At the ADI Design Museum the Salvati and Tresoldi x Saporiti Italia exhibition. With a focus on the Miamina armchair

The ADI Design Museum in Milan is hosting the ART COLORS DESIGN / Salvati e Tresoldi x Saporiti Italia exhibition from Oct. 7 to 22, 2023, created in collaboration with Studio Salvati of Milan and Studio GPT / Gaffurini Pagani Tresoldi of Lugano. The exhibition traces ten years of intense collaboration between Saporiti Italia, a historic Italian design company founded in 1948 by Sergio Saporiti in Besnate (Varese), and Studio Salvati and Tresoldi.

The exhibition itinerary is developed in the Compasso d’Oro Hall, with the intention of highlighting the peculiarities that have characterized the design meeting between these two realities, starting from the close relationship between art, architecture and design. An intuition that Salvati and Tresoldi’s work has been able to develop both with the creation of historical furnishing objects produced in the 1980s by Saporiti Italia, such as the Omaggi and Diana chairs, the Geometric and El Lissitksy tables and the Miamina armchair, exhibited together with drawings and publications, and with experiences such as the Moderno e Moderno exhibition at the Galleria del Milione.

Graduates in 1960 from the Milan Polytechnic with Carlo De Carli, promoter of the concept of primary space, that is, the fundamental space of living, Alberto Salvati and Ambrogio Tresoldi develop their work in the refutation of the principles of the rationalist movement and, in particular, Le Corbusier’s machine for living. They transform living spaces from primary spaces into spaces of freedom, changing the concept of the living cell from a refuge environment to a stage open to the spectacle of daily living. Through their work between 1960 and 1980, Salvati and Tresoldi enlivened the Milanese cultural scene by bringing to the center of their research the confluence of art and architecture, especially through the use of color. Gio Ponti, who directed Domus magazine in those years, understood and published Salvati and Tresoldi’s research on the evolution of the living cell, also enhancing their working method, based on the principle of interdisciplinarity, on the collaboration between architects, artists, craftsmen and art industries.

Parallel to the account of Salvati and Tresoldi’s research on architecture and design, the exhibition devotes a section to the re-edition of the historic Miamina seat (Honorable Mention at the Compasso d’Oro Award in 1985) in a new version inspired by twenty cities around the world: Miami, Milan, Rome, Rome, Venice, Paris, London, Barcelona, Berlin, Monte Carlo, New York, Los Angeles, Dubai, Riyadh, Lagos, Singapore, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Sydney. The covers of the armchairs dedicated to the “Saporiti Cities” are made by the Fosca Milano art workshop with precious fabrics, yarns, weaves and embroideries, which are inspired by the characteristics of each of the cities where Saporiti Italia has carried out major furniture projects.

Salvati & Tresoldi for Saporiti Italia

In the 1980s, Salvati and Tresoldi created a number of objects for Saporiti Italia that were important for the company’s commercial success and brought it closer to the world of art, particularly with the Moderno & Moderno exhibition at the Galleria del Milione and the Saporiti & Missoni exhibition at the Rotonda della Besana.

The Omaggi chairs, direct references to the works of Arp, Balla, Fontana, Paladino, Malevich, and Warhol; the Miamina armchair, a cloth on which to “paint” with the utmost creativity; and the Geometric table, which can be disassembled and hung on the wall like a painting, are some of the most interesting examples of this research referring to the art world.

“Salvati and Tresoldi’s work and references to the world of art, which were so important and innovative for design in those years, are in perfect harmony not only with the design research of Saporiti Italia today, but also with the cultural, social and promotional activities that since the early 2000s and still today Saporiti Italia has been proposing through collaboration and support of museums, cultural and artistic organizations,” said Raffaele Saporiti, president of Saporiti Italia.

The Miamina armchair

Saporiti Italia’s Miamina folding armchair was created in 1984 as a reinterpretation of the Tripolina, the folding seat made of wood and fabric used by the British Army in the African campaigns since the 1800s, which had already been redesigned in the 1930s by Bonet, Kurchan and Ferrari (BKF/Butterfly) and later, in 1995, by Magistretti (Kenya).

Salvati and Tresoldi’s 1984 version for Saporiti Italia was named after the Saporiti Italia showroom in Miami, where it was presented and launched on the market. The Miamina is characterized by a rather advanced mechanical structure and the extreme originality of the seat cloth. The chrome-plated or painted steel rods that form the base and support for the seat are connected by means of a complex cast-iron joint, which allows them to be bent and picked up. The seat cloth is made from multicolored fabrics and leathers from the Saporiti Italia collection, or from fabrics created for Saporiti Italia by Ottavio and Rosita Missoni, embossed leathers by Guido Pasquali, or woven leathers by Gegia Bronzini.

The Miamina, Honorable Mention at the 1985 Compasso d’Oro Award, was featured by the ADI Design Museum in the Take Your Seat exhibition at the 2021 Milan Furniture Fair.

From Cambi a charity auction for special editions of the Miamina

As was the case in 2022 for the one hundred “Jumbo” armchairs designed by Alberto Rosselli and reissued by Saporiti Italia on the occasion of the 100+1 exhibition at the ADI Design Museum, this year Saporiti Italia is again producing a special series of objects that will be sold by Cambi Casa d’Aste for charity. The star of the auction is the Miamina armchair, in a version dedicated to twenty cities where Saporiti Italia has carried out important projects.

Each of the twenty Miamina armchairs inspired by the “Saporiti Cities” and produced in a single numbered piece signed by the Fosca Milano art workshop, will be auctioned by Cambi in conjunction with the Art Colors Design exhibition. Proceeds from the auction will be used by Saporiti Italia to support and promote the activities of the Sergio Saporiti Study and Research Center and, in particular, to enhance the knowledge and development of industrial design, architecture, art professions and creativity.

For info: www.adidesignmuseum.org

Image: Miamina, Design Salvati & Tresoldi, 1984, original Missoni fabrics for Saporiti Italia. Photo by Salvati and Erpini.

At the ADI Design Museum the Salvati and Tresoldi x Saporiti Italia exhibition. With a focus on the Miamina armchair

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