VALENTINO @ Sala Bianca 945

VALENTINO SALA BIANCA 945 is a unique collaboration between Valentino and Fornasetti which has been developed starting from the same fascination combined with exquisite craftsmanship which at the same time appears to the viewer as effortless. This almost invisible approach to the creative gesture leads to the use of the five senses as

symbols that both Valentino and Fornasetti use to navigate the path of their utterly different vocabulary.

In this experiential exchange among two of the most iconic Italian brands of fashion and design, a “parallel vision” making a lose reference to parallel processing which is the ability of the brain to simultaneously process incoming stimuli of differing quality. This becomes most important in vision, as the brain divides what it sees into four components: color, motion, shape and depth which are the core of both Valentino and Fornasetti’s production. Viewing Valentino and Fornasetti next to each other and woven into the same pattern is a rare opportunity to understand how Italian creativity is strongly linked to the most sophisticated craftsmanship. 

Craftsmanship as a very concrete discipline in the New York project is expressed through the invention of five rooms devoted to the five senses. Each one of the them will stress the idea that no form can be experienced or enjoyed if they cannot activate all of their own five senses. A dress like a piece of design reveal itself through a total perception. The five senses are also the elements that activate memory, the essential component in both brands’ transformation and development. 

While Fashion and Design are about surface, texture and structure, none of these will be able to function in the viewers’ eye or in the user’s body if the senses don’t participate in the experience. The New York project is finally about participation, involving the viewer to become an essential element of the experiment and a witness of quality. Using as the “container” or the “packaging” for this collaboration is the amazing and iconic building by Marcel Breuer on Madison Avenue create a new dimension within the very nature of Valentino’s and Fornasetti’s production. 

The Breuer architecture with its changing scale and upside down window also challenges and enhances our sense and special experience as much Valentino and Fornasetti do. With New York as the universe they can see the Breuer building transform itself into a temporary time capsule, a spaceship where Valentino’s and Fornasetti’s journey take place looking both backwards and forwards at the same time and with a diminished intensity both ways.