FRILLY, Patricia Urquiola’s first chair for Kartell
Frilly, Kartell’s latest full-colour polycarbonate chair designed by Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola, was a big hit at the most recent edition of Milan’s Salone del Mobile, 2008.
Pretty, soft, light and irreverent like an 18th century damsel, Frilly is all dressed in pleats: the entire body and frame are covered with an undulating effect to create a sensual, playful and feminine look.
But the bright and vibrantly coloured plastic, moulded into curves and waves, is also reminiscent of natural elements: the turquoise of a crystal-clear waterfall, the anthracite grey of a petrified lava flow, the yellow, orange and fuchsia of the iridescent wings of a butterfly. And in the black or white versions, Frilly becomes a true industrial sculpture.
The broad, comfortable seat and the high back make Frilly ideal for living rooms, while its solidity, stability and lively colour palette make it perfect for contract and outdoor uses.
Kartell Chairman Claudio Luti believes that “This chair is the perfect expression of Kartell’s know-how and skill in working plastics, especially transparencies, and in treating surfaces and textures to create new and surprising optical and tactile effects.”
Patricia Urquiola, who has been working with Kartell since 2005, describes Frilly thus: “I designed this chair as an oversized shape which is then ‘deformed’ and enriched, to create a ‘fabric effect’. I think that Frilly is feminine but not nostalgic; rather it’s totally contemporary, combining emotion and functionality.”
Urquiola is one of the few female designers to have found major success on an international scale. She brings an extremely personal feminine touch to all the products she creates for Kartell, including the T-Table, whose surface is reminiscent of lace, and the Usame coffee table and magazine holder, with a delicate gingko leaf pattern on its top.
Frilly’s production launch will be promoted worldwide through a series of events at the brand’s major flagship stores in Paris, Milan, Madrid, New York and Los Angeles. Naturally, the star of the events will be the lovely pleated Frilly, in all her multi-coloured splendour.
Patricia Urquiola, FRILLY
Material: transparent or mass-tinted polycarbonate
Dimensions: L. 42 cm, seat L 41 cm; D. 50 cm, chair D 43; H. 80 cm, seat H 48 cm
Colours: transparent: crystal, yellow, orange, fuchsia, turquoise, smoke grey
opaque: white, black
Kartell Flagship Store
39 Greene Street
10013 New York
pressoffice@kartell.it
www.kartell.it
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November 23rd, 2008 at 5:04 am
“feminine but not nostalgic; rather it’s totally contemporary, combining emotion and functionality.” – this a great description of her style in general and I am sure that it is the reason why so many of us like her designs.