Five-hundred year-old oil paintings, tribal belts, the human body and dinosaurs: acclaimed Italian architect Mario Bellini discovers inspiration in the most diverse of sources. As part of his speaking tour throughout the U.S., Bellini delivered a lecture at Cassina's New York showroom on June 9 that explored his influences, inspirations and accomplishments.
Bellini, who recently celebrated his 80th birthday, has been collaborating with Cassina for 50 years, with recent work including two extensions to his Cab collection: the Cab Lounge Chair and Bed, which were launched at the Salone del Mobile earlier this year. (Some of his chairs, like the Cab, he shared, are comparable to skeletons "wearing" a leather coat.)
During the lecture, Bellini, who was the first artist asked to design his own exhibit space at the MoMA, scrolled through projected images of his projects as well as inspirational snapshots: from one of his chairs, which was the first piece of residential furniture to include plastic, and his extensive collaborations with Olivetti, B&B Italia, Flos and Cassina, to images of storied artwork, historical scenes and ad campaigns.
Next stops on Bellini’s tour include visits to the Cassina showroom in Miami on June 10, the Scott & Cooner store in Dallas on June 11, the DIVA showroom in Los Angeles on June 16, Arkitektura in San Francisco on June 17 and Inform in Vancouver on June 18.
