magazine
n.25 december 2014 COLLECTION - TANGRAM TOUR OF THE WORLD - BERLIN VANNI SHOW - VANNI FLAVOUR AUTOFOCUS 6
CO LLECTIONS
vANNI
TANGRAM
Tangram is an age-old Chinese puzzle Tangram acetate starts from different made up of a square divided into seven block colours, largely black/crystal, but also different geometrical shapes, each in one brown/electric blue, light blue/violet, lime/ colour. The art of the game lies in creating grey, turquoise/orange and maroon/purple. as many complete figures as possible, The colour contrasts bring out the overall effect of the material and, seen against the using combinations of these parts. “A Tangram champion is a champion of light, generate a kaleidoscope of reflected colour. talent and wisdom”, runs the legend. VANNI’s Tangram glasses add a touch of stylish wisdom to the expression. Made from slab acetate devised by the VANNI style centre, an exclusive product, the Tangram texture is all cubes split into irregular pyramids, alternating against a deep crystalline background which may be see-through or solid and one of many colour options.
Shapes to suit all faces, male and female, in fairly soft lines, squarish or tending to panthos, and even some concessions to frivolity.
DOCTOR V: STYLE LESSONS
A for ACETATE Pleased to meet you, Dr V: today we’ll speak about the noble cellulose acetate, THE material for making glasses.
beach, by the fireside) or you may find the structure or the look gets deformed. BLOCK ACETATE
Acetate is a natural plastic material. A derivate of cotton, processed with chemical agents. It has been used to make frames for glasses since the Seventies in place of celluloid, a dangerously flammable material. We have said goodbye to celluloid glasses, and with them to one fire risk in factories. Acetate processing starts from cottonflock from which a soft elastic mass is first extracted. By mixing many coloured masses together in more or less complicated steps, one gets plastics of many colours, shades and patterns. Once the colour required is created, the acetate is dried and assumes the geometrical perfection of a solid: slabs can be cut, engraved, chamfered by a host of tools and techniques perfected over the years. The slab or single cut piece reverts to its plastic nature as soon as you put it by a source of heat: the acetate softens to a formless mass once more. This property makes it an extremely delicate material, but it can be an incredible spur to original workmanship. That acetate exposed to heat turns plastic can be a problem for the unwary user, of course. So be careful not to leave your acetate frames in a high temperature (like on the car dashboard, out in the sun on a
Let take a closer look to block acetate. It is a work of art, a mixture of craftsmanship and millimetre precision. A discriminating hand that builds up strip on strip, block upon block, the 3-D texture of solid plastic. One enormous block of plastic – it may be a metre by a metre and a half – is built up by juxtaposing strips and squares and slivers of acetate in various colours. Glueing, trimming, adding on these pieces of plastic to form a cube enfolding a geometry of form. If you’ve never seen it, the assembling of block acetate has something sciencefictional about it. It’s fascinating. But for a more expert hand it’s like a puzzle. The plastic cube is sliced into sheets, the form we know
the material in, and out of these we cut the fronts and temples of our glasses. To decide on a pattern and choose colours out of such blocks is a magic kind of drawing using a 3-D substrate. WORKING ON ACETATE: FORM A BLOCK TO A FRAME Although mechanisation is at an advanced stage, the manual side to working with acetate still counts for a lot. For a start, the two basic parts of a frame, the front and the temples, take two different manufacturing routes and only meet up at the end during assembly and the finishing phase. Let us follow the process for a front. Slabs or strips of acetate are cut to a pre-defined outline. In the past they used a “pantograph” held by hand. Nowadays this step in the workmanship is usually done by rapid precision tools under numerical control:
DOCTOR V: STYLE LESSONS
small bars are loaded automatically into the At this point of the process the acetate machine which is computer programmed comes in contact with wood: an incredible to cut a series of fronts to a specific shape, and fundamental encounter. For days meanwhile gouging the groove for the on end the fronts and temples revolve lenses and giving the main contours. Then unceasingly in a large barrel called a the hinges are fitted: the acetate is heat- “scalper”, full of wood blocks of various sorts: softened to receive the small metal prong hard ones to round the corners, soft ones to smooth and polish the surface. on which the hinge is attached. Now for the temples. A punch mounted on a heavy metal arm cuts out the acetate slab. Another machine then heats and softens the material so it can be pierced through with a long metal needle. This is the “core” of the temple – an essential component enabling the acetate to be bent and kept in shape. The core already bears the “male” of the hinge by which temples and front are joined together.
By the end of these stages the acetate has shed its dull rough untreated appearance and shines in all its marvellous brightness. This is the traditional technique by which most glasses are made from plastic slab. A whole series of tiny variants on this process, as well as the choice of shape, colour-matching and surface finish, go to complete the execution. This is how frames
come to be so diverse, and something unique gets created. Which is our job: the daily search for the never-ending beauty latent in this noble material, from which to design ever-new VANNI frames, unique of their kind.
