Milan 2012: wonky curtains, a disco ball and framed X-ray photographs can be found at the temporary apartment in Milan where design brand Maison Martin Margiela are presenting new furniture this week.

An asymmetric headboard with quilted upholstery can be found in the bedroom, between a pair of Lazy tables shrunk down to the size of nightstands.

Other new pieces on show include a modular armoire that can be used as either a wardrobe or a bookshelf, an undersized armchair and a scaled-down desk designed for working in bed.

In the garden room a forest of plants surround armchairs from different periods, which are covered in white fabric and grouped together to create a makeshift sofa.

Last year Maison Martin Margiela completed their first hotel interior, which you can see here.

Here's some more text from the designers:

‘Objets & Editions’
Collection 2012

The ‘Chers Voisins’ (‘Dear Neighbours’) installation at the Salone del Mobile in Milan showcases new Maison Martin Margiela furniture produced by cerruti baleri. This year, the Maison created a temporary apartment that blends interior architecture and design in a style inspired by real life, disproportion and trompe-l’oeil.

From the moment you enter, suspended ‘door rugs’ reveal the rooms apertures. In the dining room, nighttime reigns with a disco-ball ottoman and ‘bottle lamps’ set on the floor. New ‘parquet’ and ‘tile’ print carpets reveal the kitchen and the bathroom. The living room plays up perspective and dimension with a checkerboard floor and undersized furniture. Moldings are interrupted and an exclusive wallpaper displays X-rayed paintings.

Interior, day: a white room is hung with diminishing curtains that echo the ‘Telo’ headboard. The ‘Sbilenco’ console and the ‘Lazy’ table accentuate the sense of imbalance and disproportion. Dressed in white jackets, the adjacent dressing room presents the ‘Lolo’ armory. Exit the apartment through the garden decorated with the ‘Groupe’ sofa set and white ‘Emmanuelle’. Even the sky over the garden is in trompe l’oeil, bearing Second Empire salon paintings borrowed from the Hotel La Maison Champs- Elysees.

New pieces – 2012

‘Lazy’ – a scaled-down table reduced to the size of a nightstand or small console; in exotic wood and birch.

‘Easy’ – reduced scriban desk to work into bed made in exotic wood and birch.

‘Telo’ – disproportionate headboard. The structure seems to shrink and the quilted upholstery appears to follow suit.

‘Lolo’ – open-structure armory with modular interior that can be transformed into a wardrobe or a library.

‘Mademoiselle’ - independent or can become doors for the ‘Lolo’ armory.

‘Undersized One’ – an undersized armchair with an ultra-compact rendering that plays on the concept of scale.

‘Knife-rest’ - stoppers of antique decanters made in France during the 19th and early 20th centuries are collected and cut by hand to become knife-rests. Stoppers are all different and each knife-rest is a unique and rare piece.

Permanent

‘Groupe’ - a surrealistic approach of a sofa, as if 3 armchairs of different styles and periods of time have been put next to each other and covered in white or black linen cloth.

‘Emmanuelle’ - A big armchair wrapped in white or black cotton canvas. The iconic shape is transformed into something completely renewed with such a familiar aesthetics bringing a radically new perception.

‘Undersized’ - An undersized sofa. This two- or three-seat sofa plays with scale for an ultra-compact shape.

‘Sbilenco’ - An ‘unstable’ table. It comes in three versions – a coffee-table, side-table or console – in black ash wood or silver grey tanganika. Its structure seems shaky and offset by a drawer to balance a clear glass top.

‘Edo-bell’ - traditional Japanese glass bell. Hanging at the house entrance or onto tree branches, it sounds with the wind fulfilling the wishes of the residents. Available in three different sizes.

‘Door-stopper egg’ - in the shape of a duck’s egg, this egg made of mat silicone, in white or in natural colour.

‘Ostrich egg’ - this real weighted ostrich egg may block a door, hold paper or be of any other decorative use.

‘Champagne bucket’ - made in mirror stainless steel, this 7-liter paint pail becomes a real champagne bucket.

‘Tabi-bookmark’ - a brown leather Tabi-sole shaped bookmark, size 24.

