Maîtres of design
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woman’s body to reshape it, to enhance it, to add a little mystery, appeal, complexity and ... opulence. The spaces that Novembre designs are always characterised by the desire to “go one step further”: adding richness and complexity where the architecture moves, speaks, listens and questions itself, even with daring moves, like a body attempting to release itself through dance. “The way a ribbon unfolds in space can be
CAPPELLINI
EVOCATIVE FORMS Above, right, illustration by Emiliano Ponzi for the catalogue of the exhibition entitled “Il fiore di Novembre”, Triennale di Milano, 2009. Below, Org table, Cappellini, 2001. Opposite page, top, Stuart Weitzman store, Rome, 2004. Bottom, Strip chair, Casamania, 2011.
Design continues to this day to be a young discipline! Proof of this lies in the fact that it has never created an area of research which is separated from production and consumption. As a young discipline, over the years it has often drawn on neighbouring fields of research for inspiration: the heavy industry in the post-war period, programmed art in the Sixties, architecture in the Fifties and Sixties, furnishings from the Thirties to the present day and, more recently, craftsmanship and applied art. Among those who have managed to transfer their experiences from one discipline to another, I have always felt Fabio Novembre deserves a mention of honour. Novembre has contributed to the world of design tapping from his experience in the context of “set furnishing”, a field in which he played starring roles on several occasions, early in his career. I can still recall the Bisazza showroom in Berlin and Barcelona, Florence’s UNA Vittoria Hotel, the Tardini store in New York, Café Atlantique in Milan and many installations that seemed to unfold in their surroundings with the same spirit and approach expressed by a great set designer. As a set designer, he approaches space with the same passion of a fashion designer who wants to take possession of a
EMILIANO PONZI
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