least, you wouldn’t think of top-class design. But thanks to Porro’s makeover, the Italian embassy in London now looks better than any celebrity villa you can admire on Architectural Digest. The second and third floors of the historic 1868 building at 4 Grosvenor Square – the official residence of Italian ambassador Inigo Lambertini and his family – have been carefully redesigned. The storage system of walk-in closets designed by Piero Lissoni and CRS Porro played a key role in the project. However, there are not only several dressing rooms, but also guest rooms and bedrooms that have been given a new lease of life. We’d really like to take an in-depth tour of this building, where private life merges with high-profile work.
Nice to Have
MOOD ENHANCER
Minimalists now have to be strong or look away. Because Italian designer Alessandra Baldereschi incorporates everything into her glass creations – nature, animals, plenty of creativity and playfulness and no boredom. For Dilmos, she has designed six pastel-colored lamps in the shape of flowers. As soon as they start to glow, other colors appear. The perfect accessory for anyone who is longing for spring before winter has even arrived.
Darling
NEW THOUGHT
Design is all about constantly reinventing everything. Gordon Guillaumier knows that rattan is not just for outdoor furniture that is then carelessly left out in the rain. If you bend the material with steam and dye it dark, as he did for his “Pan” armchair for Frigerio, you suddenly get a completely new kind of home sculpture that you don’t want to get up from thanks to its soft upholstery.
Anniversary
EVERYBODY’S DARLING
When a design is an integral part of both open-plan offices and private homes, everything has been done right. The iconic USM Haller furniture systems have now been part of every room for 60 years. The origins of the Swiss brand go back a few decades further: Ulrich Schärer founded a metalworking shop in Münsingen near Bern in 1885. The name “USM” combines his initials and those of the place of foundation. His grandson, Paul Schärer Jr., joined the company in 1961 after completing his engineering studies and ushered in a new era, from which the USM Haller modular furniture system finally emerged in 1965 in collaboration with architect and designer Fritz Haller. Even if a USM piece remains an eternal classic, the company is not short of new ideas. From next year, there will be Soft Panels: textile elements that can be integrated into the structure of the system using magnets, giving the furniture a new character.
Collaboration
MATERIAL GIRLS AND BOYS
Give designers materials and let them get started. That’s the magic formula for creative furniture dreams. Fenix – material professionals for interior design – and Formica – inventors of high-pressure laminate – have made use of this. The results include the “Sunrise Desk” and “Fred”. For the “Sunrise Desk”, Parisian studio Uchronia dug deep into the 1960s and probably watched “Star Wars” on the side. Bright orange and rounded shapes transform the home office into a retro space mission. For “Fred”, Italian designer Federica Biasi has thrown all ideas of what a sofa can be overboard. Her chaise longue with different material textures is reminiscent of a sculpture, but belongs in the middle of the living room as the most exciting seating option.
fenixforinteriors.com, formica.com
