Alessandro Mendini - Design and Design Art New York Thursday, May 24, 2007 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    mouvements modernes, Paris, France

  • Exhibited

    Museo Alchimia, Milan, 1983

  • Literature

    Albrecht Bangert, Italian Furniture Design: Ideas Styles Movements, Munich, 1988, p. 91; Charlotte and Peter Fiell, eds., Design of the 20th Century, Cologne, 1999, p. 35; Charlotte and Peter Fiell, eds., Domus Vol. IX 1980-1984, Cologne, 2006, pp. 224-225 and 455

  • Catalogue Essay

    Italian architect, painter, writer and theorist Alessandro Mendini is revered for his revolutionary approach to design as well as his ability to provide creative solutions for everyday living. Considered one of the ‘fathers’ of Italian postmodernism, Mendini has influenced young designers by constantly challenging the design status quo.

    His work with Studio Alchimia championed banal, inconsequential and kitsch furniture, questioning established attitudes towards value and function and encouraging individual thinking. In the early 1980s Mendini and Studio Alchimia created pieces based on icons of Modernism to challenge the long-held association between good design, good taste and the modern aesthetic.

    The Scivolando chair takes that notion one step further by elevating a common object to a new height, one where the spirit of the chair, the story it tells, and the lyrical quality are held above function. This design takes a common form and materials and transforms them into a valuable object by placing the chair at a slightly off-kilter angle so as to posit the object in a new light.

    There are four examples of this chair: one in silver, one in red, and two in glass.

254

Rare and important “Scivolando” chair

1983
Mirrored glass, wood. Manufactured by Gavina S.p.A, Italy for Alchimia. From the "Collezione Oggetti Senza Tempo" (Timeless Object Collection).
55 1/8 in. (140 cm) high

Estimate
$40,000 - 60,000 

Sold for $54,000

Design and Design Art

24 May 2007
2pm New York