‘Cotton calendar’ - made in starched and embroidered cotton canvas, it becomes, once the year is over, a set of twelve napkins.

‘Giant souvenir snowball’ - an oversized "souvenir" snowball containing glitter creates a space free for personal souvenir.

‘Feather pen’ - decorated with a delicate feather, a classic ballpoint pen offers a humorous take on the old-fashioned quill.

‘Russian dolls’ - the eternal doll-in-a-doll. White and anonymous, these Matriochkas are hand-made in Russia.

‘Magnifying glasses’ - both halves of a pair of glasses become magnifying glasses.

‘Bottle lamps’ - the ultimate recycling concept, using used bottles of wine and liquor, their labels faded in white.

Recognitions:
Furnitures: cerruti baleri
Decoration objects: l’Atelier d’Exercices
Rugs and carpets: Gallerie B
Bottle lamps: Pop-corn

The post Chers Voisins by Maison Martin Margiela appeared first on Dezeen.

Belgian fashion designer Martin Margiela Fashion brand Maison Martin Margiela have completed their first hotel interiors at the Maison Champs Elysées in Paris.

The designer furnished 17 new suites at the existing hotel, as well as a restaurant, bar, smoking room and reception.

A diamond-shaped light hangs from the ceiling of the reception hall, where stainless steel lines the walls.

Inside one of the suites, walls are decorated with black and white photographs, depicting the 19th century wall mouldings of an existing room elsewhere in the hotel.

To contrast, its bathroom walls are covered with colourful magazine spines.

In another suite, the rooms are split between two levels and face a grey-painted landscape mural, whilst the furniture, walls and curtains in the room named The Closet of Rarities are entirely black.

In the suite named Loose Covers in White, as well as in the hotel’s lounge bar, chairs and objects are covered in the designer’s trademark white fabric, which also features in an installation published on Dezeen back in 2009.

Here's some more information from Maison Martin Margiela:

Maison Martin Margiela presents the ‘Hotel La Maison des Champs Elysées’, located right in the heart of Paris.

When the Maison renovates another Maison:

Maison Martin Margiela has been entrusted with its first hotel project and is therefore rethinking the interior design of Hotel La Maison- Champs Elysées. This Parisian hotel, in the historical building of the Maison des Centraliens*, is located at the junction of Avenue Montaigne, the Grand Palais and Place de la Concorde.

Maison Martin Margiela has begun a new page in its history with projects involving interior architecture and design, after more than two decades of designing showrooms and shops to sell its collections throughout the world. The first projects date from 2009 with the ‘Elle Décoration’ Suite at the Palais de Chaillot and the ‘Ile aux Oiseaux’ suite in the spa hotel ’Les Sources de Caudalie’ in Bordeaux.

However, collaborating with The Maison Champs Elysées has been the largest and most demanding project in terms of interior design since Maison Martin Margiela was first set up in 1988.

Bernadette Chevalier, La Maison Champs Elysées representative explained, “With the help of Maison Martin Margiela, we wanted to offer clients in search of different experiences, new concepts of living space by redefining the rules and offering a luxurious but relaxed atmosphere, where minimalism of forms is served by incredible attention to detail. Moreover, this hotel is located in the centre of a district which brings the most prestigious French couture houses together.”

Maison Martin Margiela adds, “The House is delighted to reinterpret another house as its first Paris hotel project. Maison Martin Margiela has created a dramatic world where reality and make-believe seem to blend. The decor is like a succession of stage sets where references are mixed so as to create an unusual atmosphere where past and present jostle harmoniously.”

La Maison Champs Elysées consists of two buildings, one dating from the Second Empire under Napoleon III, the other built more recently.

Maison Martin Margiela, appointed after winning the competition to design the historical part of the building, has re-thought this space to create hotel suites, a restaurant, a smoking room, a bar and a reception area.

In designing this project Maison Martin Margiela aimed for continuity in relation to its own artistic history by offering a place where contrasts harmonize and which is tinged with surrealism.

The House worked jointly with other artists (landscape painters and lighting engineers) to carry out this project.

