Tag Archives: Corneliani

Architecture, Design, Mantegna Pattern

From a humble balcony in Verona to the luxury of Puli Shanghai. What’s behind a decorative pattern.

To travel is to learn.

We travel a lot – luckily our work leads us to realize bespoke interior a bit everywhere – and sometimes the mind makes unexpected and surprising connections. An example?

Motivo grafico su balcone di VeronaTrue story: imagine finding the same decorative pattern on a balcony in Verona and – an intercontinental journey later – at the Puli Hotel and Spa in Shanghai, as a partition of an extremely luxurious environment.Puli Hotel and Spa Shanghai

Maybe you’ll think that we take too many planes, and that jetlags have strange effects on us!

But, no: just look at the pictures and see for yourself these unusual coincidences… 

Venetian bricklayers share the same visual language with Asian luxury resorts?

Well, why not? :-)

Puli Shanghai

End to End, Interiors

What does ermes ponti do? One picture tells the story

We take care of interior projects, from the very first sketch to final turnkey delivery.

Just us, no one else in between you and the finest, tailor-made, personal interiors you have ever dreamed of, realised by the best artisans in the world: Italians.
How do you explain this in pictures? Easy, with a before/after comparison… enjoy!

BEFORE ERMES PONTI

italian bespoke interiors by ermesponti

AFTER ERMES PONTI

italian bespoke interiors by ermesponti

Riferimento: Corneliani Flagship Store di Milano – Via Montenapoleone.

Architecture, Brands, Design, End to End, Interiors, Mantegna Pattern, Retail

[Photo gallery + video] The new Corneliani’s extension in via Montenapoleone, Milan

How did you spent your summer holidays? Seaside or mountains? We chose Milan, Via Montenapoleone. We only had month to do all the site works – furnishings included – for the opening of the new additional wing of the Corneliani’s boutique in Milan fashion high street (btw, the PoddaPontiArchitetti Studio mentioned on Corneliani’s website is… us: an architect firm within a handicraft workshop). 1-foto iniziale During the last week of July we gradually removed the fittings and demolished the wall to open and enlarge the ground floor space on the right side of the entrance. We did a thorough survey and started the furniture production. In the meanwhile, we organized the works on site from floor to ceilings, from lighting to plants. On August 22nd everything was ready to start the installation of our furnishing.

You’d never guess how difficult it can be to work together – bricklayers, plumbers, electricians and carpenters – in such a small room… But as we accepted the project, we knew perfectly how things should have been done.

panoramica alberto scala Despite all the problems of the site – including the problematic height of the stairs – we  were finally able to fit everything in a perfect way. All the cables behind the wall panelings, the air conditioning diffusers perfectly aligned with the ceilings and the furniture, impressive handmade wooden details on the new brand wall… dettaglio

Have you seen the brand wall, do you recognize it ? We designed this pattern for the first time for the facade of the Corneliani flagship in Shanghai reinventing it from the famous Mantegna‘s fresco of the “Camera degli Sposi” at Palazzo Ducale in Mantua.

After that, Corneliani decided to use it in his next winter collection and soon it became the new Corneliani brand pattern, also for the strong bond with the cultural heritage of Mantua, where the company is located. In Milan, you can find the brand wall in front of the entrance doors. It is built by backlit ebony circles and iron bracelets fixed on a chessboard of leather panels decorated by special drawstrings sewed on its backside (produced by our friend Berto Salotti in record time for us!). Please take a look at the impressive details of the ebony frame junction: we must thank our master carpenter Alberto for making them with such a loving care! brand wall The opening day was scheduled for the first week of September, but we were ready almost a week ahead! The Corneliani Creative Director – Mr. Sergio Corneliani in person – opened the doors of his renovated Montenapoleone store on Monday September 1st and, while doing so, was perfectly aware about the key figure to credit for such a perfect job: his trustworthy architect Paolo Ponti! foto finale

corneliani_shanghai
Architecture, Brands, Design, Mantegna Pattern

Podda Ponti Architetti design the new Corneliani’s brand pattern.

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Sometimes design an architectural facade for a fashion brand means something more and it implies some background questions: What’s the brand identity? What’s the meaning of the facade of its new flagship in the most important fashion street of Shanghai?

shanghai_notturno1

We knew that one of the key brand value of Corneliani was the excellence of its bespoke production in the factory of Mantua, one of the  most  beautiful cities of the italian Renaissance. We live in Mantua, we studied for years the historic buildings of Leon Battista Alberti, Giulio Romano and Andrea Mantegna here. All those things are part of our own architectural background (http://www.poddapontiarchitetti.it/about_us). Continue reading →

corneliani_shanghai
Architecture, Brands, Design, Mantegna Pattern

Daniela Podda and Paolo Ponti (Podda Ponti Architetti) bring Andrea Mantegna in Shanghai

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We are proud to announce that Mantua is not so far from Shanghai from today.

We have found an invisible link from one of our world-known frescos of the “Camera Picta” in the oldest part of the Mantua city centre and the new Corneliani flagship store in Nanjing road, the main fashion street in Shanghai.

Corneliani, one of our most important business client, asked us to design its new Chinese flagship store in Shanghai and its external and internal facades, for one of the most famous luxury mall: the Citic Square.

For the interiors we followed the design and the materials of the Montenapoleone’s flagship store in Milan (designed and produced in 2010). But for the facade we felt that the italian brand should need a special sign that could express his identity as a Mantua-based fashion-man-brand and its values of  made-in-italy-quality and customer-made tailoring.

As usual, when we have to create something new, we invent (“invenire” in latin means “to find”) it from our background history. It was like our pencil went by itself, designing on a white sheet of paper one of the most recognizable decorative pattern of the Italian Renaissance: Mantegna created it for the wall of the Camera Picta’s frescos (that represents the Gonzaga family) and soon it became one of the favorite decorative pattern painted on the facades of the aristocratic building of the period.

Of course Mantegna painted a marble motif; we transformed this decoration in a micro-perforated metal back-lit with a special ring of warm-led lights that reflects on a marble surface, patterned like a chessboard on the back side. Reminds a marble facade of an Italian renaissance church and its own decorated bronze gate.

The effect is very sculptural, elegant but masculine; like Corneliani brands values.

You can see it by yourself, if you have a walk on Nanjing road, or see some picture  of the work on the new Poddaponti website: www.poddapontiarchitetti.it

Or you can read the whole story of the flagship on: www.corneliani.it