Matrix International re-proposes the extraordinary Arabesk armchair designed by Swedish designer Folke Jansson and the new homonymous sofa in an explosive floral bloom
Text by: Domenico Costantini
35 years passed since the idea’s conception that gave birth to Matrix International : to preserve modernist culture, respecting its complexity as it bridges art and applied arts, to bring it to attention and make projects never put into production available to the general public. This is why archives and private collections’ researches ha ve been key as well as the heirs’ collaboration of great architects who wrote the first pages of modern design since the 1920s. A journey that has merged into the CODICI collection. In addition to this, simultaneously over the years, the Tuscan company has built a personal contemporary repertoire. But it is exactly from CODICI collection that Matrix dressing up with novelties “Arabesk” , the original armchair designed by Folke Jansson , Swedish sculptor, ceramic painter and designer. It was 1955 when the armchair was presented at the Gothenburg Exhibition Show, breaking down the wall of the linearity of the design conceived up to that moment, with sculptural, soft and enveloping lines. Since then, a project of constant s uccess and which today finds a new allure by being covered by the creativity of Simone Guidarelli. The creative suggests the customization using the elegant Tree of life print, a floral decoration by Simone Guidarelli Walldesign, a pattern that comes from researches on ancient Chinese embroideries of the 1920s.
In addition to the classic Arabesk armchair, it’s presented also the new Arabesk Double sofa , with its original mask shape, also designed by Folke Jansson in 1955 but produced in very few examples, one of which is exhibited at the National Museum in Stockholm while the few others belong to private collections.
Matrix International decided this year to extend the production rights, renewing its environmental significance: the circular economy is in fact achieved in design, thanks to the collaboration with r3direct, a Tuscan company that c reated the shell using post – consumer recycled plastic obtained from plasmix , a material transformed by Revet . Plasmix is a mix of recycled plastics which, thanks to cutting – edge 3D printing technologies, gives life to durable, valuable, customizable and absolutely green creations. The sofa as well as the armchair, is covered by the Tree of life by Simone Guidarelli Walldesign; the result is a piece of furniture in which elegance and style blend with durability and sustainable value.