Day

The Reception Hall

The floor is made up of Mareuil limestone flagstones with black slate insets randomly scattered as if by the wind. The reception area in the shape of a mirrored prism is in the centre of this hall. This huge diamond gives an impression of infinite space. There are many wall lamps in brushed stainless steel on the white walls, which light up the outlines of missing paintings.

Materials: Pierre de Mareuil (limestone flagstones), marble, mirrors, brushed stainless steel.

The Essling Bar

The floor and ceiling match each other by using a divided- up effect in black and white trompe-l’oeil. A wool carpet on the floor is printed with a classical-style French ceiling design while the ceiling is decorated with wallpaper printed with the same design. Traditional French panelling, coloured off-white, covers the walls, which themselves show traces of a past which never existed and where only the outlines of paintings and lighting remain. The ‘Groupe’ Margiela sofas, covered in white linen and cotton, face each other and are linked by low tables whose size is amplified by mirrors

Materials: wool, paper, wood, brushed stainless steel, mirrors, cotton, linen.

Smoking Room/ Cigar Cellar

The Smoking room is like a negative of the bar- white becomes black. Black is dominant and club armchairs in dark brown leather are grouped around small, low cube-shaped tables made of mirrors which give this room an authentic English gentlemen’s club style. Traditional French panelling and parquet stained in black oak are literally burnt which creates the impression of disaster. Gentle lighting is diffused by little wall-lamps and suspended light fittings as well as black bottle lamps.

Materials: oak, cotton, leather, mirrors

Restaurant – 80 covers

The restaurant plays on the contrasts of materials and sensations: Flooring in waxed concrete and walls in formed concrete contrast with light, delicate furniture. Square tables and arm chairs in white cotton loose covers placed on a dull metal pedestal create an illusion of floating, bringing a note of surrealism to the place. The seating is entirely classical mixing Louis XV ‘Bergères’, Louis XVI Salon chairs, Louis XV Lyre Back chairs and Louis XVI Medallion Back chairs. The background shows classical French wooden doors, but supersized. The mouldings, locks and casement bolts also emphasise the supersize theme. Three canvases stretched on the ceiling continue the theme of three classical distressed ceilings. Alcoves made mainly of silver birch printed with endless black and white classical cubes scattered on the walls. The restaurant offers a view of a green living wall through a glass screen and access the garden.

Materials: waxed concrete, Ductal® concrete, cotton, wood, silver birch.

Corridor/Passageway

After the reception hall, access to the restaurant and lifts is through a long corridor covered in wall-paper made from black and white photographs of the ‘golden salon’ on the second floor. A wool runner, printed with English-style parquet in black and white is laid on the waxed concrete flooring. Three ‘Montgolfier’ chandeliers with steel and crystal pendants have been deliberately mottled to age them. The left partition wall in this corridor is made up of moveable panels on hinges, which form a visual filter between the corridor and the restaurant. They are printed with trompe-l’oeil on one side and on the other side stretched fabric lit from behind.

Materials: wallpaper, waxed concrete, wool, steel, crystal.

The Antin Hall

This hall is situated behind the hotel. It provides access to a passageway leading to the garden and to the upper floors via the lifts. The walls and ceiling are entirely covered in aluminium sheets, applied by hand. The flooring is made up of big, silver, ceramic tiles. The lighting comes from a chandelier in the shape of a faceted diamond.

Materials: aluminium, ceramic, steel, Plexiglas, LED lights.

Night

Landings and Corridors

The landings and corridors are entirely black: black paint on the walls and thick black carpeting on the floor. These dark spaces are lit up by projections of light which imitate sunlight filtering through non-existent doors or windows.

Materials: wool

Suites with unfinished mouldings

These three suites with wood mouldings endlessly interrupted, like an unfinished work, or work in progress, offer a monochrome painting in white from very pale grey to light beige. The salon and bedroom are separated by a huge central space with sliding partitions to provide a complete or partial separation of the space. The ceiling is optical white and the fitted wool carpet is in very light beige. The bathrooms are entirely made of vitreous enamel mosaic tiles. A mirror lit by a set of bulbs, like an artist’s dressing room, has been placed above a huge double basin in white stoneware. A large bath and an Italian-style walk-in shower complete the room.

