This Is Living Now: Bottega Veneta’s New Home Collection At Salone Del Mobile 2016

For those unfamiliar with Salone Del Mobile, it is an annual furniture fair in Milan, where the who’s who of the furniture design world and home-design enthusiasts (including fashion designers) gather to ooh-and-ahh over brilliantly designed home objects and interiors. For Thomas Maier: creative director of Bottega Veneta, the exhibition is a yearly deubt of the brand’s entire home collection since 2014— much like fashion week for clothing - but more importantly, it serves as a platform to draw attention to the brand’s craftsmanship and their innovation to offer beautiful renditions of their signature intrecciato motif—furniture in this case. (Languid hammock stools, bronze drawer handles and a set of bronze tables—a collaborative piece with Italian jeweler Osanna Visconti di Modrone—were among the Bottega Veneta’s Home pieces that celebrates the motif).

The collection also includes deliciously plush suede sofas, hand-painted porcelain tableware and a series of sterling silver collectible boxes—each taking after the name of planets. Each furniture is immaculately aligned and the entirety of Maier's conjured show space akin to what a night in a museum would feel like. Hugged by coffered ceilings and stone walls, you feel cozy; right at home but at the same time antiquated. In awe of the historic beauty that surrounds you—marble busts from the 1^st century BC, Roman columns and an elegant backdrop of the 18th century Palazzo Gallarati Scotti.

By James Lennon Tan