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Inspiration

Bland böljande former och blommande stolar

2021/8/16

Among undulating shapes and blooming chairs

In the small Italian town of Udine, craftsman Agostino Moroso founded a furniture workshop with his wife Diana in the post-war years. The year was 1952 and the business was largely a small-scale production of mainly simple wooden furniture made with the help of local artisans. Almost 70 years have passed since then, and the company has grown into a global and innovative design brand that has enjoyed great international success and has received numerous awards for its strong design. The simple wooden chairs may have been replaced by strong furniture with bold expressions, but just like at the beginning, Moroso is still a family business, with generation numero due carrying on the legacy.

Today, Moroso could be summarised as bold, daring and playful. A design brand with an expression that speaks its own language in form, colour and material. There is no anxiety here, but rather a strong and razor-sharp sense of what constitutes good design. Patrizia Moroso is particularly responsible for this feeling. She is the daughter of the founders, creative director and the one who now runs the brand with her brother Roberto.

She has an amazing intuition when it comes to talent and creativity - she can smell a blossoming talent.

But the fashion is not only found in the objects but also in the creative process itself, with early collaborations with both established and brand new designers. After a few years at art school in Bologna, Patrizia spent much of her time in London in the 1980s. A city that flourished with creativity and where creativity and inspiration flowed, a completely different climate from what she experienced at home in Italy. And it was also in London that she met many of the designers who would later contribute their designs to Moroso's collections. Ron Arad, Ross Lovegrove and Tom Dixon are some of the names that Patrizia connected with early on, allowing them to experiment with new forms, expressions and materials under the brand's roof.

Editorial Splash 1 - Bland böljande former och blommande stolar
Editorial Splash 2 - Bland böljande former och blommande stolar

Finding both established and emerging designers and having the courage to give them freedom in their creativity became a speciality and a successful concept that has generated a large number of successes and iconic products. In The Peak Magazine, CEO Roberto Moroso said: "My sister is not a designer, but she has an amazing intuition when it comes to talent and creativity - she can smell a blossoming talent."

A place where beauty continues to be celebrated and where people are never afraid, even to let chairs bloom.

The large network of creators includes many recurring partners, and one of the most frequent names is the designer and architect Patricia Urquiola. Over the years, she has very successfully developed a large number of products for the brand. Her inspiration is often drawn from nature and not infrequently from the world travels she has made with Patrizia Moroso.

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Pacific - a sofa to wrap up in

As the name suggests, Urquiola's Pacific sofa is inspired by the relaxed lifestyle of the American West Coast. The shapes are feminine, softly undulating and without any hard lines or edges. The idea is that this is a sofa to lean back and embrace.

Gogan - like a soft stone sculpture

In the Gogan armchair, as in so many other cases, Urquiola has translated her impressions of nature into brilliant design. Gogan-ishigumi is the name of Japanese stones, slowly ground and moulded by the waters of rivers and streams. The stones are found both naturally by waterways and are used extensively in Japanese gardens, which often feature water. And just like stones placed on top of each other, the Gogan armchair's rounded backrest balances gently on the soft seat.

Ruff - a small chair with a big shape

An example of Urquiola's architectural side is the Ruff armchair, where she plays with geometric encounters between straight lines and curved shapes. The result is as functional as it is personal and expressive, no matter what room the chair is placed in.

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Antibodi - the chair that blooms

The Antibodi lounge chair is like a life-affirming flower explosion. A piece of furniture that is as much a work of art as a chair, and whose three-dimensional petals can make the chair burst into full bloom. The long and close collaboration between Patrizia Moroso and Urquiola has also resulted in a close friendship between the two creators and Urquiola likes to emphasise that it was Patrizia Moroso who was the first to truly recognise her as a designer. It was also Urquiola who was entrusted with the task of creating Patrizia's private home in Udine, the small town where everything once started with a few simple wooden chairs and where the success story has evolved into design excellence. A place where beauty continues to be celebrated and where people are never afraid, even to let chairs bloom.

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