There is a world that is born and evolves on the border between art and design and Eleonore Cavalli is the right person to talk about it. Welcome to Visionnaire's Wunderkammer

Unique, not replicable, yet reproducible. When you talk about furniture, Visionnaire almost seems to express itself by oxymorons. A feature that goes well with the approach of a brand that has always moved on an axis in which art and design interpenetrate, creating hybrids, worlds to explore and get lost in: with the eyes and with the mind…

Eleonore Cavalli, Head of Global Marketing & Communication and Creative Director of the brand, accompanies us in this universe.

Visionnaire and art: how do they dialogue with each other?

Ours is a story of great passion for the world of art: our Wunderkammer, at the Visionnaire Design Gallery in Milan, was born from the desire to break the barriers between forms of creative expression, offering a rich exhibition calendar.

The exhibition that we have now inaugurated, and which will last until July 30, is entitled Regine: unique works, created with photographs of nineteenth-century female nudes, updated by the pictorial intervention of Paolo Leonardo. A message of freedom that breaks the stereotypes linked to beauty: here the centrality of the role of the woman wins, who from a pictorial “object” becomes an individual “subject” beyond imperfections.

Because art has the merit of anticipating sensibilities, trends, events that then also touch the world of design: it is inspiration and leads to contamination, another fundamental word for Visionnaire, of stylistic forms, materials and different worlds.

Passion and inspiration. How does this union materialize?

We had already won, in 2014, the contest organized by Harrods to set up its windows with a project by Alessandro La Spada, Sandrino's Butcher. A work of Art Design that evoked the Sicilian atmosphere. From here, in 2019, we created the installation The Garden of Beauty, a capsule collection born from the collaboration with the artist and designer Marc Ange, inspired by the peacock: a fragile and seductive animal, which defends itself only with its beauty.

Continuing this journey, in our latest Beauty collection, we have translated the concept of beauty into everyday life by involving designers with artistic talent with a strong propensity for experimenting with materials. Like Draga & Aurel who signed, among others, the Lego table and console characterized by the combination of two materials, treated with different finishes: the shiny gold of the metal contrasts with the opaque black of the concrete which, poured into a mold together with Himalayan salt, it is eroded on the surface creating a suggestive and unique effect. A successful contrast that brings two opposites closer: the preciousness of gold and the brutalism of concrete. Not only that, through a system of screws, hidden under the top, Lego can change shape, stretching or shrinking, giving the possibility to create customized compositions. The Douglas program designed by La Spada also belongs to this collection, instead created by subtraction: in the sofa, for example, the curved metal profiles in the base ideally remove part of the padding of the armrest, creating an unusual effect.

What is sustainability for Visionnaire?

We are a meta-luxury company and for us luxury is an expression of exclusivity but also and above all of corporate values ​​that are expressed in respect of the territory in which we operate. That is, in being 100% Made in Italy, in the enhancement of our resources, in the traceability of materials. A sustainable attitude has a thousand nuances that also affect the work ethic. I'll give you an example: when there was a production stop, we helped the smaller companies that collaborate with us. Because it is not enough to just safeguard one's own reality: we live in an interconnected world and the relationships that create value must be protected and nurtured.

Has the period we are living in changed anything in your design approach?

You live more at home and you feel the need to combine multiple functions in a single room by creating, for example, the gym corner or the study area in the bedroom. On this Visionnaire is creating innovative solutions that we will present in September.