Dezeen promotion: Italian design company Kristalia has released its latest product, the Hide Chair 1085 edition by architecture and design studio Bartoli Design.
Bartoli Design, based in Monza on the outskirts of Milan, was founded in 1960 by Carlo Bartoli.
For Kristalia's Hide Chair 1085 edition, Bartoli worked with Italian leather manufacturers Presot to develop a seat made from natural hide that will evolve with use – changing in colour, shape and texture over the years.
An exposed line of stitches connecting the full-grain leather seat to the matching back support is a reference to Presot's background in providing material to the haute couture fashion industry.
The leather wraps around a lacquered steel frame at the back and on the underside, forming two flaps that are connected using a steel tie-rod. This structural device helps to counteract any loss of tension from the ageing of the hide, keeping it in place as it softens.
Lengths of metal that extend from the seat of the frame slot into four round European oak legs. These are finished with a ball tip to prevent scuffing on hard floors.
The chair will be exhibited at this year's Salone de Mobile furniture exhibition in Hall 20, stand a05-b04, from 14 to 19 April in Milan.
To find out more about the 1805 edition chair, visit the Kristalia website.
Below is some further information from Kristalia:
Hide Chair 1085 edition
Bartoli Design, 2015
At a time in history when most of the industrial design world is following trends in anti-aging cosmetics and is trying to counteract even the healthy signs of aging, time is a precious resource, in a double sense, for the chair by Bartoli Design.
Because it involves not only the use of a material – natural hide obtained by respecting all its characteristic properties – but also a process used by Presot, a company that has been producing soles for leading Italian designer labels since 1933 based on a centuries-old tradition. In its 80 years of history, the company has successfully adapted to new standards of technology, strongly and wholeheartedly retaining its authenticity.
Over time, the hide will inevitably move, its texture will change and also its colour, but the chair will be the expression of this transition, preserving its functionality and performance. For this project, Bartoli Design gladly drew upon Presot’s experience in haute couture (the visible stitching is an explicit reference to that world) and upon the nautical sector, with its tie-rod device.
This ensures that the tension, which would naturally be lost over the years and with the softening of the hide, remains strong. With great timing, the project arrives at a moment when the issues of traditional craftsmanship, Italian manufacturing and eco-friendly production are central to the concerns of those who make, produce and communicate design in Italy.
But slogans aside, it tells a spontaneous story that is typically Italian,which has an almost casual origin, yet is rare in its authenticity and happy outcome: the successful encounter between the exploration of a company, the talent of a designer and the expertise of a producer.