It came about partly for fun, responding to an initiative by a French magazine which invited a few designers to create an object starting from just two sheets of paper. When drawing on these two sheets Tobia Scarpa depicted the vertical slats hooked at both ends on the first and the base and upper rim on the second.
The hook is attached to the base and to the rim through a hole and is secured by a natural leather cord.
“The basket is called Girasole (Sunflower) and has always made me want to have it”. (cit. Arch. Tobia Scarpa)
Big Version: Rectangular shape basket in Ornata ash or Tanaro mahogany plywood certified formaldehyde-free made exclusively for the Atanor project. All the component elements of the basket are tumbled and surface finished with linseed oil.
Small Version: Little rectangular shape basket in Ornata ash or Tanaro mahogany plywood certified formaldehyde-free made exclusively for the Atanor project. All the component elements of the basket are tumbled and surface finished with linseed oil.
‘59 is the year in which Tobia Scarpa first designed these glasses. The proportions were smaller then, more suited to that time. Their shape has been modernised for Atanor without affecting the two main features, which are their suitability for enjoying a drink in company and the fact that they take up little room; the 59 glasses can in fact be stacked in pairs.
The section of the glass has been studied so that the wine is tasted at its best. The narrower base concentrates the liquid and is reminiscent of the classic shape of the tasting glass; the wider rim allows more air to enter, encouraging aeration so that the wine releases its aromas.
The 59 glasses are made by a craftsman working the lampblown borosilicate glass, a fine glass whose high melting temperatures ensures outstanding characteristics of transparency and sturdiness.
There are slight imperfections of structure or form on the surface of each glass, which are a specific feature of the product and testify to the handicraft quality of its manufacture.
“Having designed the table we then had to think about a chair and we obtained two matching chairs with a minimum of waste from the same board of plywood used for the table Andrea”. Arch. Giuseppe Pilla
The chair Alessia is the negative or reverse of the table, its shape being determined by how the plywood panel was cut for the table top. The distinctive curve of the backrest fits the profile of the Andrea table extensions.
Tanaro, the mahogany plywood made for Atanor using formaldehyde-free glue was also used for the Alessia chair, while a foam rubber cushion with eco-leather cover was created for the seat.
“The various customisable solutions and combinations…are intended to bring back with a new twist the romantic atmosphere of exclusive welcome that a table and chair have always expressed”.
Giuseppe Pilla designed Andrea out of a practical necessity to make a dining table for his son – hence the name – to put in his new home, where the available space was insufficient to have a particularly large table top. A “fratino” (convent style) table was therefore decided on – a long, narrow table or desk, ideal for furnishing that unavoidably confined new “dining cum living” room which is so popular nowadays.
“Compared to a round table and wall-mounted solutions, the overriding aspect is its capacity to stand up to the sofa which is, likewise, the most ambiguous among seats”.
Andrea is an elegant rectangular table that expands to become oval, providing more space for seating. The two side panels offering the possibility of extension are deliberately left in full view instead of being concealed inside the structure, as usually happens. In this case they are a dynamic part of the shape and the appearance of the table.
The table top is made with Tanaro, the formaldehyde-free plywood made exclusively for Atanor in mahogany.
Santiago was inspired by Tobia Scarpa’s experience of a pilgrimage along the route of that name which crosses France and Spain.
The long rods in ash complete with terminals take the form of the “crosier” staff and the characteristic sti
cks used by pilgrims as a “walking aid”.
Santiago has no screws and nails. The five rods making up the structure are held together by mechanical joints, made solely with solid wood elements, meaning that the clothes stand can be easily disassembled and assembled.
The central joint and the bag hooks are in walnut. To be more precise, the base of the trunk, commonly called burl wood, was used because it contains fibres that are bent and twisted, giving the wood not only a formal beauty but also hardness and compactness.
All the elements have been treated with natural beeswax.
Atanor’s challenge for San Lorenzo has been to create silver objects in keeping with the spirit of the times. The process incorporates two objectives: to establish an excellent relationship between materials, shapes and functions and to have the “why” emerge just as strongly as the products themselves.
San Lorenzo has created objects for Atanor that at first glance seem to be of a guileless simplicity, but in fact conceal tiny but very important details. Necklace, bracelet and ring alternate the exuberance of the colour of the glass beads with the elegance of the silver beads.
The bracelet is created from a fixed basic module designed to allow a customisable sequence. The user-friendly, easy and safe clasp formed by two identical silver rings allows a module to be linked to one or more modules of different colours, thereby enhancing the individuality of the object.
