As he easily, artfully demonstrates in a casual display of ambidexterity, designer Tobia Scarpa is an admirer of the mirror image. The press video for his new Ciàcola shows him wielding a pair of twin brushes, one in each hand, as he simultaneously writes the name “Ciàcola” forward and backward, as if the one were reflecting the other.

The new collection for Désirée embodies this spirit of reciprocity, of congenial proximity, of the kind of relaxed, familiar vibe enjoyed between life-long friends.

Scarpa explains the origin of the name: it comes from the idea of casual “chatting,” a phenomena he witnessed while growing up in his native Venice. Because of the canal, Venetian homes in the older parts of the city are very close together with a narrow street beneath. Women working in the houses were often just an arm’s length from their counterparts across the streets. So, says Scarpa, “they would talk with each other as they moved from window to window… thus, it refers to the old signoras chatting.”

What better icon than a table and chairs to represent the basic act of communication? Ciàcola depicts this beautifully. With a simple and elegant palette of Walnut and finely honed glass, the table and chairs reflect each other in their tactility and their basic form, with the pronounced X of the table base echoed in the criss-cross structure of the chair’s legs.

Also fittingly, as seen above, the chairs fold into a neat line. Because sooner or later one has to stop chatting and get back to work. And also, in this narrowest of cities, space is at a premium.

One last compelling detail to point out: the green/blue hue of the table edge is specifically chosen to evoke the colors of the canal’s water: “the same water that Carlo Scarpa, Tobia’s father, uses as a founding element in his designs… a unifying thread between father and son.”

Find out more about Ciàcola and designer Scarpa at Désirée.