Feel the quality

Furniture is a little bit like a partner, a boyfriend or a girlfriend. Such relationships remain interesting as long as the parties involved keep talking to each other. Which is why, as everybody knows, opposites attract. Geometric lines are looking for flowing curves and the hardness of wood for a softer side to lean on. This kind of smooth interaction, this delicate balance between individual attributes and their qualities is also the subject of Ferrari’s “Editions”, three furniture collections whose combination of simplicity and subtlety is truly inspiring. “For me, design is the expression of optimism, amazement and potential,” is how the founder of Studio Paolo Ferrari puts his passion into words. Along with his team he is looking for the kind of holistic ideas that think ahead and yet remain timelessly relevant. “We aspire to design the kind of furniture that is both functional and skillfully executed, that is the product of a clear concept and is suitable for the times we live in, as well as advancing the dialogue on design.”

“Edition Three” is the most recent of his creations and consists of eight individual items of furniture boasting futuristic shapes and rounded edges; they come in a range of muted colors. Every piece in the collection presents its own particular tactility and its own manner of expressing itself. For example, the classic lounge chair is interpreted as a “Balance Lounge” which resembles a spinning top whose walnut base relaxes into the pale fabric of its upholstery. Even softer lines are in evidence in “Carved Wood Lounge Chair” whose wooden armrests merge to form a backrest onto which the upholstery abuts. The only splash of color comes from the rusty red “Extra Low Rolled Back Lounge”, a sofa made of outsized cushions that appears to be hovering above the ground. As with Ferrari’s earlier “Edition One” and “Edition Two”, each item of furniture represents both a dialogue between shape and function and the duality of restraint and decadence. However, for each collection Ferrari takes a different conceptual starting point, which he develops in contrasting ways for each item. It is only this process that allows both the delicate hues of the individual objects and their dialogues to resonate with purchasers.

Ferrari who, prior to establishing his own design studio in Toronto, spent many years as head interior designer with the great names in multinational luxury product manufacture such as Four Seasons, Viceroy and LVMH, sees his furniture designs as an extension of his work to date. And as an answer to the things he had always missed in furniture design before then. The kind of furniture that only reveals itself to its users when they take a closer look at it and that occupies more space than a mere shape. What links his various “Editions” is not visual similarities but a sense of sensual balance which results from the way they interact. “When designing them what I had in mind was Casa Malparte,” explains Ferrari. “Not a traditional beach house but a subtle place, one which has a certain tense relationship with nature.” For Ferrari, the main way in which this subtle interplay of relationships is reflected is in the choice and combination of materials: “For me the tactility of objects is particularly important for expressing their character. How materials feel in people’s hands, their weight and textures, or, in a wider context, the way that furniture invites people to interact with it. We have no desire to create museum pieces. I love it when people cannot keep their hands off our furniture.” To make sure his ideas and furniture remain in people’s minds, an “Edition Four” is already in the pipeline, with its launch planned for 2019. As with all the other collections to date this one will also be manufactured in Toronto. A statement about the importance of regionality and about handcrafting which, in these days of globalization, is particularly important to Ferrari.