April, 09 2018

Seletti, the most “pop” and entertaining Italian brand in the design world, presents what’s new in 2018 for the Salone del Mobile Milan Fair, the international event and reference point for the furniture and design sector.

Significant innovations include those presented by the revolutionary project BLOW, born in collaboration with Studio Job in a desire to offer design lovers the opportunity to furnish their homes with unique but accessible pieces; new upholstery enriches the Seletti wears TOILETPAPER collection, which is a perfect hybrid between design and contemporary art; the collaboration with Marcantonio is further strengthened, resulting in Seletti’s series of projects ranging from upholstered furniture to art de la table and decorative objects.

BLOW: Cora Lamp, Lazy Chair, Jobby the Cat – design by Studio Job

BLOW is a family of objects with a markedly "pop" design, born in 2017 through the combined will of Stefano Seletti, Job Smeets, and Nynke Tynagel: it's a true design brand, a project based on the idea of democratic design which has always characterized Seletti. With its unconventional style, BLOW has become one of the most interesting experiments in the design sector: the style and design of Studio Job intertwines with Seletti's own DNA, dedicated to combining cutting-edge design with accessibility. 

CORA LAMP

Cora is a new lighting project, characterized by its unique "street style" and its link to the world of comics. 

As Job Smeets tells us, the "Cora" project was born in a brainstorming session: “Stefano asked me 'Job, what is the most iconic lamp for you?'. The Arco by Achille Castiglioni, I replied. So he asked me 'And what will the next one be?' Well, Cora! As a young man, I've always been fascinated by the comic book superhero reaching out to a gas lamp to light a cigarette. Playing with the states of matter, pushing an ordinary object towards the world of the impossible, it’s a fascinating approach for me. One that I wanted to reproduce in this project. It is the meeting point between sculpture and fun: we call it 'serious fun'."

Cora represents this through the archetype of the traditional street lamps found in cities at the beginning of the twentieth century: Studio Job reinterprets the aesthetics of this memorable urban furnishing by modeling it for the contemporary home interior. 

Made of aluminum, with state-of-the-art LED bulbs, Cora brightens every room in a romantic way, combining a vintage look with modern design and technology.

LAZY CHAIR

The question is: how can one of the world’s least captivating and sexy armchairs be transformed into an icon? This was the challenge for Studio Job with Lazy Chair Sexy Boy, decorated with the graphic pattern "Baby's on Fire". As explained by Job Smeets: “It's the thing you hate, but love to sit on. Designed for sex, movies, and relaxation. It has been redesigned to make it sexy. Rid yourself of shame and put Sexy Boy in the house! Bad taste that has a good taste. All the comfort and none of the shame." 

BLOW thus enriches itself with another fun and crazy project based on "lazy chairs" which, honestly, all design lovers should find interesting. Studio Job succeeds in the challenge of transforming the armchair into a status symbol, a must-have for all design lovers: in fact, Sexy Boy perfectly combines comfort with aesthetic, so that everyone can be proud of owning one. Its perfect padding is covered in precious fabric decorated with the unique patterns of Studio Job. 

JOBBY THE CAT

Jobby the Cat is a magical cat that illuminates its environment with its bewitching eyes, presented for the first time in Italy after a preview at the Stockholm fair. It may not purr, but it compensates for this with intense and inquisitive eyes that illuminate its surroundings, creating an enchanted atmosphere. 

Made in 1: 1 scale, inspired by Job Smeet’s cat and perfect in every single detail, Jobby the Cat is available in three different colors: white, black, and bicolored. The alert tail reveals a backside with a USB charger - a universal socket for all voltages - and switches/dimmers that are positioned, poetically, as the genitals of the feline. Jobby the Cat is equipped with a battery that lasts for 30 hours, and thus allows the lamp to be moved around the house without difficulty.

The cat's coat perfectly reproduces the texture of fur, for an even more realistic effect.

SELETTI WEARS TOILETPAPER: the first chairs plus two and three-seater sofas

Seletti continues its experiments in the field of upholstery along with the photographic magazine with a revolutionary aesthetic founded by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari: the collection is thus enriched, the armchairs – which have already become bestsellers – are followed by two and three-seater sofas and the brand’s first upholstered chairs. The 50s retro mood of these furnishings, characterized by soft, sinuous shapes and brass feet, is revolutionized by TOILETPAPER’s crazy images, patterns that are surreal, over the top, and perfect for these new products.

“The meeting between Seletti and TOILETPAPER took place four years ago, starting as a rather insane experiment born out of an affinity of ideas, but also kind of just for fun, and in the end it turned into a true creativity invasion", says Stefano Seletti, the brand’s art director. “Every time we work on a new project together, we think about how the images of TOILETPAPER can, through Seletti, invade the homes of design and art lovers. We started with small objects - tableware, umbrellas, cushions, mirrors - and today we have reached the protagonists of interior design, upholstered furniture, without betraying the lines of memory that characterize the collaboration. Our democratic soul allows us to believe that we can upset the rules in every home, even the most formal, with an ever more total invasion”.

COMFY – design by Marcantonio

Comfy is a collection of upholstered furniture made in collaboration with Marcantonio. An ode to comfort, it is a soft nest of cushions available in both sofa and armchair versions.

“I was trying to create an ideal subject. I remember playing as a child and using the sofa cushions to create a hiding place. It’s a desire we all have, to be welcomed in a soft nest where cushions can be arranged as we wish", says the designer.

The brass metal feet add a special touch to the products, available in three chromatic variations, with turquoise, white, and charcoal tones. Comfy’s cushions are created in different fabrics, with textures that give rise to an interesting chromatic movement across the surface.

KINTSUGI – design by Marcantonio

Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing ceramics, traditionally with powders mixed with lacquer or gold. Marcantonio plays with the aggravation of repair, transforming it into an aesthetic charm: the veins are in preciously brilliant 24-carat gold and the “pieces” are decorated differently so that each one is “unique”.

Kintsugi is an elegant collection in the most contemporary and dandy sense. A Kintsugi table set is reminiscent of classicism with its limits and style shattered to turn it into something new and disruptive, in typical Seletti style.

LOVE IN BLOOM – design by Marcantonio 

Marcantonio’s passion for the faithful replication of natural objects surpasses itself and pays homage to the symbol par excellence of love: the heart. In a typically ironic and over-the-top way, Seletti dedicates this porcelain heart to all lovers, perfect in every detail, designed in order to accommodate the other symbol par excellence of passion: flowers. Veins and arteries are concave and each can hold a bud, to celebrate love in every possible way.