I meet Romeo Sozzi in his showroom in Via Bagutta, Milan, during the Salone del Mobile, a quick meeting, a presentation, a handshake of the landlord in a beautiful outdoor concept, almost exotic in an interior, classic, downtown Milan. At the invitation of my dear friend Fabio, showroom manager, I begin a journey into the “installations” of Promemoria, this is the brand name of Sozzi and here, between a mirror and a sofa, a desk and a bed, I run into a panel. Oh, my God! A dip in memories. I’ve always loved panels…
The panel is an important and difficult complement
Panel separates, divides, it hides. It is a mobile element, which allows reshaping the space of a room. In the nineteenth century was a characteristic element of decoration of rooms, which is now backing in fashion: a simple and effective piece of furniture, extremely decorative, which gives character to a room. That’s what I thought in creating Mr. Elephant, special edition, laser engraved on a bronze plate.
In some of your creations I see a call to East
It’s true. There is a particular refinement of Japanese culture, which I feel akin. My latest collection makes an explicit homage to the Rising Sun. Edmund de Waal writes “The Japanese object is revealed when you hold it in your hands. It is the touch to tell you everything there is to know, because it tells you about yourself.”
The research of materials, wood, silk…
The selection of materials, for quality and beauty, it is an essential point of every great tradition of craftsmanship and therefore the production of Promemoria. On the other hand, you have to touch bronze, parchment, shagreen, woods and fabrics of my furniture to fully appreciate and empathize with them. This is why the quote from de Waal corresponds to my aesthetic and the idea I have of true luxury. But I would also mention the importance colors have for me in the implementation of an interior, which always starts from the study of ambient light to define the tone of the ideal colorings.
Creatives have a child inside of them. Bilou Bilou, Kids, beautiful!
I designed Kids collection from a simple premise: in the bottom of the memory of each of us there is always a Lilliputian world, a theater, a dollhouse. Here’s how the Bilou Bilou chair, the little chair Gacy and the desk Mon Ami, designed for “big ones”, have changed size, binding to the decorative tradition of the eighteenth-century “meubles miniatures”, functional and suitable for children.