If there could be one thing that we ‘heart’ more than brilliant product design and innovative guerrilla marketing concepts it would have to be a crazed lunatic, with more than a passing resemblance for Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, hacking up antique furniture in the streets of Milan with a chainsaw, and that’s just what the rather eccentric Rolf.fr was doing during this years Milan design week. The Dutch architect turned product designer chose to ignore the traditional fixed, and prohibitively expensive, gallery spaces of the design week and instead headed straight for the streets of Milan with his contemporary meets vintage collection that toys with the endless possibilities of creating new, functional pieces from generations old furniture that is often thrown away.
As part of his extravagant street exhibition, Rolf.fr took his rather stylishly branded chainsaw to an antique piece, removing a segment to reveal a cool box stuffed with chilled prosecco, much to the cooing delight of the hastily assembled audience. Whilst the resulting traffic chaos may have been tiresome for the famously impatient Italian drivers, those in the crowd with their free sparkling wine were positively bowled over. Rolf.fr, rather confidently, claims that others may take his lead at next years event and sees himself as somewhat of a trendsetter, we’d love to prove a cocky arty type wrong but think he’s probably got it spot on….. just like his tastefully chic and thought provoking collection.
Words By;
James Davidson; Editor in Chief