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Podcast no. 9: Inspired by Lee Miller

An episode dedicated to the world of vintage cameras and the iconic photography of Lee Miller, the American fashion model turned into war photographer during the Second World War.

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Get to know with us Nicoletta Gatti, the founder of Renaissance Rehab, an initiative that brings together discontinued fabrics with your family's historic seating.

Our guests are vintage lovers, and they are asked to pick their favorite interior from anywhere in the world. They describe the place, its objects, and decoration, and they tell us why these have an important meaning in their life or in their work. Today I'm really pleased to welcome Nicoletta Gatti, who founded Renaissance Rehab, a Milan-based project that pairs outmoded objects from the past and out-of-production fabrics.

English traslation:

 
What Renaissance Rehab is and what does your job involve?
 
I am a Milanese interior designer and designer.

Two years ago I founded the Renaissance Rehab, a brand that deals with the recovery and rebirth of objects of the heart. Sustainability, beauty and memory: I combine my skills in fashion and furniture and give a new life to chairs and armchairs, allowing families to keep pieces of their history with them, by redressing them with designer fabrics.
The cycle of nature never ends. Giving life to objects and fabrics by putting “beauty” back into circulation: this is the philosophy of Renaissance Rehab. It is also a way to avoid waste and take care of the health of the world.
The idea is to put back beauty into circulation, not only the furniture's beauty but also the fabrics', generally recovered from Rubelli's out-of-catalog collections, otherwise destined to end their life in a warehouse.
I launched two collections: Sedute Esaurite (Out of Stock Seats), which are upholstered, and Fuori Collezione (Out of Production), a series of Formica pieces, reworked and resinated, also suitable for outdoors spaces. They are all unique pieces.
After the 1st lockdown, I decided to embark on a very ambitious project that involves various players throughout Italy. I organized a tour that I called Renaissance Rehab On The Road, which moves from the north to the south of Italy, identifying for now 6 cities (Turin, Genoa, Florence, Rome, Naples and Bari). The tour aims to enhance the rebirth of Italian labor and the artisan savoir-faire of our master upholsterers, inviting citizens to bring me their objects of the heart, their "out of stock" seats to give them new life.

For now I have been able to start with Turin, and it has been a success. I am very happy to have reached the hearts of the Italians.So I hope to be able to start the tour again as soon as possible!
 
 
Can you share the memory of a place that is particularly important to you?
 
My favorite place is Villa Necchi Campiglio in Milan (built between 1932 and 1935), a house designed by Piero Portaluppi: a jewel of Italian rationalism that is affected by the decorative splendor of Art Deco.
I call it a residence surrounded by "living silence", because you can still breathe all that atmosphere of the Milanese "beau monde" between the two wars.
This place corresponds to me and fascinates me, first of all because it takes me back to  my childhood memories, and then because I am strongly fascinated by these two historical periods in art, architecture and the décor.

I love the functionality of rationalism as well as its interest in pure and simple forms.
Of Art Deco I love those lines that gradually evolved from floral organic giving way to a line that becomes progressively more geometric and rigorous, hosting soft volumes and rounded shapes.
All of these are stories for me, stories from a bygone era of which I cherish the dearest memories, thanks to the life spent with my grandparents.
My work always starts from my feelings, I work with passion and through my memories, and the memories of those who know how to tell me their stories, I explore, transform and create. I retrieve the past and make it mine processing it into something new.

For me, Villa Necchi Campiglio represents the creative inspiration that encompasses all this.
I also appreciate the décor details, which are for me the most fascinating part:
The radiators covered with metal grates.
The staircase with a rigorous but decorative design at the same time, a handcrafted masterpiece.
The cast iron door that divides a living room from the veranda. It looks like a jewel, I would never stop looking at it. It is so beautiful that it moves me: simple, linear, perfect.
The geometric game created on the floor, between marble and travertine.
The bean shape of the veranda sofa.
And then fabrics, my great passion.
The colors and nuances that allow the outside to enter and vice versa, confusing the eye.
Lampas, damasks, silks, and velvets, decorations mixed freely on Deco and 18th-century furnishings.
The fabrics are by Rubelli, my favorite company!

The bathrooms: I would spend hours admiring all the perfectly tailored interlocking details, the heated towel rail between the sinks, the same one that my grandmother and now my mom had in the bathroom. For me it is like entering my ancient world.

Finally, the beauty of the corridor leading to the rooms, that row of built-in wardrobes with simple and clean lines that enclose a world: a hats collection, haute couture clothes, scarves, handbags ...
Once again I find myself there, I capture that taste and that charm, which is typical of the made-to-measure, a quality I always put in my work by creating bespoke "clothes" for my Out of Stock collection.
The leitmotif in my work is tailoring, the pleasure of combining fashion (the world where I trained) with furniture.

I find this same element every time I visit Villa Necchi Campiglio, the same sartorial research in making custom-made furniture: the taste for detail and aesthetics that I seek so much in all my interior decorator work.
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Podcast no: 7 -Franco Albini's method and the new projects at the Fondazione: a conversation with Paola Albini

The podcast that puts vintage design stories back into circulation

Paola Albini, is Franco Albini granddaughter and the guardian to one of Italy’s historical design archives, the Fondazione Franco Albini. We could not think about a better person to revive valuable stories from the past and speak about projects for the future such as Casa Albini in Gallura, Sardinia.

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Podcast no: 6 - Serpentine Sofa designed by Vladimir Kagan

A focus on the evergreen Serpentine Sofa designed by Vladimir Kagan

This episode is about those special, statement pieces of vintage furniture, timeless creations that go against the linear norm, objects that are simply unmissable in an interior and can in fact be the starting point for the entire style of the room.

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Podcast no: 5 - From the Renaissance to Jeff Koons: Arturo Galansino on the secrets of Palazzo Strozzi, Florence

The podcast that puts vintage design stories back into circulation

The magic of Palazzo Strozzi has inspired artists and curators from the Renaissance to the present day. In this interview, the Director General of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Arturo Galansino, opens the doors of the Palazzo to reveal some little-known elements of its interiors and exteriors

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Podcast no:4 - The house is an open book: an interview with Ricciarda Barbieri

The podcast that puts vintage design stories back into circulation

Ricciarda Barbieri, fiction editor at Feltrinelli, analyzes the relationship between her favorite vintage spots and literature: «Through books I came into contact with the world of interiors».

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Podcast no:3 - Non Conformist Armchair

Non Conformist Armchair by Eileen Gray 1926

The story of a piece of furniture can be inevitably interlaced with its designer’s life. A piece can usually be the result of feelings and experiences, and often it tells stories and curious anecdotes.

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Podcast no: 2 - Anonymous Design

The podcast that puts vintage design stories back into circulation

Have you ever heard of Anonymous design? A subject for those of you that want to look at our most humble objects with a critical eye. Don't miss intOndo's podcast to learn more.

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Podcast no: 1 - Interview with Nicoletta Gatti

The podcast that puts vintage design stories back into circulation

Get to know with us Nicoletta Gatti, the founder of Renaissance Rehab, an initiative that brings together discontinued fabrics with your family's historic seating.