Materials: wood, wool, vitreous enamel, mirrors.

The ‘Golden Salon’ suite

The walls are entirely covered in wallpaper made from black and white photographs taken of the golden salon on the second floor. The net curtains are printed with these same patterns. In this way, the perspectives and richness in decoration of the Second Empire style (Napoleon III) are reproduced as trompe-l’oeil on the fittings and furniture in the suite. A huge library mural full of various books is put up over the bed head in the bedroom. The conveniences with all four walls covered with sections of different editions of magazines, continue this library theme. The flooring is English-style parquet in aged oak. The bathroom is entirely made of vitreous enamel mosaic tiles.

Materials: wallpaper, oak, vitreous enamel tiles, mirrors

The ‘Closet of Rarities’ suite

Black is overwhelmingly present in this suite. The walls are painted coal black and the English-style oak parquet is stained black. An entire wall of the salon is devoted to a closet of rarities displaying various objects and works of art. The curtains are fashioned from black wool cloth with fine pinstripes reminiscent of the traditional fabric for a gentleman’s suit. The bathroom is done in mosaic tiles.

Materials: oak, vitreous enamel, mirrors, wool cloth.

The ‘loose covers in white’ suite

Paintings, objects and furniture and fittings from the entrance are meticulously covered in white loose covers. In the salon and bedroom the upper part of the white walls differs from the lower part. The foot of the classical Haussmann walls with picture rails, frames and plinth contrast with the upper part made with wide panels of stretched white cotton. A set of bulbs in phosphorescent gypsum from the Urals frame a large mirror on the bedroom ceiling and illuminate the night. The flooring is English-style parquet in aged oak. In the bathroom the installation of white tiling with black pointing hints at a graph paper effect.

Materials: cotton, wood, gypsum from the Urals, oak, ceramics, mirror, tiling.

The small split-level suite/ unusual bedroom

This small suite is organized on two levels which gives it an unusual character.
The hall including the dressing room leads to a staircase, which goes down to the bedroom. The entire wall on the right is draped with a white cotton curtain making a link between these two spaces. The flooring, walls and the bed head are in layered silver birch like a millefeuille of fine wood leaves. The bed is built into this structure. A huge imaginary landscape, opposite the bed, has been specially printed onto wallpaper and is reflected on the adjacent wall which is entirely mirrored. In the bathroom the installation of white tiling with black pointing hints at a graph paper effect.

Materials: silver birch, wallpaper, mirror, cotton, ceramics, sheet of brass.

The Trompe-l’oeil bedrooms

These ten rooms are all made to the same design. The light beige wool fitted carpet is printed with a Persian rug in red tones and as if it were coming down from the bed in trompe-l’oeil fashion. The wall behind the bed head is enhanced by three frames of light painted to give the illusion of sunlight filtering through the adjacent windows. The wall, separating the bedroom from the bathroom is entirely made of silver birch and has built- in storage units and a desk. In the bathroom the installation of white tiling with black pointing hints at a graph paper effect.

Materials: wool, ceramics, tiling, mirror.

The post Maison Champs Elysées
by Maison Martin Margiela appeared first on Dezeen.

Milan 09: fashion brand Maison Martin Margiela presents an installation showcasing its new interiors products and design service in Via Savona.

Called ‘Mat, Satiné, Brilliant’, the show features a replica of the brand's Paris headquarters, architectural models and prototypes of products in development.

The show is at Via Savona 60 in Zona Tortona until 27 April.

See all our Milan 09 stories in our special category.

Here's some info from Maison Martin Margiela:

--

‘Mat, Satiné, Brilliant’

Maison Martin Margiela introduces its concepts of interior architecture through an installation, ‘Mat, Satiné, Brilliant’, which recreates the environment and atmosphere of its interior design workshop using a variety of creative expressions of the Maison’s identity and philosophy.

