Italian architect and interior designer, Frederico Delrosso, will talk on global trends in an open-style discussion with designers on Wednesday, 13 February in Heliopolis.
Without giving away all his ideas, Delrosso did tell Ahram Online that the biggest trend has been and will probably continue to be for a while a return to something more “real.”
“My feeling is that now everybody needs something more real, concrete, consistent. But that doesn’t mean cheap or not cheap. Something more useful. We saw in the past ten years many experiments with plastic, artificial materials and technology. That’s ok. We’re living with technology. But I think we need to go back to something more reassuring, something that makes people feel good. From me, what you are seeing is a lot of use of wood, natural material, stone, something like iron.”
He moved on from the materials and talked on aesthetics: “The shape has to be comfortable, not just to feel but to see. Simple, makes you feel relaxed, that you are at home. We are living inside of architecture, with technology, etc. But we need to get from them ‘serenity.’”
Ahram Online asks him about his connection with Egypt and how this idea of having an informal, open discussion with designers in Cairo came about:
"I have a few very nice [Egyptian] friends who are designers. I met them in Milan 6-8 years ago and we are still in touch. I visited Egypt a couple of times for leisure."
This time around, Delrosso was invited by the Turkish furniture company, Dogtas, in partnership with the store, Quattro, which opened not long ago. “They had invited me to design a collection for their branding a couple of years ago and I came up with Cincuenta.”
On Egypt itself, he says: “I like the people, it is a very interesting population. In the end we have some similarities - we are Mediterranean.”
Of course, at some point the conversation must touch on the obvious: politics... and art. “In a way, you will be a new country. A big transformation. It’s historic. In Italy, we are good, we have freedom, but we are passing through a difficult time with the economy, so we are in a bad situation. Everyone in the world is. It will reflect on art, design. Everything reflects the status of the country, and now everything is globalised, so it’s all connected. The world is very small now with technology.”
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Federico Delrosso’s architectural firm most recently made the shortlist for the Interior Design magazine, Best of Year 2012 award and won two honorary awards in December.
Programme:
13 February, 10:00am
Dogtas offices, 62 Al-Thawra Street, Heliopolis
Register:01001099631
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