what’s in a name?
Amongst the revered designers and promotional stunts of the design industry’s annual circus, Milan’s Salone del Mobile, personal taste is easily distorted by mass-opinion and free-flowing prosecco. A month on from the hyped releases and minute-by-minute media coverage, the dust has finally settled and the hangovers, long since passed. But, in hindsight of the vast selection of ‘it’ chairs, big name collaborations and emperor’s new clothes-esque releases, which of the pieces would we actually want to live with?
None springs to mind so much as Diesel’s Successful Living textiles collection, produced in conjunction with the Italian studios Foscarini and Moroso. The second year that the brand has shown in Milan, Diesel’s transition into interiors hasn’t been without opposition. While many pre-emptively pigeon holed it as a venture based on novelty and existing brand image, with some gritty graphics thrown in for good measure, from a less elitist point of view, well, it’s really quite good.
Designed with bedding in mind, the textiles prints Chain Glam and Chain Bouquet combine traditional chintz blooms with lengths of industrial steel links; a faded denim palette gives the repeats a softened, romantic feel. The Floral Explosion print again uses organic motifs, but with an outgoing attitude – painterly lilies intertwine and are washed in rich colour.
As the design industry follows fashion’s recent brush with all things greige, this injection of bold colour and determined illustrative style is fresh and exciting; definitely something I would want to wake up with each morning. But the practicality of design often gets sterilised in an exhibition environment and, like in art, the signature can be more persuasive than the work itself. For many critics and collectors alike, we imagine, it’s just a pity that this time the label reads Diesel.
By Clare Acheson
