Visionnaire’s Mythica explores themes of nature, sharing, openness and dreaming

Amongst the several offerings by Italian luxury furnishing brand Visionnaire at Salone del Mobile.Milano 2022 was the Mythica Collection. In what marked the joint 60th anniversary of the Salone fair as well as of the brand’s participation in the annual event, the Italian company enthusiastically showcased a wide range of products and installations that sat well under the fair’s theme of sustainability and the extant trends of digital art and design. Mythica was born out of the brand’s desire to build unique habitation spaces. For this, they collaborated with several designers such as Alessandro La Spada, Mauro Lipparini, Draga&Aurel, m2atelier, Studiopepe and Marta Naddeo. The result was a themed furniture design collection fit for adorning classy interior spaces. “Space, on its own, is uninhabitable; it is the things we choose to bring into our lives that give it the value of “home”, the place to which we constantly return. From this viewpoint, designing one’s home means ordering the space to match our emotions and our gestures, gradually developing unique places that feel as sacred as spiritual monuments,” says Eleonore Cavalli, co-founder and art director of Visionnaire.

At the Salone 2022 fair in Milan, Italy, the various rooms of this Mythica habitat were stationed within Visionnaire’s showcase and narrated through six thematic chapters on living, namely the winter garden, the atrium, the convivium, the daytime oasis, the alcove and the boudoir. In accrediting themes to these spaces, the brand moved past and beyond the portrayal of an indoor space as one that can only fulfil utilitarian needs. Instead, it affixed on the desire of creating a haven that can reflect the inhabitant’s emotions and gestures. “Inside each space we imagined for the Mythica collection, the idea of a space filled with daily rituals is revived. This place is dense with life; the walls are steeped in feelings, the columns in memories and the ceilings in our daily gestures,” says Cavalli, who worked in collaboration with designer Alessandro La Spada on the booth design. “Home is not just a separating perimeter, but also a space that frames our bodies, in which people and objects live in a spontaneous harmony of mutual belonging,” she adds.

By involving six international designers and design studios in the process, the Italian brand has managed to create a collection that is diversely stylised and that mirrors varied personal stories, thus making the exposition rich in style, colour and personality. “With the designers, it has been possible to imagine the home as a simulacrum of our personal stories, creating an unique collection. A collection that is born above all thanks to the skills of our craftsmen through traditional Italian craftsmanship techniques that we continue to feed and keep alive,” Cavalli says about these showcases presented at the design week.

The Winter Garden, for example, serves as a space that amalgamates elements from within and without the built space. It was created in order to usher nature inside a habitable space, both to protect it from cold weather and to enrich private lives with natural entities. At Visionnaire’s Salone pavilion, the Winter Garden marked both the beginning and the end of the exhibition pathway, welcoming and bidding adieu to the visitors with warmness. Dotted with items from the Caprice collection designed by Marco Bonelli and Marijana Radovic of m2atelier, this space served as an escape from the monotony of everyday life. “The Capsule collection reminds us of how important it is to live life with passion and a bit of lighthearted nonchalance. The capsule responds to the needs of many different places and moments in life, entering indoor and outdoor spaces with the same easy versatility, producing a sense of home whose essential objective is always the same: comfort,” says Cavalli about the brand’s presentation at the design fair.

Another theme visited upon by the brand, namely the Atrium, ascribes to the title associated with it. Just like an atrium acts like an in-between space between the inside and outside, this space allows the stoppage of the everyday rhythm of life, in order to allow introspection. “The Atrium is the entrance to the dwelling, the point of access to our inner world, the boundary between public and private life. The entrance is a filter between two worlds, where we choose whether to welcome or reject what arrives from outside,” explains Cavalli. This space features the works of Draga&Aurel, who developed a futuristic collection that is characterised by straight and stylised lines and geometric shapes. While the Zoe chairs and AMos table mimic totemic forms, the Aries armchair is chic and minimal.

The Convivium at Visionnaire’s Salone exhibit during the Italian design festival was a space dedicated to sharing and to furthering convivial pleasures. “The protagonist inside the Convivium, the Villa d’Este foodroom by Mauro Lipparini, celebrates the aggregative dimension of living, not only within the family group but also in relation with the outside world, as a gesture of contamination and transformation, in the space that is the symbol of metamorphosis par excellence,” narrates Cavalli, bringing to focus the idea that guided this theme. This space is also dotted with the lighting collection ‘Nuages, Zyklus, Solveig and Syrenes’, designed by Marta Naddeo. Sculpted using the typical craftsmanship techniques of Venice, these softly rounded luminaires come in several different finishes and three different sizes.

Visionnaire’s Daytime Oasis, visualised and populated by Alessandro La Spada, recreates the living space of households. “The Daytime Oasis' is the chapter devoted to the heart of domestic life: the living/dining area. Places where the family gathers, marked by functional versatility with an accent on relaxation, hospitality and welcome,” asserts Cavalli. Some products that were showcased in this setting include the Babylon Rack, Valiant dining tables and the Foster armchairs and sofas, all of which help create a space ideal for lounging and bonding with family and friends.

“The chapter of the Alcove presents the Aubade bed by Alessandro La Spada, which like a horizontal set depicting sunrise, is a composition that alternates full and empty volumes, triggering an effect of perspective in the materiality by the material essence of lighted backdrops in Patagonia marble,” iterates Cavalli about the Alcove section. Derived from the Arabic word al-qubba, which means ‘dome’, the term is also associated with semantic roots in Arab architecture: domes often cover sleeping quarters. Apart from being associated with the act of resting, this is also a space that hides secrets. La Spada’s Aubade bed invites one to come and rest their body and mind in this haven. Other items on display in this area included the Leonardo cabinet, the Kobol bathroom setting and the Bastian bedroom.

Lastly, the Boudoir, which means ‘to pout, to sulk’ in French, is a room reserved for retreating away from others. Dotted with the Blanche mirror and the Parade system designed by Studiopepe, Arianna Lelli Mari and Chiara Di Pinto, Boudoir explores the five senses through their respective concepts. “For this capsule collection excellent forms of Italian expertise have been called into play, in the fields of glassmaking and mirror etching,” Cavalli informs.

The ‘Mythica Collection’ was showcased at Pav 5, Booth L11 - M06, Rho Fiera, Milano, Italy, during Salone del Mobile.Milano 2022.