Loro Piana Interiors pays tribute to Cini Boeri during Milan Design Week 2024
During Milan Design Week, Loro Piana Interiors paid homage to Cini Boeri on the centenary of her birth with the installation “A Tribute To Cini Boeri” at Cortile della Seta, Loro Piana’s Milanese headquarters, from 16th to 21st of April 2024, showcasing the Italian architect and designer’s most iconic pieces dressed in the Maison’s most exclusive Interiors fabrics. These unique furniture pieces, produced by Arflex, celebrated the most playful, joyful, and contemporary side of the design idea that Cini Boeri embodied: furniture conceived to encourage the interaction of the individual with the domestic space.
Milanese architect and designer Cini Boeri.
The installation, designed in collaboration with Archivio Cini Boeri, follows one of the principles that guided Cini’s work as an architect: the idea of a house with separate rooms with independent exits and a common area that inhabitants share by choice, not by imposition. The central room of the installation hosts the iconic Strips system, while each of the surrounding spaces is dedicated to a product family. The path was interactive and invited guests to experience the pieces, to touch and sit on them, always following Cini Boeri’s teaching that furniture should be able to engage with users, adapting, and evolving according to their needs.
Exploring the different areas means interacting with the most famous pieces designed by Cini Boeri: the modular Strips system, awarded the Compasso d’Oro in 1979, the Strips bed, the Pecorelle sofas and armchairs, the Bobo and Boborelax armchairs, and the Botolo high and low chairs – all dressed for the occasion in the most refined Loro Piana Interiors fabrics. The Botolo chairs are reinterpreted in soft Cashfur, an incredible blend of cashmere and silk, produced in a special colour in a limited and numbered series of 100 pieces. For the modular Strips sofa, Cashmere Raw was chosen, a pure, undyed cashmere in two shades, and for the Strips bed and Boborelax armchair, Tiepolo wool was used, naturally elastic and resistant, while Bobo armchair is upholstered in Cashmere Sherpas in the signature Loro Piana Kummel colour. The Pecorelle are upholstered in unique and lustrous Pecora Nera, a fabric obtained by working the dark-coloured fleece of New Zealand merino sheep, always in two shades to create a game within the game: a soft and comfortable “flock” where the light Pecorelle stand out among the dark ones, just as happens in the real flock from which Loro Piana exclusively sources the wool.
Francesco Pergamo, Director of Loro Piana Interiors.
“The thinking of Cini Boeri is extraordinarily contemporary, said Francesco Pergamo, Director of Loro Piana Interiors. Just as extraordinarily contemporary remain the pieces we have chosen to exhibit together with Arflex and Archivio Cini Boeri, and to dress with our fabrics. The dual centenary of Cini’s birth and the founding of Loro Piana has offered us the opportunity to contribute to the appreciation of the architect’s figure, embarking on a journey that will last three years. In the meantime, we start with this special collection that Arflex produces and distributes with a selection of our most representative but also most versatile fabrics. We have chosen them with a focus on the key elements of Cini Boeri’s design: functionality, modularity, pieces conceived to be used and to become part of everyday life. Similarly, all our fabrics, even the most precious ones, are crafted to be used and appreciated within environments. The combination has proved simply ideal”.
Giulia and Antonio Boeri, founders of Archivio Cini Boeri in 2023 with the aim of reorganizing and making accessible the work of an extraordinary grandmother, spoke about her work: “Cini taught us to practice Joy, in life’s choices and future expectations. And this is what we want to convey by working with her Archive, the joy of planning for the future, with commitment, but also with responsibility and passion”.
Irony, joy, and a touch of irreverence characterise the entire installation, to uphold these teachings and offer visitors a unique experience, showing how Cini’s design is still deeply connected to modern housing needs.
“A Tribute To Cini Boeri” stems from the collaboration between Loro Piana Interiors, Archivio Cini Boeri, and Arflex, the historic Italian company that has always produced Cini’s pieces of furniture. This marks the beginning of a journey of research and storytelling that will accompany Archivio Cini Boeri until the first major retrospective of Cini Boeri’s life in 2026 at Triennale.
“The unique celebration of the iconic models, designed by Cini Boeri for Arflex and the exclusive collaboration with Loro Piana Interiors create an extraordinary exhibition. The intention is to be immersed in the designer’s creative world, to play and to savour the models created by Arflex, wrapped in an harmonious fusion with ultimate quality fabrics”, stated Arflex.
“A Tribute To Cini Boeri” is not the only initiative celebrating Cini’s figure during Milan Design Week 2024. Archivio Cini Boeri and Triennale Milano presented the exhibition “Cini Boeri nella Biblioteca del Parco”, curated by Antonio Boeri, Giulia Boeri and Cristina Moro, staged from April 15th to 28th at the renowned library designed by Ico Parisi for the 1954 Triennale within Parco Sempione. Loro Piana Interiors will follow the enhancement path by working closely with the Archive and becoming a Partner of Triennale Milano.