TOUR OF THE WO RL D
BERLIN This issue, VANNI flies to Berlin. Capital of the reunified Germany, swinging and youthful, Berlin is a Mecca for art and design lovers, not to mention new trend scouts. It’s a city that’s quite cheap to get to from any European capital, and offers you a fresh experience in every district. Not so much a centre as a series of nodes in a network; you can get around on hyper-efficient public transport, and there are sensations catering for all tastes. Our idea was to put together some tips for a weekend getaway, focusing (please excuse the professional bias) on Berlin capital of young art and relaxed Mitteleuropa savoir vivre. We thought we Italians were masters of the dolce vita, but our friends the Germans can teach us a thing or two. Follow me and prepare to discover some oases of exuberant tranquillity. The quest for contemporary art begins at the station; that’s right, the old nineteenth-
Hamburger Bahnhof
century Hamburger Bahnhof (http:// www.smb.museum/en/museums-andinstitutions/hamburger-bahnhof/home. html) is Berlin’s museum of contemporary art. It has a solidly representative permanent collection (art from 1960 onwards) and temporary shows on a constant quick turnover (WALL WORKS is on until January: interesting, most of the works and installations having been prepared on site). The café is recommended for a post-show break.
KW
On with the art itinerary: we VANNIites particularly enjoyed roaming the Auguststrasse of the Mitte, the heart of old East Berlin. The way is lined with galleries, nice and relaxed, some careful renovation of past architecture, but not every building. Here and there the odd Berliner fashion boutique. It’s only a kilometre in all, each block offering something to enjoy, and pleasantly uncrowded. Don’t miss the KW (www.kw-
WALL WORKS
Auguststrasse
berlin.de) institute of contemporary art, the heart of free-wheeling experimental art. Step inside the courtyard and let the atmosphere infect you. Another stop worth making is Clarchen’s Ballhaus, the historic ballroom, though it’s also a nice place to sip a beer and enjoy the dancing. From art to fashion, once again the Mitte will yield up the essence of Berlin style. Browsing in many a clothes boutique on Linienstrasse and Schonhauserstrasse, we sampled the famous look, made up entirely of dark garb with a strong no-nonsense character, and the reverse of conformism. Take time out to visit the Kreutzberg district and an immersion in the city’s cosmopolitan student style, hovering between west and east (this is the zone the Turkish community has taken over). Saunter from a kebabbari to a high-class café. On Oranienstrasse you’d do well to stop at VooStore for local (and non-local) designer clothing, shoes, books and household knick-knacks (http:// www.vooberlin.com/berlin-store/). The city monuments (Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, and institutions) are worth a visit, a panorama of the city’s history, with its ups and downs. In terms of entertainment and shopping there are some surprises in store, though the place is infested by the same big names you find all over the world. Make your escape from the madding shoppers (say, at the posh KaDeWe) and hole up for a drink on the top floor of the Bikini Hotel (http://www.25hours-hotels.com). You sit
in comfort on a wooden grandstand and enjoy a priceless view of the famous Zoo (you’re right above the monkey compound). The café where you can also get a bite to eat is unsurprisingly named the Monkey Bar. You might even while away the hours till dinner time and patronise the adjacent restaurant.
with a somewhat hip clientele. Lastly an accommodation tip. We chose the Michelberger and found it was a cult venue for young night-life, as well as a pleasant hotel with some highly original and cosy communal areas (www.michelbergerhotel.com). Enjoy Berlin, everyone.
The night scene is where young Berlin is happening. You can wait for it to do so at the Club der Visionaere (http:// clubdervisionaere.com/), a club on the banks of a canal that debouches into the Sprea, complete with outside bridge and partly canopied area. Excellent music, much of it live. Beer to all tastes and cocktails in a venue that looks alternative
VooStore
Club der Visionaere
Michelberger
Monkey Bar
TRENDS
vanni,
autumn/winter 2014-2015
Before plunging into the season’s trends, a slight but urgent word of qualification about collections. There is a philosophy behind trends. Fashion thrives on constant change, but whether this is the upshot of genuine taste requirements reflecting reality, or is just artful marketing policy, noone can say for certain. We do have our ideas on the subject, but however much we stand outside the chorus and presume to criticise, we too are chorus – so I shall hold my tongue. However, you can take it from me, this new non-fashion fashion is here to stay in months to come. It’s called normcore.
by aLESSANDRA
thought, and groped in vain for some kind of semantic clue, some glimmering of a meaning. I would have to wait for an issue of a well-known fashion magazine before the mystery was unveiled. Normcore is the buzz-word of the new collections. A novel and abstruse-sounding term formed of a fusion between normal and hardcore, signifying a mode of dress. Normal. Forget
I first saw the word on a Cristiano Burani fashion show invitation in which we took part with some exclusive eyewear lines. It was Milan fashion week, the venue where veneration for creativity in clothing is the order of the day. There and then, I failed to cotton on: perhaps it was a material, I Normcore
Normcore
Normcore
Normcore
the obsession with looking different or eccentric, be guided by healthy sensible self-confidence, without disguise, without trying to seem what you are not. They say normcore is a youth movement, street culture rebelling against ‘hardcore’ fashion. May I say, I feel pretty normcore myself? Perhaps we’ve all been normcore for years without realising. My mother used to advise me: “keep it simple”. Evidently simplicity has grown so complicated, we have to call it normcore. But does that make sense? I adore fashion, with all its absurdities. NORMCORE IT IS, THEN So here we are, basic but tasteful. Looks straight off the street, unisex clothes put together from chain-store garments, but not just any old how, and not in the name of economy: a tee-shirt or top, a neat pair of jeans or a cashmere jumper. And hide all trace of a logo, above all. ART À PORTER (OR ART IS WHAT YOU WEAR) VANNI has been saying this for years: art is our inspiration. In the fashion world some have taken up the slogan “art à porter”, applying artistic creativity to dresses, jackets and handbags. By pillaging the colours and colour combinations of artworks, and in some cases the materials themselves, the season has pepped up its garments, including male attire. And don’t miss out on jewel shoes: now there’s eccentricity for you, if you’ve got the guts to wear them.
