Maison Martin Margiela x Cerruti Baleri Furniture

Well-known for manufacturing superb interior design products, Italian company Cerruti Baleri continues that legacy with a special project alongside Maison Martin Margiela. Together, both develop a set of furniture pieces, including the “Groupe”, a surrealist sofa that incorporates three armchairs, and “Emmanuelle”, an armchair wrapped in white cotton canvas. The Maison Martin Margiela and Cerruti Baleri collaboration is on display at the Cerruti Baleri showroom in Milan through April 19th, 2010. Dazed Digital offers further insight into the project, presenting an interview with Federico Carandini, Art Director for Cerruti Baleri.

What sparked the collaboration between Cerruti baleri and Maison Martin Margiela?

The Maison has a team that works on the Margiela showrooms, shops and display spaces. The team was pursuing in depth the possibilities offered by interior design, focusing on creating a piece of furniture. They came to see our collections and they liked our products and modus operandi. So basically everything started from there. What I found fascinating about this Maison is that it has a strong affinity with the world of interior design: Maison Martin Margiela was always about a team, its creations and products and not just about one “celebrity” designer. The same thing happens for what regards the design industry where there is usually an entire team working behind a product. The Maison is mainly based on three main aspects; recuperation, transformation and reinterpretation. These three keywords make it unique compared to other fashion houses and I must admit that for us it was a challenge to turn their ideas into saleable products with a proper market, but it was an absolutely intriguing challenge.

In your opinion which was the most exciting aspect of this collaboration?

Cerruti baleri previously worked with different designers such as Jeff Miller, Arik Levy, Alberto Colzani and Xavier Lust and the ‘Edizioni’ line will also include the projects ‘The Other’ by Ilse Crawford and ‘Galanterie’ by Maurizio Galante. All these designers are single entities, if I may call them so, while Maison Martin Margiela is embodied by an entire team of people, so we had to take care of this aspect and of its image, identity and philosophy. The most extraordinary thing about this collaboration was finding a sort of affinity in the way we work, in the environments we develop our projects and even in our moods. There was a special chemistry behind this collaboration that allowed us to work very well together.

Compared to last year, in which ways has the presentation of the Maison’s products changed?

Maison Martin Margiela didn’t present specific products at the previous furniture fair in Milan, but they recreated in the district of Tortona the atmosphere of the Maison’s Interior Design workshop in Paris, integrating in it pieces they were studying and developing for the showroom spaces. This year the main aim was creating a space where they could present not only the Maison’s image, but also proper products. Visitors will be able to admire the products in a space of our showroom entirely curated by the Maison’s team. The Maison’s previously worked with white environments and products, but things have slightly changed thanks to a few innovations introduced in the chromatic scale that allowed us to highlight the lines and silhouettes of the two products presented. We are also showcasing more than one armchair and sofa to remind our visitors that these products are for sale and they are not prototypes.

The interview in its entirety can be found here.