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Riviera
Riviera - 1981
designed by Michele De Lucchi
Exhibition Milan - Hong Kong design, new forms and functions in parallel with Italian iconic works
(Ferrara, Italy, 1951)
Michele De Lucchi is an Italian designer and architect. In 1975 he graduated in Architecture from the University of Florence, where from 1975 to 1977 he worked as an assistant to Adolfo Natalini, the founder of Superstudio. Between the late ’70s and ’80s he was a leading figure in Radical Architecture, and participated in the leading Italian design movements of the time; he was also one of the co-founders of the Memphis Group, with which he collaborated from 1981 to 1987. De Lucchi’s projects at the time were carried out in collaboration with numerous Italian and European furniture brands. In 1990 he founded the Produzione Privata experimental workshop with the aim of combining an experimental approach with traditional techniques and craftsmanship. He has curated numerous art and design exhibitions and designed museum buildings such as the Triennale di Milano, the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome and the Neues Museum in Berlin. He has carried out several projects for the city of Milan, including pavilions for Expo 2015, the UniCredit Pavilion in Piazza Gae Aulenti, and the setting up of the Pietà Rondanini at Castello Sforzesco. He teaches at the Faculty of Design of the Politecnico di Milano and is a member of the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca in Rome.
BIBLIOGRAPHY/SITOGRAPHY
Chair in plastic laminate with cushions covered in pink or black chintz cotton.
W 50 x D 50 x H 80 cm
Looking back on his time in the Memphis Group, Michele De Lucchi exclaims: ‘What a stroke of luck Memphis was for me. It taught me the value of provocation, the sense of always looking for something new and different, the importance of questioning everything, above all habits, and not only those of aesthetics and form; and the awareness that a revolution of sorts can be sparked even by designing plates, tables and chairs.’
Riviera was presented in the inaugural exhibition of the Memphis Group in 1981. Memphis was design group looking to rebel against the paradigms of good design at the time and look to a new way of designing where the process of design is deconstructed and freed from the convention of ‘form follows function’. With its glossy white laminate, pink chintz cushions, and bright blue painted legs, Riviera appears futuristic and fresh.
