Head, hands and heart - a powerful combination
For more than 25 years, designer and architect Monica Armani and her husband Luca have been a team in life and in creative work. Her father was also an architect and his designs can still be admired in Trento.
But what brings Monica's visions to life is the magic and logic of their partnership. Head, hands and heart - a powerful combination. For KFF, Monica Armani designed the GAIA family in three seat heights and the corresponding table collection for ASCO. For the first GAIA chair design, she received the German Design Award in 2018.
Adelheid Blecke in conversation with Monica Armani about her product design and the GAIA as the beginning of a successful product family
What is so special about your product design?
My design is a sort of molecular process, defined by a crossover between creativity and logical analysis in the rejection of the superfluous. My goal, in every project, is to overcome the obvious and the customs spacing in a wide range of contaminations that derive from listening and observing what surrounds me and from the knowledge of technologies, always evolving.
My approach to the project aims to elevate technology to an aesthetic condition that gives life to essential details: the creative flows that animate this research meet to become constructive components.
The encounter between my sensibility and the emotions that come from my territory make this creative flow become a method, forming a network and generating interactions.
What value does femininity have in your designs?
Femininity gives each of my projects a hint of allure that is perceived by the refined choice of materials and colors well blended with a certain harmony of forms.
What were the basic ideas behind GAIA?
GAIA is born from the crossover between organic and ergonomicshapes, it is the eloquent synthesis between sensitivity and competence, a functional and timeless object born from the balance of every detail in order to achieve a harmonious result.
What makes GAIA a very feminine chair?
GAIA is born from the petals of a flower, the same one that evokes the idea of femininity in the common imagination.
In what environment do you see GAIA?
GAIA is a seat designed for any type of environment; the choice of exclusive leathers for KFF, the company's textile proposals and the search for fabrics in all that the top of the market offers, allow to create countless moods/products suitable for any situation.
Who is GAIA for?
GAIA is for everyone. I always place the human being at the centre of my design process: the objects that I design enhance the emotional components and combine emotionality with the functionality of the product.
What role do GAIA and GAIA LINE play?
The lines of GAIA find their continuation in GAIA LINE; an adoption of the essence of GAIA, aimed at highlighting the delicate curve of the backrest.
