aldo cibic presents 'aesthetics of vitality' with works from his memphis era to present day

during milan design week, italian architect aldo cibic exhibited a selection of his projects at the savona 18 suites, a boutique hotel in the lively tortona district, which he recently renovated with his own furnishing designs. including works from his memphis years to present day, aesthetics of vitality presented cibic’s various objects, drawings, photographs, and installations, inviting visitors to learn more about his artistic skills and language as they evolved throughout the years.

exhibition images by serena acampora

‘there is a soul when there is a life, and there is a life when there is a soul. somehow it’s always what I try to do in whatever I do: something that is beyond the style and that is bringing a nice feeling – something that you enjoy seeing,’ aldo cibic mentions. aesthetics of vitality runs through four interior spaces of the savona 18 suites: the reception hall, the lobby, the petit café, and the garden 18 area, which follow on, one after the other, in a ‘fluid’ story with a variety of references and dialogues between different eras and genres. upon entering, visitors encountered andy, sandy and louis, three pieces of cibic’s final memphis year, which reveal the way in which his language evolved. the three elements are complementary, but at the same time are characterized by their individual character, surrounded by drawings that illustrate their concepts.

‘I remember a long weekend when i started planning the design of these pieces, and as I gradually produced the drawings I would make a note of the date and the time,’ cibic adds. ‘here, at the exhibition, I decided that I would let visitors see some of the early drawings that reveal the way in which the pieces were conceived and developed, illustrating the beginning of the process and the final results.’

in the reception hall, a large, six-meter, wooden tibetan desk with a warm, vermilion-red finish and screen-printed OSB panelling, coexists with a wooden, three-legged yellow bench by bisazza, while a trio brass lamp designed for ghidini 1961 rests on it. further in, the large ‘living-room’ area of the savona 18 suites is conceived as a harmoniously designed communal space, a dominant feature of which is the large lucky eye ‘mirror lamp’. assisted by tommaso corà at the cibicworkshop, cibic designed this curved mirror surrounded by oled lighting. beneath the mirror there is the otto dining table with a rectangular surface and rounded corners, oblique square-section legs and a satin-finish brass surface.

just a short distance away, the ellissima bookcase, made with L-shaped wooden elements in a glossy yellow lacquer finish rests on a base made of ziricote wood. again, the accompanying drawings offer an idea of the long period of development of this piece of furniture, from the mid-1980s to the present day, and show how the design gradually evolved. next to it, the pouffa seat is presented for the first time. covered with a lozenge-pattern fabric, this piece has six orange-coloured plexiglas legs. on one of the walls a giant poster shows an image of the piggy carafe that was designed for paola C. referring to this piece, cibic says, ‘this is perhaps the object i love the most.’

on the shelves there are other objects designed for paola C., such as those forming part of the table joy collection, together with the corresponding preparatory drawings. in the bar area the centerpiece placed above the counter is the dune landscape created by blumohito. the walls are covered by a series of images and photographs of projects such as the pocket landscape collection. in the hall there is a lamp produced by venini specifically for the savona 18 suites interior, and other lamps from the lou collection produced by the same brand. some reproductions of palladian villas created for the ‘gioco della villa’ exhibition-display project have been placed on one of the window shelves. the garden 18 area, an internal 310-sq.m courtyard, which, with the roda design sofas and armchairs, has been transformed into a large open-air lounge, will contain nicescapes, landscape-paintings by blumohito specifically produced for this exhibition.

born in schio in the province of vicenza in 1955, aldo cibic is a self-taught designer. in 1977 he met ettore sottsass in milan. he became a partner of the sottsass & associati studio and in 1981 was one of the founders of the memphis group. cibic immediately adopted experimentation as a fundamental practice in his professional activity. at the end of the 1980s he founded the cibic studio and in 1991 he launched the ‘standard’ range of furniture and accessories, an early collection of works which he produced entirely by himself. in the same period he began his research activities, cooperating with various universities, and inaugurating the idea of promoting design projects in the services sector.