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL It’s only a few weeks since school started, but the school look will be with us throughout the winter. Light-coloured blouses under tailored jackets, creased trousers or kneelength skirts, a dose of bon ton with the inevitable moccasin thrown in. A satchel on your back, the eternal student. When it gets chilly, a rapper cap – not just for school kids.
Christian Louboutin
BROAD AND OUTSIZE It started with overcoats going enormous, broad-shouldered, giant-size. Then capes came back in (if ever they went out) but this year with a concession to day-time, going in for colour and not too long in the hem. Geometrical in cut, tailored on the bias. The same goes for knitwear and shirts, for men and women. Strict, strict tailoring, only relieved by the colour factor. WHAT ABOUT GLASSES? A season of abstruse detail, apparently simple, though strong in colour, with exclusive patterns in acetate and colour shades (sometimes twin tones) on metal. Glasses have gone a bit smaller, they offer different geometrical shapes to suit a petite face – quite the opposite of the rigidly classical rectangle. The great and overwhelming comeback is the round shape, though in sweetly convenient sizes.
College Style
VANNI Tangram
Yohji-Yamamoto
VA N N I S H O W
vanni
show
VANNI MAGAZINE’S SPECIAL EDITION HAS A SPECIAL FLAVOUR
say that VANNI roots are local.
VANNI Flavour is VANNI eyewear’s Magazine in printed tabloid format: a special edition that brings you a photo feature of the Turin firm’s latest collection novelties, against the backdrop of the historic factory “Pastiglie Leone”, manufacturers of world-famous lozenges since 1857. Entering a sweets factory is the dream of every kid (or greedy adult) – like flying over the rainbow. VANNI glasses spent the most gluttonous day of their lives amid coloured pastes and a thousand shapes of candy, worn by the factory owners and staff - exceptional models on loan to eyewear styling for a few hours. The result is a Magazine that’s so alive you can even smell it, with a little help from the imagination. And it looks just like a tabloid, straight from the La Stampa press, Turin’s own newspaper – a personal touch just to
AUTOFOCUS, RESULTS: THIS YEAR THE AWARD IS DOUBLE
Pastiglie Leone
Here are the results of the competition promoted by VANNI eyewear in liaison with and under the aegis of GAI. The Autofocus 6 award for the “show” section went to Simone Bubbico. His project was chosen by art critic Olga Gambari and will be exhibited at the Turin VANNI space in Piazza Carlina, from 27 November 2014 on. The prize consists in a personal show complete with catalogue, and participation in the fair “The Others” (Turin, 6-9 November 2014, formerly Le Nuove prison).
Pastiglie Leone
The “performance” section of the award was won by Irene Pittore. Her performance will be seen at the VANNI space and again at “The Others” fair.
Simone Bubbico-show section AF6 winner
VA N N I S H O W
Two outright winners seemed a bit too little to do justice to the splendid array of projects we received. So VANNI has decided to offer the three special mentions a chance to join in the Autofocus show-space at “The Others”. The artists chosen to take part in the Turin event are Silvia Margaria, Matteo Antonini, and Giorgio Cugno, flanking Simone Bubbico and Irene Pittore.
Broad round glasses with chased rims as in 1980s tradition. Under the sober exterior, a twinkle of brio. A resolutely contemporary style, suiting the stylist’s own. Burani’s discreet femininity – on a lightly eccentric note – achieves a balance between material and finish, modern lines and the tailored look. Cristiano Burani
VANNI TREADS THE CATWALKS WITH CRISTIANO BURANI VANNI eyewear paraded in Milan’s Fashion Week on creations by Cristiano Burani from Reggio. It was the women’s fashion week for the spring-summer collection 2015. On the catwalks VANNI exhibited a single eyewear model in a range of colours – the soft shades of this season. The model was exclusively designed for the parade.
The Others
Irene Pittatore-performance section AF6 winner
Cristiano Burani
VA N N I O C C H I A L I . CO M
VANNIpress release
vanni vip
vanni on
cosmopolitan - May 2014
Belen rodriguez “supermarket” - italian tv show
chiambretti “supermarket” - italian tv show
vanni in the world
vanni fiction
vanni press release
alain afflelou A Amiens - france
DON MATTEO 9 - italian fiction
very elle - august 2014