Dolce Vita

Franco-Italian designer Stefano Bigi has done it again. After the success of his Globos Collection from 2007, he recently unveiled the Dolce Vita Collection in April 2008 at the Salon International du Meuble de Milan. The Dolce Vita chair and ottoman once again pair this designer with the company La Cividina, which represents Italian furniture designers.

Dolce Vita Collection. Designed by Stefano Big. Manufactured by La Cividina.

The Dolce Vita chair and ottoman seem to embody Fellini’s aesthetic from the movie of the same name. As curvy and sexy as Anita Ekberg in the Trevi Fountain-a beautiful blond bombshell in classic black- Bigi’s furniture captures the subtle allure of the old world and the unbridled sensuality of the modern world. The simple curved seat and oval surface of the chair and ottoman recall the shape of a voluptuous body, but the lacquered finish tempers the furniture’s sex appeal, lending a sharpness to the form. Both the chair and ottoman float on a vertical leg that ends in a circular base, echoing the Dolce Vita’s shape once again.

Dolce Vita

Upholstered in fabric or leather, the Dolce Vita Collection is a great option for residential and commercial design. Choose leather for high-traffic areas such as office waiting rooms-or choose it because it’s sleek and sexy. The chair looks particularly striking in orange fabric, a sort of tangerine egg as playful as the Orb from Sleeper.

The chair swivels, another graceful element of its design that makes it as usable as it is handsome. This swivel feature embodies Bigi’s philosophy, which stresses comfort as much as form. And comfort, as Oscar Wilde once said, “is the only thing our civilization can give us.” I suppose this makes the Dolce Vita Collection a civilized enterprise.

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