Mid-20th century Italian architect Ernesto Rogers was once famously quoted as saying that architects should design everything from spoons to cities and many architects to this day have taken that view to heart.
Italy’s most acclaimed practising architect, Renzo Piano, for example, has designed culturally significant projects around the world such as the Parco della Musica in Rome and the more recent California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, but the award-winning Genoa architect has also worked in miniature by comparison, designing his own line of cutlery for Finnish manufacturer Iittala in 1998.
Displaying the simplified, rational lines of much of his architecture, the Piano series of cutlery for Iittala is a seven piece set of stainless steel flatware, complemented by a pair of serving spoons with wood handles.
Similarly, Milan architect Antonio Citterio is renowned for minimalist but luxurious interiors and furniture and his Citterio 98 series of cutlery, also for Iittala, demonstrates the Italian architect’s ability to work effectively with a smaller medium. The stainless steel flatware series, a collaboration with fellow designer Glen Oliver Löw, has an understated matte brushed finish.
In 2004, Citterio teamed with Toan Nguyen to produce a stylish tabletop wine decanter that is made of mouth blown glass. The design is functional but also elegantly points to the rituals surrounding wine drinking, such as admiring the vibrant colour of a red table wine, for example.
British architect Will Alsop gave Toronto one of its iconic new buildings with his design of the table-like Sharp Centre for Design at the Ontario College of Art and Design, but the architect also recently designed the Table Tools collection of cutlery for Toronto-based home accessories manufacturer Umbra. Alsop’s unique flatware design began with clay modeling and the final shapes of the four stainless steel pieces are intended to feel intuitively comfortable in the hand.

Page 1/...Page 2

Printable Version

Email To A Friend

Voice Your Opinion