This is who we are and this is what we do

Founded in 1988 by Belgian born designer Martin Margiela, the Maison has become one of the most influential, visionary and iconoclastic fashion brands in the world, best known for its concept of deconstruction, reinterpretation, craftsmanship and transformation of material. The cutting-edge and ‘avant-garde’ work of Maison Martin Margiela in women’s, men’s accessories and ‘Artisinal’ has been acclaimed worldwide for 20 years by its fashion peers and press, and also worn all around the world with stores in Europe, USA, Middle East, Russia, Japan, Hong Kong and Asia.

The Maison has created a style concept with its collections that was rapidly visible through the environment of the brand, its showrooms, show installations and presentations, offices and stores. Beyond the approach and conception of its colletions, the unique identity of the Maison was clearly recognisable in the spaeces it occupies, with signature elements like the use of whites, cotton fabrics, ‘trompe-l’oeil’, diversion, mix of styles and époque, and hints of humor creating a unique atmosphere and ambience.

In the idst of the development of the architectural care for its ‘professional spaces, the Maison created a small collection of objects & publications (named ‘Line 13’, 1999). With various exhibitions and events throughout the world, it also developed its activity in the Arts & architectural field. In 2008, the key project of “La Suite – Elle Décoration” at the Cité de l’architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris (2008/2009) activated the will to pursue and extend this activity more in depty.

‘Mat, Satiné, Brilliant’

On the occasion of Salone del Mobile in Milan, Maison Martin Margiela presents an introduction of its savoir-faire: more commonly using the human body as the support of its artistic expression, the Maison utilizes space and furniture as a medium to convey its creativity. A natural evolution and continuity of its vision and character.

While entering the 180m2 space, the visitor penetrates into an exact reproduction of the Interior Design workshop of the Paris Headquarters, where all stores, showrooms, and architectural projets are conceived. The walls are covered with ‘trompe-l’oeil’ effect life-size pictures of the office and all its decoration and organization elements. The furniture has been brought from Paris and placed in its original and exat position. The installtion also refers to elements from Margiela stores and showrooms worldwide.

The first separated small room reproduces an office of the architects’ Paris team, all the details (phone, computer, furniture, etc) have been covered in white cotton fabric and the floor with black and white linoleum imitating a wood floor used in the LA store and ‘La Suite’. The ceiling is sealed with a ‘trompe-l’oeil’ picture of the beams in the Paris office.

In the open space, the first corner reproduces the pyramid of plastic champagne glasses from the LA store and presents the new Margiela souvenir snow balls. Then, a table presents mock-ups of a few projects: the Hong Kong, Omotesando, LA, Munich and Dubai stores, the car cover made for Alfa Romeo, the Paris HQ press showroom, the birthday cake model used for the Maison’s 20th anniversary fashon show finale.

Several other installations present new objects, ideas and propositions: the corner plates and giant nail shelves, the ‘trompe-l’oeil’ rugs, wallpaper + stickers and carpets, cotton calendars, wall lights; and the ‘line 13’ classics such as bottle lamps, white cushions, Russian dolls, feather pens.

Other elements fill the space: a magazine coffee table, a 13 meter long cotton covered chairs line, a chair swing, etc.

More than a palette of shades of colors ‘Mat, Satiné, Brilliant’ (Matt, Satin, Shiny) suggests a visual sensation, an atmosphere, an emotion.

A new perspective

Following the continuous demand of people to have access to the Maison’s products and architectural concepts, Salone del Mobile will serve as a teaser to introduce the development of the new direction in which Maison Martin Margiela will expand its artistic expertise:

• The creation of objects, furniture and miscellaneous projects, either in a self-produced collection of in the development of partnerships for one-shot projects

• A service for private or public interior design architecture

In that way, Margiela wishes to offer a full proposal of production and art direction in the Interior design and architectural domains.

Starting as a designer brand creating a style concept, Maison Martin Margiela will become a lifestyle brand by increasing the domains of its creative expression to propose various means for the public to enter its conceptual, imaginative, ingenious and inventive universe.

Exhibition from April 22nd to April 27th
from 10am to 7pm
Maison Martin Margiela Via Savona, 60
20144 Milano

The post ‘Mat, Satiné, Brilliant’ by Maison Martin Margiela appeared first on Dezeen.