From where does Alfredo Colombo start (or take off from)?
I start and take off from the experience gained in over 10 years of life in a company that has made eclecticism its bulwark. Eclecticism and contamination are the sum of my style in both product and interior design at all latitudes.
Alfredo Colombo, founder
What have your major collaborations been?
For the past three years I have been the creative director of iDogi, a Venetian luxury company with which I started a journey of growth shared with Domenico Caminiti: a manager who launches ideas, even some extreme ones, that I transform into something concrete, however, sharing a bit of the ‘off’ side of his proposals (I think most everyone remembers the scale of the stand of the 2018 Salone). A way of thinking and doing with which I am at ease and which enhances my expertises. For the 2019 Salone, for the company’s debut in the xLux halls, I designed a set that acts more as a scenic and emotional installation than as a traditional exposition space. Light, Murano glass and water are the three elements that I have harmonised in a project with an attractive, rich and unique visual.
Medea, Collection Ottocento
How would you describe the collaboration with Medea?
Medea is a very different world, the materials are different, Luigi and Andrea Tagliabue have a very rich and particular personal background. Medea was born and grew over time with a Liberty identity, my arrival brought new prospectives. I have designed collections for them that are garnering success all over the world and especially in the contract area: with my Ottocento collection I am developing the project of the Presidential Suite of the Ritz Carlton in Pune, India. With Medea we have gone beyond the traditional concept of furniture, mixing styles and materials and this has allowed us to gain the recognition of many satisfied customers. Medea has always moved with styles from the 1800s to Art Decò, this year my proposal includes a concept style that reaches up to the 1950s. The spaces I created for the company are very sophisticated, rich in icons and transversal in character, whether we are speaking of residential or high-level hospitality environments.
Medea, Collection Ottocento
Do you have any independent projects right now? Will you be getting closer to design?
Yes, I have a number of projects. For a big hotel chain in Asia I am following 50 Suites, each one of them different from the others and that will come to light in 2020, then a 2000 square metre penthouse in Hong Kong, an apartment in the historic centre of Milan and a series of “futuristic” collaborations. As for design, I’m very interested in it and I’m getting closer to it, of course with my own style and ideas, I don’t want to take a trivial approach to it and… I’m getting there.
