Art meets design in the new collection of Paolo Castelli created for an institutional client: Bologna Musei. A capsule collection titled “Oggetti d’autore: a tribute to Morandi,” containing accessories and décor complements that reinterpret the poetics of Giorgio Morandi, one of the great protagonists of Italian 20th-century painting.
Oggetti d’autore: a tribute to Morandi
“I wanted to make a dream come true – says Paolo Castelli. – To create a collection that incorporates the artistic perspective of Giorgio Morandi, while at the same time honoring the city of Bologna.” The creative partnership between Paolo Castelli, the designer and entrepreneur from Emilia, and the institution Bologna Musei began in 2009, during the renovation work for Casa Morandi, the home of the painter at Via Fondazza 36, where Morandi lived with his mother and sisters from 1910 to 1964.
Oggetti d’autore: a tribute to Morandi
The result is a line that belongs to the worlds of both art and design, as in the case of Strapuntino, the cane with a folding seat, or the Appendiabito, a coat rack that seems to incorporate a painter’s easel. As well as the vases in Murano glass, the “Sacca del pittore” tablet holder, the handpainted plates that echo the artist’s palette, all the way to the wallpapers that portray the painter’s preparatory brushstrokes.
Oggetti d’autore: a tribute to Morandi
All the pieces are made in Bologna, available for purchase on the e-commerce platform Artemest. They are made by skilled artisans, to bring symbolic worlds into the home, with decorations and colors that are always understated, in a precise, minimalist style, featuring the finest workmanship and materials, like ecosustainable ash wood, natural brass, Murano glass, Vietri ceramics, horsehair and regenerated cowhide. “These objects,” Paolo Castelli concludes, “came about after my visit to the artist’s home, where I was overwhelmed by an unusual emotion. The objects constitute a 3D portrait of his life, and I hope they will be welcomed into homes as traces that can bring people closer to his works.”