In Piero Lissoni’s opinion a material with a high mechanical efficiency is relatively easy to use, but the challenge lies in inventing or in seeking the best performance of a natural material. Why take part in Atanor?
“…because it’s great in that it’s not a real project, because the best ideas are those that emerge almost for fun or by mistake, because it has within it the matrices of thought and the hand combined with the matrix of error”.
The main feature of this object?
“The surprise factor is essential; every object will be different from its twin, the stool will have lots of lookalikes but each one different from the preceding one: the beauty of error. I have tried to design a product with slender, tapering legs, to take the use of wood to extremes”.
Malga stool is a seat in solid walnut or ash obtained from the burl wood of the trunk with three through holes to accommodate three legs in ash secured using ash wedges. The whole stool is finished with natural wax.
“In the end it’s a stool, you sit on it, you don’t, you put your coffee on it, you tip over, you curse the architect, all within the norm…a stool”.
Milan, Quarch Atelier and a chat about Atanor and we soon understood that we approach a new project with the same attitude, working more on the narrative process of an object and its ability to convey emotions than on the object itself.
The underlying idea of Hoplow&Family is “will happiness find us?”, drawing inspiration from a work by the artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss.
The small HopLow designed by Quarch gives access to a world which intends going beyond the boundaries of the “usual” and take whoever possesses it into a magical place.
“…By designing a small bedside lamp, a small “private object”, we have been able to work on the innermost need of man for shade; on the transformation that shade and its inseparable counterpart – light – has on a place, taking it into another dimension, the dimension of dreams.
We think of objects as moods, guardians of a short story that can only be heard by those who are able to lose themselves beyond the confines of rationality.
The true story of Hop Low, (the Disney mushroom that tries to keep up with the notes of Tchaikovsky) is one of a character who is constantly out of step with the others and who, despite never managing to become a part of the group, glosses over the fact that everything he does is wrong: he goes out of step as if he were the only one in step!
The dystonia ceases to be a disorder and becomes the indispensable accent for unanimity.” (Arch. Simone Fumagalli – Arch. Marina Del Monaco)
The shape of the object springs into life from a technical drawing in which every line, studied and justified, becomes the naturalness of a gesture during the production stage.
The quality craftsmanship is highlighted by the blown glass technique, which makes every piece different and therefore unique.
Hoplow&Family. Mushroom shaped lamp consisting of a base and a shade in borosilicate glass joined together by a simple system that enables you to interact with the object and personalise it thanks to a choice of colours and sizes.
“When I design, some incident or other always crops up to make me re-design. Then the client arrives and wants something changed. As in the case of this table, which was finished along the lines of the chair Oscarina but the client decided he wanted removable legs”;
“the resulting table has ended up being more gratifying than the first because there are more arguments to be found in its formal intensity, which generate a form of dialogue with those who live with it”.
The table Muto. The top is a sheet of Ornata ash plywood created exclusively for Atanor, certified as having been made with formaldehyde-free glue.
The legs and rails are like those of the Oscarina chair, joined together with a singular finger joint system that enhances both its robustness and simplicity.
As a finishing touch to conceal the mechanical fixings, the architect Scarpa decided on mother-of-pearl inlays machined one by one and arranged flush with the top and the side of the table.
It was a continual challenge to bring to fruition the Oscarina chair. It all started on 2 January 2004 with the company closed for the Christmas holiday.
“Are you working today? I’ll be round to see you at two this afternoon”. Question and answer all in one. Tobia Scarpa.
Challenge won, after hundreds of samples, tests, modifications, updates and checks at Catas, with another call from Tobia to the joinery to tell Oscar personally: “I’ve seen the finished chair. You’ve worked a small miracle”. We named it Oscarina because of the passion and hard work put into it by Oscar Merotto, an extraordinary craftsman of our joinery.
Heartwood of ash, bent wood surfaces, flowing shapes, gentle curves, bold joints, little glue, no paint or varnish, the little silver Atanor logo. This is Oscarina.
The chair only tells its full story if observed through the details and turned upside down, where the architect’s magic and the skill of the craftsman become clear.
Oscarina is supplied in natural ash, with the possibility of natural leather upholstery for the seat and backrest.
Baum initiated with the freehand sketch of a tree, with a spontaneous stroke lacking in any geometrical construction that would help understand why it goes one way rather than another.
The uninterrupted line of this intuition, expressed by a single stroke of the pencil and reminiscent of a Ginkgo leaf, represents the idea of conveying the pleasure of an intimate and deep relationship with nature, a step towards genuine things.
