Fendi presents Transformations by MaartenDe Ceulaer.

Following the Design Miami/ Basel editionin June with Craftica by FormaFantasma, Fendi has invited Belgian designerMaarten de Ceulaer to develop for the December 2012 program a project thatresponds to its visual identity and its legacy of Modernist-inspired patternsand emblems. Maarten was selected for this project because he has demonstrateda remarkable affinity for crafting sophisticated furniture and objects imbuedwith lyrical, whimsical narrative.

The designer found particular inspiration in Fendi’s signature Pequin motif,creating “Transformations” in celebration of Fendi’s long heritage of abstractrectilinear and geometric imagery. Throughout the decades, Fendi designers havedrawn from the beautiful, groundbreaking work of pioneering design movementssuch as the Wiener Werkstätte, De Stijl, Futurism, the Bauhaus and Art Deco.Since 1983, Fendi has incorporated striped Pequin materials into many accessorylines, from handbags to luggage. Numerous designs for Fendi furs also featurepatterns that evoke the feel of vanguard graphic designs from the 1910s to the1930s.


For Design Miami/ 2012, Maarten has transformed this repertoire oftwo-dimensional expression into a three-dimensional installation, exploring theboundaries between hard and soft, natural and man-made, organic and geometric,luxurious and mundane. Converting the idea of a stripe into a physical modulebased on a piece of lumber, “Transformations” juxtaposes lacquered wood boardsand tree stumps with exquisitely handmade leather planks arranged in a varietyof eye-catching, multicolored compositions. The result is a total environmentthat, as whole, becomes a living pattern reminiscent of design work from theearly years of Modernism.

The “soft planks” that Maarten developed for this project can be appliedwherever additional comfort is desired, like moss in a forest it can overgrowanything, and the gesture of applying them is as simple as nailing a board to atree.

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