IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 37

The best
examples of
maximalism
keep a sense
of narrative
and
provenance,
providing
history and
relevance to
the concept
while also
retaining
individuality."

Photo by: Gucci

-Dewi Pinatih

In January, Michele's maximalist vision made the
ultimate crossover into interiors with the reopening of
the Gucci Museo in Florence, Italy. Renamed the Gucci
Garden, it includes a restaurant with grass-green walls,
teal banquettes, and patterned carpets, and a retail area in
mustard-yellow and blood red, with a checkerboard floor.
It's no surprise that an Italian fashion house is a
maximalist standout. This is, after all, a country with a
design tradition that's equal parts stringent minimalism
and baroque ostentation. "Italy is a blend of cultures, a

Gucci Garden
was conceived
by Alessandro
Michele, the
creative director
of Gucci.

plot of land right in the middle of the Mediterranean that
has the most crowded cultural crossover," says Sabrina
Bignami, senior architect and co-founder of B-Arch,
Florence, Italy. "If I had to define Italian creativity,
I would say that it's the ability to manage contrasting
elements, and from this contrast generate a new energy,
a new idea, and a new form. The Italian nature is to be
comfortable with plurality of contents. The challenge is to
be able to control the process to avoid chaos."
The last time Italian designers really kicked against
the status quo was in the early 1980s, when the Memphis
Group abandoned the ingrained doctrine of modernism-
form follows function-for a new and deliberately
provocative visual language. "Then it was very playful and
about 'bad taste,'" Pinatih says. "This time around, it's
about a very youthful, fashionable aesthetic."

Photos by: Annabel's

Sign of the Times
Despite its Italian heritage, maximalism is an allencompassing reflection of today's multicultural reality.
French designer Camille Walala's self-proclaimed "tribal
pop" style, for example, takes the Memphis aesthetic
and adds influences such as Russian constructivism and
the black-outlined, graphic patterns that South Africa's
Ndebele people use to decorate their homes.

summer 2018

perspective

37



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018

IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018
From IIDA
Contents
Next
World View
Sum of Its Parts
Talk, Talk
Data Viz
Pre/Post
I Design
Every Where Has a Why
More Than Meets the Eye
To The Max
Picture It
DNA of a Design Firm
Scratch Pad
Insider Intel
IIDA News + Updates
Why This Design Works
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - Cover2
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - From IIDA
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - Contents
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 3
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 4
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 5
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - Next
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 7
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 8
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 9
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - World View
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 11
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - Sum of Its Parts
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 13
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - Talk, Talk
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - Data Viz
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - Pre/Post
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 17
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - I Design
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 19
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - Every Where Has a Why
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 21
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 22
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 23
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 24
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 25
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - More Than Meets the Eye
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 27
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 28
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 29
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 30
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 31
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 32
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 33
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - To The Max
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 35
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 36
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 37
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 38
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 39
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - Picture It
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 41
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 42
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 43
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - DNA of a Design Firm
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 45
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 46
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 47
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 48
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 49
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - Scratch Pad
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 51
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - Insider Intel
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 53
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - IIDA News + Updates
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - 55
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - Why This Design Works
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - Cover3
IIDA Perspective - Summer 2018 - Cover4
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