As Scala Home launches a flagship store of B& B Italia and Flos in New Delhi’s Design District on MG Road, the luxurious showroom has unveiled B&B Italia’s iconic UP Series Armchair 2000 in India. The Gaetano Pesce’s iconic 1969 UP series has astonished connoisseurs with its expressive contours and shapes upholstered with elastic fabric.
Poised midway between design and art, this innovative solution originates from B&B Italia’s extensive technological know-how in terms of polyurethane injection moulding. Most eye-catching among the armchairs is the UP5_6 that has been created to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the epochal design. It had been upholstered with special beige and petrol green striped fabric.
With its voluptuous shape, a metaphor for a large womb, the armchair calls to mind ancient statues of the goddesses of fertility. A spherical ottoman tied to the armchair contrasts the image of comfort and convenience with a more figurative one of a woman with a ball and chain tied to her foot. “I believe that women have always unwittingly been their own jailer. This is why I decided to give this armchair the shape of a woman with a ball and chain, reflecting the traditional image of a prisoner,” said Gaetano Pesce about the design.
The UP armchair series is also available in a junior version for kids aged three and upwards, which is a perfect replica of the original design, only smaller. The series also includes the UP7 foot, a large sculptural object in painted polyurethane that poses as an archaeological relic of the modern era.
Designed by Preeti Kaur of Studio Prefix, the 5,000 sqft store features a display of elegant furniture and lights including the Camaleonda sofa, Antonio Citterio designed bench, Husk bed by Patricia Urquiola, Max dining table with Caratos dining chairs alongside an exquisite range of modern lights by Flos; thereby offering a first-hand experience of the brands’ current collections, as well as from its premium line Maxalto.
Image credits: Scala Home