laCividina invited Alessandro Stabile to re-edit, in the name of innovation, the Anytime collection, which has been successfully in the catalog since 1996.
The desire to re-edit an icon of the past recurs in the life of historic Italian design companies who can count on prestigious archives full of projects that still have so much to offer to the world of furniture.
This is the case of laCividina who decided to give new life and relevance to the Anytime collection, designed in 1996 by Fulvio Bulfoni. To do this, the company did not limit itself to proposing a different, perhaps trendy, finish, but asked the designer Alessandro Stabile to create a new version, especially from the point of view of materials and production processes. The result? A collection which, rightly, takes the name of Newtime to underline the innovative profile, but faithful to the origins, of the project. Moreover, the collaboration between Stabile and laCividina began in 2022 with the Taco seating collection whose design heart is precisely the innovative structure of the seat, made up of two layers of natural felt and a thin steel core.
What approach did you use for the re-edition of Anytime (Newtime) for laCividina?
It’s the first time I’ve been asked to redesign a product or, better yet, a collection. The Anytime has been in the company’s catalog for almost 30 years.
The objective was to give it new life and freshness without changing the perception of an object which is typologically an archetype. Renovate while preserving, giving a new character without denying the previous one. A complex and interesting task, a project that does not start from a blank sheet of paper but from a pre-existence of which I modified the proportions, updated the cuts and stitching of the fabrics, streamlined the upholstery while maintaining comfort, we created greater contrast between shapes rigid exteriors and cushions that soften on the person’s side, simplified the manufacturing process, and made the covers removable.
Finally, I think that laCividina always stands out for an interesting relationship between the frames and the soft parts of the products, which is why I gave it a more recognizable character thanks to the legs which, moving outwards, give strength to the image and allow for easy dimensional expansion of the collection. This is how Newtime was born.
When choosing materials and colors, what path did you take in this case?
As happens more and more often, the choice of materials and finishes arises from the company’s need to offer its customers an identity vision of the brand and promote sustainable warehouse and production logics.
Therefore the materials and finishes of Newtime align with a broader path undertaken by laCividina, which involves the use of increasingly high-performance, sustainable fabrics, attentive to people’s well-being, coverings designed to last a long time, but also recyclable at the end of their life : every aspect is designed to be sustainable, in a vision of the future that unites those who think of the product and those who will use it.
What does the term “innovation” mean to you?
It means feeling the responsibility when I plan to create something new, not simply another product to gain market share. Sometimes the innovation is more evident as in the case of the Taco chair (also by laCividina), other times as in the case of Newtime it is more subtle, more technical and is inherent above all in the production process rather than in the final shape.
In general, what are your priorities when starting a new project or a new artistic direction?
Lately I start a new collaboration if I think that the project is an interesting challenge in which I have the opportunity to express myself in terms of design and if the people involved are nice and pleasant. After which, with the more predisposed companies, I try to force the project towards more unexplored territories by suggesting more daring research paths but which can lead to results with more evident innovation, but also dialogue with companies further away from the so-called “world of design”. to try to bring beauty and quality even where it is rarest.
What was your approach/intent in the collaborations with laCividina (Taco and Newtime)?
They are two completely different projects, also born in different ways. Taco was born from my personal journey of experimenting with how, starting from cuts of simple flat surfaces, we can arrive at three-dimensional volumes that make us forget the initial semi-finished product.
I didn’t know LaCividina at the time but it seemed like an interesting project for them who in fact embraced it and subsequently developed it thanks to their great prodction capacity. Newtime, on the other hand, was born from their specific need and the challenge was to give a new identity to the product with also productive benefits, moving within very narrow boundaries.