Flou is a company who is known to be the leader in sleep design since 1978. For the 30th anniversary of Tadao, one of the best loved and most popular beds in the Flou collection, the artist Mario Cerrone has been involved in order to decorate the bed’s slats, giving a sacred air to the forms painted.
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On 5th of December, at the Flou Showroom, an original and entertaining event took place, involving the young Italian artist, Mario Cerrone. The event, which was made possible thanks to the collaboration with Looking for Art, was conceived to celebrate through an unconventional way the 30th anniversary of Tadao, a bed designed by Vico Magistretti which exposes the slats that are usually hidden away. Consequently, in this way function becomes a primary element of design.
In occasion of this celebration, a live painting session animated the evening, choosing Mario Cerrone as the young talented artist in charge of decorate Tadao’s slats. In order to honor the brilliant idea conceived by Magistretti in 1993, it has been decided to decorate it in a unique and striking way, making this best-seller remarkable and exceptional in its kind.
Hence, thanks to the partnership with Looking for Art, which is focused on promoting young and skilled Italian artists from 2019, all this was made possible thanks to the choice of Mario Cerrone. Born in 1995, Cerrone got a degree in painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera (Milan). He has always had a passion for Byzantine iconography and Hellenic culture, which are his great inspirations for his works. What marks his paintings is his revision of these traditional and archaic cultures and forms through a contemporary gaze, which is clearly visible in Tadao’s decorations.
To ornament the bed’s structure, Cerrone used mainly blue color, prominently displayed on a white background. Initially, he painted blue spots all over the slats, adding some little stars in the empty spaces. Afterward, he proceeded adding some details with the white paint on blue figures, thanks to the use of prefabricated stencils of paper. Through that technique, the blue spots come to life, becoming the profile of the face of a girl, repeated many times in different measurements and sizes. Therefore, since that moment, Tadao's example has become unique in its kind, bringing Cerrone’s signature.
As it is shown in this piece of art, where design is combined together with the artistic world of creativity, Cerrone focuses on the relationship between the natural forms of the territory and tradition. His point of departure is always the archaic forms of the Hellenic tradition, which are revitalized and brought into dialogue under the light of contemporaneity. The new forms created are immersed in a condition in which they lose their sacred aura, in order to consign themselves to the myths of sleep and dreams, in the magical theater of oneiric and imaginary experience.
Cover image: Courtesy of Looking for Art
Written by Serena Milani
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