That’s how Baum came to be designed for Atanor, this seat in solid pear wood, which acts in two ways. Baum welcomes two persons simultaneously into the sensuality of its forms in a wave of love, care and playfulness.
Baum is the manifesto of our ambition to improve the quality of life of persons through architecture designed around emotions to express the joy and warmth of the serenity that we seek in the objects we take home with us.
Baum: 144 core blocks of solid pear wood treated with natural wax and assembled without glue using hidden elements with made-to-measure stainless steel screws.
Atanor’s challenge for San Lorenzo has been to create silver objects in keeping with the spirit of the times. The process incorporates two objectives: to establish an excellent relationship between materials, shapes and functions and to have the “why” emerge just as strongly as the products themselves.
San Lorenzo has created objects for Atanor that at first glance seem to be of a guileless simplicity, but in fact conceal tiny but very important details. Necklace, bracelet and ring alternate the exuberance of the colour of the glass beads with the elegance of the silver beads.
The spiral ring is also formed from the same basic module as the necklace: two end triangles, stamped with the silver fineness marks, hold in place the sequence of beads running along a silver thread that is so flexible it can adapt to any finger.
Atanor’s challenge for San Lorenzo has been to create silver objects in keeping with the spirit of the times. The process incorporates two objectives: to establish an excellent relationship between materials, shapes and functions and to have the “why” emerge just as strongly as the products themselves.
San Lorenzo has created objects for Atanor that at first glance seem to be of a guileless simplicity, but in fact conceal tiny but very important details. Necklace, bracelet and ring alternate the exuberance of the colour of the glass beads with the elegance of the silver beads.
The necklace is created from a fixed basic module designed to allow a customisable sequence. The user-friendly, easy and safe clasp formed by two identical silver rings allows a module to be linked to one or more modules of different colours, thereby enhancing the individuality of the object.
It came about partly for fun, responding to an initiative by a French magazine which invited a few designers to create an object starting from just two sheets of paper. When drawing on these two sheets Tobia Scarpa depicted the vertical slats hooked at both ends on the first and the base and upper rim on the second.
The hook is attached to the base and to the rim through a hole and is secured by a natural leather cord.
“The basket is called Girasole (Sunflower) and has always made me want to have it”. (cit. Arch. Tobia Scarpa)
GIRASOLE. Square shape basket in Ornata ash or Tanaro mahogany plywood certified formaldehyde-free made exclusively for the Atanor project. All the component elements of the basket are tumbled and surface finished with linseed oil.
The idea of the lamp Libra resides in the memory of the designer when, a few years ago, rummaging through an old family bookcase, he discovered the books of the early 20th century with a special graphic typical of those years. So Mr. Plazzogna thought it would be nice to revitalize those books, like actors, treating them with the attention that a sculpture deserves and making them live again with its own light.
The basic structure of the lamp, deliberately simple, camouflaged and hidden, allows the book, with its own emotions and fantasy, to be the only protagonist. Not a self-celebratory design object but a lamp that creates a light source.
Read a book make the imagination flies. This kind of feeling led the designer to think about a suspended object, which levitating in the air it produces a halo of light that plays with lights and shadows on the wall.
An easy game of cuts and folds performed on a metal sheet represents the backbone of the lamp. A small structure that remains in the background and does not bother the nightstand next to the bed.
The adjustable supporting fork, sliding along the cylinder, allows to accommodate a book, but also other items related to everyday life: a musical score, a tangle of branches, a play of textures or sheets of paper.
The curved frosted glass diffuser keeps away the pages of the book from the heat source.
The idea of the lamp Libra resides in the memory of the designer when, a few years ago, rummaging through an old family bookcase, he discovered the books of the early 20th century with a special graphic typical of those years. So Mr. Plazzogna thought it would be nice to revitalize those books, like actors, treating them with the attention that a sculpture deserves and making them live again with its own light.
The basic structure of the lamp, deliberately simple, camouflaged and hidden, allows the book, with its own emotions and fantasy, to be the only protagonist. Not a self-celebratory design object but a lamp that creates a light source.
Read a book make the imagination flies. This kind of feeling led the designer to think about a suspended object, which levitating in the air it produces a halo of light that plays with lights and shadows on the wall.
The wall-mounted version, conceptually identical to the table one, has small technical differences: it has a bracket for fixing it to the wall and a small box where the electrical wiring is arranged in the case the power coming from the wall.
If you use the external power cord, this will be riding on the counterweight, taking the idea from a balloon floating in the air. The tensor is made from a steel cable and a painted iron cylinder.
