Seven cube houses, all cement grey like the floors, emerge from the ground to different heights. On each rooftop, armchairs and furniture from the new 2012 collection covered in chalk white. Essential shapes. Metaphysical. Like a prototype of living. 

Each house is a set of chromatic and tactile vibrations. Where leather, material and wood exist in a game of mirrors with the wallpaper, with the rugs and the big Barovier & Toso coloured glass chandeliers. 

The room becomes liquid and marine, in Polynesian blue and teal green. 

Or ostentatious and elegant, with golden beams mixed with olive green. 

Or again, dreamy and suspended, with silver pixels scattered on the walls and the lightest and softest blue furniture. 

The different interpretations and points of view continue in the setting dedicated to the design contest, launched by Poltrona Frau among 12 of the most talented contemporary designers, to celebrate the first one hundred years of the company. 

Twelve triangular spaces set in sequence. Only one of them encloses the winning armchair, symbol of the centenary. 

Juliet, designed by Benjamin Hubert. Each of the other spaces encloses an iconic Poltrona Frau seat, like Vanity Fair, Intervista and Archibald, all covered in the softest Pelle Frau® Soul cement grey, with a video in which each designer explains their project. It is like an invitation to have a seat and enjoy a ride in the brand’s past, to see and discover its future, in the different interpretations given by designers from all over the world.

Inside the triangular spaces the iconic pieces of Poltrona Frau are covered with the neutral cement grey colour, with a mirror-like mechanism on the roof of each home, the same armchairs are seen in eccentric and surprising colours. 

Salmon for Vanity Fair. Fuchsia for Willy. Light blue for Aster X. Extravagant colours that, from the upper galleries of the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation, act as a counterpoint to the neutral shapes of the new pieces for 2012, exhibited on the rooftops of the cube houses.

The contrast between colour and non-colour, between realistic and abstract shapes, between past and future runs through the whole setting and is summarized in the “piazzas” formed between each volume. Where white seats are alternated by Pelle Frau® Century seats, that offer a century of history through warmth, softness and tones.

After a century of history, Poltrona Frau expresses itself through a continuous change of perspective. To value the consolidated experience, the design momentum, the universal value of ideas and the intelligence of the hands that make each piece of furniture a reality with a thriving and unique character.

And in a further visual change, a mysterious wooden tower placed on the second floor of the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation catches your attention. A game of lights and shadows created by LEDs set all around the ground. Inside, shrouded in total darkness and revealed by a single beam of light, is one charismatic icon. The 1919 armchair. Videos projected on two big flags in fabric offer information about the designers, the craftsmanship, the furniture that has made the history of Poltrona Frau through time.

It is a set designed by Michele De Lucchi that announces the grand opening of the Museum in Tolentino, at Poltrona Frau’s plant. A structure designed also by De Lucchi, which will tell from the inside the historical process of the company, proposing itself as a constantly evolving vital place. A meeting point with the public and tribute to a territory where the manufacturing of leather is a consolidated tradition.