25 January,2011 08:21 AM IST | | Anjana Vaswani
Giorgetti, the newest store to open its doors at Raghuvanshi Mills, showcases an exclusive collection of nature-inspired furniture. But be warned, these inventive home decor pieces also cost the earth
Flawless as her designs are, Mother Nature remains the chief inspiration for artist-architect, Massimo Scolari, one of the designers whose association with Giorgetti, the Italian furniture store, spans back over 20 years.
This passion is evidenced in the brass-bronze handle of an ebony-wood bar-cabinet designed by him. Shaped like a boxy, mechanical-looking pair of wings, theu00a0 handle is Scolari's trademark symbol, Aliante, the Italian word for, kite or glider. The motif made its first appearance over stormy seas in a breathtaking oil painting that Scolari created in 1979.
Scolari's cabinet is illustrative of most home decor pieces at the store, which combine art, architecture and utility. An eye-catching piece of furniture here is the Arabella armchair (priced at approximately Rs 3,15,000, depending on your specifications) an incredibly comfortable swivel-seat that looks like a giant seashell, which Scolari and Carlo Giorgetti have designed along ergonomic lines.
In stark contrast to this emphasis on nature, mechanisation takes centrestage in someu00a0 other pieces here. In Hong-Kong-born designer Chi Wing Lo's customisable OLI wall unit, up to four cabinets or drawers may be locked at the push of a button.
ROI, a maple-wood table with a glazed glass top is another impressive creation by this award-winning designer, in which the glass-top may be raised to create a second level (Rs 1,31,600). But even Chi Wing Lo gets pensive with his YFI day bed (Rs 5,68,000), whose shape, he once claimed was reminiscent of "the hull of a boat floating in space."
Similarly, Scolari's Erasmo is a sharp divergence towards practicality. Constructed in walnut wood, the saddle-leather-topped desk with 360-degree-rotatable-drawers allows for impromptu sectioning that renders it immediately usable by two (approx Rs 21,67,753).
Every piece here, including a customis-able tangerine sofa christened The New Maharaja, (distinguished from the old Maharaja by missing wooden accents), is unarguably impressive. Each design is a genuine testimony to the skill of the artist who created it. Now, if only it was more affordable, we wouldn't have left wishing the store be turned into a furniture museum.
At No 27, Raghuvanshi Mills, at the end of the lane opposite Square Foot and Pinakin, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel. (open Monday to Saturday, 10.30 am to 5.30 pm) Call 9867012500
