Our shop window centres on the 1978 Proust armchair by Alessandro Mendini from his series of redesigned furniture. The Proust armchair is a prefabricated, Baroque-style chair that Mendini had painted with colourful brush-strokes in the style of the French artist Paul Signac. Besides Georges Seurat, Signac was the most important pointillistic artist and also a contemporary of the author Marcel Proust. Mendini’s design embodied his objections to a wrong understanding of functionalism as well as an appeal for more humour and emotion in design. His later work for Studio Alchemia and Memphis was guided by the same intentions. The Proust armchair has now become an icon of post-modern Italian design. We have used the Mama Cloud light from Frank O. Gehry as a playful element, setting the stage for the chair.

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