Milan 2015: a swinging cocoon chair by the Campana brothers and seats made from leather petals by Raw Edges are among the contributions to a collection of portable furnishings for French fashion house Louis Vuitton (+ slideshow).
Louis Vuitton has expanded its Objet Nomades collection, which launched during Design Miami 2012, to include 16 furniture items designed for travellers.
The French fashion house commissioned designers including Patricia Urquiola, Fernando and Humberto Campana, Barber & Osgerby, Nendo and Raw Edges to create items for the Objets Nomades collection, which are sold in limited-edition runs or as prototypes.
Seven additions to the collection were unveiled in an exhibition at Pallazzo Bocconi during this year's Milan design week.
"The collection pays homage to the house's special orders of the past – such as the iconic Bed Trunk or Wardrobe Trunk – and adds a defiantly contemporary spirit," said a statement from Louis Vuitton.
Concertina Chair by London studio Raw Edges features a seat and backrest made up of segments of padded orange calfskin. The flower-like arrangement rests on a frame made from pale ash wood, which can be folded flat for transportation. The studio also applied this same folding mechanism to a table and lamp shade.
"We liked the challenge of working on a collection of collapsible objects," said the designers. "Usually the focus is on how to make collapsible objects very small and flat."
"In this project we mostly focused on how to make them look large, surprising and with real presence when they are expanded," they added.
For their contribution to the collection, Brazilian designers Fernando and Humberto Campana produced Cocoon – a swing seat with a curving form covered in bright red calfskin. The egg-shaped seat made from a latticed 3D-printed structure hangs from the ceiling on a gilded steel and brass hook.
A bed with a leather mattress and an arching oak frame by French designer Gwenaël Nicolas was influenced by American writer Ernest Hemingway's travels to Africa.
Nicolas also designed a reading lantern powered by rechargeable LEDs, which has a fabric shade that concertinas into a caramel-coloured leather case for packing.
Plants hang on leather slings from the leather-covered arms of Totem Floral by Damien Langlois-Meurinne, while a mobile wash-hand basin, mirror and coat hanger provide a mobile valet.
Maarten Baas has updated his woven-seated Beach Chair with an all-black colouring for 2015. The hinged frame, which can be closed to form a trunk, is handmade to order each time.
Items from the original collection include a swinging seat modelled on a Louis Vuitton handbag by Spanish architect and design Patricia Urquiola, a hanging cabinet by the Campana Brothers covered in strips of offcut leather from the Louis Vuitton workshop, a perforated leather lamp by Japanese brand Nendo, and a bottle-shaped light by London studio Barber and Osgerby.
French designers Atelier Oï contributed a hammock made from strips of riveted leather and an angular leather travel stool, which can be flatten into a satchel-like carry case.
A timber-framed pavilion designed but never realised by French architect Charlotte Perriand in the 1930s – originally shown during Design Miami 2013 – has been built behind Palazzo Bocconi to host some of the products. The exhibition continues at Pallazzo Bocconi, Corso Venezia 48 until 19 April.
Photography is courtesy of the Louis Vuitton Malletier Archives.