Designed to feel like a home, Cassina’s colourful new Dubai space marries heritage and modernity with pieces that are made to last forever
Celebrated around the world for its innovative and sustainable approach to furniture, high-end Italian design brand Cassina has officially found a much-anticipated home in Dubai, the UAE. Situated inside a villa on Jumeirah Street, the over 750-square-metre space spans two floors that feature some of the brand’s most exquisite creations, representing the long-held values of craftsmanship know-how, authenticity and a perpetual pioneering spirit.
Vivium Holding – a global entity with a luxury portfolio of companies specialised in art, design, real estate and technology – is the company behind Cassina’s inaugural store in the UAE.
Timeless pieces from the Cassina iMaestri collection such as iconic furniture by Dutch designer Gerrit T. Rietveld, Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand, sit alongside contemporary editions designed by extraordinary architects like Mario Bellini and Vico Magistretti, together with Michael Anastassiades and the company’s very own Art Director, the famed Spanish architect and designer, Patricia Urquiola.
Patricia Urquiola, Art Director of Cassina. Photo by Valentina Sommariva
“It’s been an honour to be Art Director of Cassina since 2015,” says Patricia. “From the beginning the brand has had the qualities of durability, and its heritage has built strong pillars for the future. It is very important for us to build a dialogue between contemporary and heritage.”
Every masterpiece, meticulously manufactured in Italy, shows off the production excellence the brand is so known for. “We also focus a lot on sustainability,” Patricia continues. “We keep looking at ways to improve our techniques so that they are better and better each year. We need to ask questions like, ‘how can we leave behind a grand legacy?’”
Soriana by Afra & Tobia Scarpa – Cassina, Radio in Cristallo by Franco Albini – Cassina iMaestri Collection. Photo by Valentina Sommariva
The interiors of the Dubai store, curated by Patricia, embrace the brand’s design philosophy of ‘The Cassina Perspective’; a futuristic idea and an eclectic collection in which modern and classic icons unite to form a stunning, homely space.
“The Cassina Perspective is our approach to design,” explains Luca Fuso, CEO of Cassina. “It’s all about the way we create our collections so that we can contribute to our eclectic DNA and combine different things designed by different people, during varying time periods. We put these together to create something unique. Ideally, we always have a combination of something very contemporary designed today with something from the past. This makes all the difference and is our approach to timelessness and creating products that last forever.”
Sengu Bold sofa by Patricia Urquiola – Cassina. Photo by Valentina Sommariva
Patricia continues, “In the end, it’s all about providing new tools for living – a new type of quality. I’m always attentive and curious about what’s happening around me, so that I can establish an identity for Cassina that is evolutionary and adaptive without the process being compromised, one that people can appreciate. I take an experimental approach that’s in continuous contact with history while implementing new methods. I’m very passionate about this.”
Made to feel like a home with a gallery-like effect, the store fashions living, dining, sleeping and outdoor areas in many styles and moods, stimulating a visual appeal that captures a range of tastes. Wooden boiserie panels imbue a sense of warmth while the colour palette, with hues of grey, petroleum, terracotta and burgundy, converses with the furniture pieces to build on Cassina’s visual unity.
4 Chaise longue à reglage continu by Le Corbusier, P. Jeanneret, C. Perriand Cassina iMaestri Collection. Photo by Valentina Sommariva
“I like to think out of the box when it comes to the idea of colour and ambience,” enthuses Patricia. “Our intention is to create a balance between mental and physical comfort. This creates curiosity towards the products.”
The cross-cultural aesthetic reflects Cassina’s goal to support a range of sectors ranging from art to the fashion world. The Dubai store’s window installation, Modular Imagination, is a testament to just this. Brought to life in collaboration with the iconic late American fashion designer, Virgil Abloh, the collection of matt-black building blocks explores the implications of modularity in contemporary interior design.
Esosoft sofa system by Antonio Citterio – Cassina. Photo by Valentina Sommariva
“In essence, our goal is to maintain our heritage and carry on the craftsmanship from 1927 together with the utilisation of modern tools and applications of innovative patterns of working,” says Luca. “We’re engaged in an extensive programme of using more and more innovative materials so that we can limit the impact of the products on the environment. We are using natural and recycled materials that provide a high level of comfort that’s comparable to feathers, for instance, without the problems of feathers. The products are designed in a way so they can be disassembled in the end, and every single part can be recycled.”
The company’s holistic approach is further reinforced with Cassina Details, a complete collection of accessories and complementary pieces that merges new products with existing ones in eight different categories that embody eclecticism and versatility ‒ tableware, objects, vases, textiles, lamps, mirrors, rugs and large accessories.
Luca Fuso, CEO of Cassina. Photo by Laura Villa Baroncelli
The new pieces are designed by renowned artists and architects including creative duo Formafantasma, Bodil Kjær, Charlotte Perriand and Gaetano Pesce, as well as through collaborative partnerships with Italian powerhouses like Ginori 1735 and cc-tapis. Envisioned in a manner that allows even the accessory to become an essential in the decoration of a space, the objects have a life of their own.
Cassina’s heart and soul lies in timeless beauty, achieved through the marriage of old and new. As Patricia says, “We’re trying to create a language where heritage and the future are in constant conversation.” cassina.com