I wished to create an object that satisfied two conditions: that it be a low coffee table and also be a dining room table, with the consequence of being able to adjust the height to the context. Leonardo is a response to a new way of inhabiting space compared to the past, a different way of relating to people.
Forcolini believes that design can be enduring only if it has meaning for people and the way they live. This table must in fact be understood as an expression of the centrality of man and his needs in relation to the present.
Leonardo is “a table that seeks to bring all of these considerations together, to be in tune with the times, that fulfills people’s needs and serves to unite, not divide, that brings out the relations between human and not the relations of power”. (C. Forcolini)
The tabletop is made of mahogany plywood, produced exclusively for atanor with a mahogany essence veneer. The veneer was applied in a running matched pattern as specified in the design, maintaining the original idea of a darker mahogany circle at the center and a lighter crown around the outside divided into twelve equal sections.
“The mechanical function is ensured by the hidden telescopic system that raises the tabletop, while the form is determined by the vertical structure that also expresses the transformation from low table to tall table”. (C. Forcolini)
The vertical structure is the point of departure for the project. “We started with the slats which represent our dogma”. They are made of solid mahogany, shaped and processed to contain the vertical lift with elegance.
A more personal and customized approach to the market that brings together product or fashion designers and handcrafting know-how, passed down through the generations, with a history that has been forgotten over time. To create an ethically correct production chain in which everyone involved in the production process earns his fair share.
“I had fun developing these products, in which I worked to restore a culture that was abandoned when industrialization imposed a new mentality: to optimize and contain costs by increasing the volume of production. This new consumer mentality contributed as a consequence to the exclusion of key areas such as the Alpago region, because they were no longer able to satisfy the demands of industry” (Luciano Benetton)
Why a blanket? Because it is a simple object yet as absolutely indispensable as bread. A blanket of this kind, made with this raw material, that has no artificial dyes but relies simply on the natural colours of Alpago wool, is an exciting and direct product. This is a product that can create a contact with anyone.
We started with a simple linear version like this one, in which the weave is evident and you can see all its defects because the wool is neither bleached nor dyed. The two sides of the blanket are different, one is brushed while the other is felted to respect the traditions of old-fashioned blankets. First, the wool is washed and mixed, then a machine is used to spin it to create the original yarn that is woven on a shuttle loom. Finally the blanket is felted through a process of fulling and brushing, which means the fleece is pulled up and then shaved for a more elegant finish.
The short side, where the blanket is cut, is finished with blanket stitch embroidery, an old-fashioned stitch that has been reinterpreted here in a blue that offers a strong chromatic contrast. The other side is defined by the selvage, also blue, which is woven into the blanket.
In keeping with the intent to reinterpret the objects of tradition from a contemporary point of view, we developed the Bourette showl, a distinctly old-fashioned object, which is convenient for both men and women, a product that is “intelligent because instead of raising the thermostat at home, putting on a lightweight shawl such as this one can help keep the budget balanced”.
A light shawl has other qualities as well, such as extending the season because it is not just a winter garment, or more importantly, travelling well, because it occupies so little space.
The Bourette shawl and blanket made of wool and silk buret are very special products because they basically mix a refined and elegant material such as silk with a rougher but warmer material, such as wool. In these products the beauty of the silk’s colour nuances blends perfectly with the heavy texture of the wool.
Finally, this product features elegant finishes such as ebony wood buttons engraved with the Atanor logo that fasten it across the shoulder, and the finishing stitching on the sides with the trademark embroidered in black.
The challenge that we took up by Atanor was to study a product that had a story, a goal that we set ourselves with all our projects because we have so many stories to tell, the problem is that very often no one wants to listen to us.!
From the beginning we considered Atanor not as a standard project but as a happy thought without superstructures and limits imposed by the market and, in this sense, also the Merotto Milani approach contributed, giving us maximum freedom to design.
Janus started as a funny game drinking a beer with friends. At the beginning it was not clear its intended use, then, as the project was being developed and its details defined, the more we discovered its many shades nuances: a cube, a nightstand in the bedroom, a small table in the living room , a chair, a small library…
Janus is a customizable product because you decide how it will stay with you during your lifetime.
The structure is in curved plywood oak veneered with a natural wax finish, to enhance the softness and warmth of the material.
The handles in natural leather give a classic touch of elegance.
The continuous collaboration with Merotto Milani srl has allowed to point out the details, the hinge for example is “a project in the project”, it was designed and realized in turned brass specifically to define the opening and closing movement of our Janus.
