Portraying Design, Celebrating Tradition & Innovation
From April 18th to 30th, the Flexform Milan showroom in via della Moscova will host a photo exhibit celebrating the company’s heritage.
The story is portrayed through a selection of designer photos and products that have helped evolve the company’s brand identity and distinctive personality.
Along a timeline that unfolds from the 1980s to 2023, ad campaigns – in the form of large-scale reproductions on backlit panels – accompany visitors along a journey from past to present that highlights the timelessness of the Flexform style.
From the 1980s to the 2000s, under the artistic direction of Natalia Corbetta, the story of the Flexform world was depicted through the intensely expressive, strictly black and white, ad campaigns shot by master photographers like Gabriele Basilico, Gianni Berengo Gardin, Giovanni Gastel, Gian Paolo Barbieri, Maria Vittoria Backhaus, Mario Ciampi and Fabrizio Ferri. The exquisite elegance inherent to the Flexform style is narrated in shots that – given their originality and intensity – became part of the collective memory and positioned Flexform among the companies capable of projecting a courageous, unconventional narrative of their brand.
More recently, the artistic reins were handed to Christoph Radl, who invited one of today’s most acclaimed photographers to inscribe a new chapter in the history of Flexform communications. Now, the wry, irreverent eye of Pierpaolo Ferrari focuses its lens on the new Flexform campaign. From black and white, the interpretation shifts to vivid color, typical of the Pierpaolo Ferrari style, while the images take on an enigmatic storytelling role interpreted by women with bold personalities.
Looking back, the show visually narrates the evolution of Flexform communications and the company’s ability to stay true to a narrative dimension, significantly innovating it through new partnerships.
It is important to recall that the Flexform brand heritage is inseparably tied to the concept of a family business, of its close collaboration with one designer – Antonio Citterio – who, for 50 years, has interpreted its identity, expertise, fine craftsmanship and quality inherent to the product.
Thus, in the via della Moscova showroom, on display alongside the images of the ad campaigns are the products that played central roles in them and are emblematic of the company’s style and evolution.
