FUSITAL
The idea was simple but daring; to transform handles into functional components of careful and sophisticated design and planning. Fusital was born in 1976, with the aim of involving world-renowned designers and architects in creating a collection of true designer door handles - not something for the mass market.
To achieve such a thing needs industrial credibility and image authority. The initiative of Fusital, which has all that, finds in the designers an enthusiastic response and a commitment without reservation. Eero Aarnio, Ron Arad, David Chipperfield, Antonio Citterio, Foster + Partners, Hans Kolhoff, Yoshimi Kono, Richard Meier, Jean Nouvel, John Pawson, Renzo Piano and Ricardo Bofill, are some of the designers of the unique collection which enhance the cultural and technological Valli + Valli heritage with exclusive connotations.
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The designers are:
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DAVID CHIPPERFIELD "a door handle only needs to be itself, with good proportions and a straightforward character. We started from quite a heavy square section and then gradually removed more and more material until we reached a good balance between a thin line, beautiful to the eye, and a core with some substance, comfortable to the grip." |
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PIANO WORKSHOP "a door Handle. Sometimes, one caresses it gently in order to enter without noise, to avoid waking the baby. Sometimes, one grasps it with an imperious gesture to take possession of the room. One retracts it with the same period of waiting and waits to hear the click of confirmation: closed! Or one slams it with violence. A door handle opens up on what is going to occur and it closes on that which has already happened. It may be rich or poor, simple or elaborate, thick or thin, baroque or geometric, hot or cold. Certainly it must be familiar." |
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NORMAN FOSTER "The handle of a door could be linked to architecture in miniature – it has to work well, but must look good. In another sense, it is an important part of the furniture in a building – literally one of the few points of physical contact." |
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RICHARD MEIER "extending the language of form that has defined Richard Meier’s architecture, the series for Fusital fuses elemental curves, rectangles and squares into hardware designed to both compliment and enhance a variety of environments. The overall effect of each piece is one of pristine balance, as in the door handle, which fuses a dramatically extended lever to a simple cylinder, producing an almost illusionistic effect in reflective surfaces. The visual interaction of circle and rectangle mediates between the form of the hardware and the door itself, activating the whole in subtle ways." |
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YOSHIMI KONO Yoshimi Kono is president of Kono Designs, a New York City based design firm. He was previously a partner at Vignelli Associates working as a product, graphic and interior designer. He has worked on a wide range of projects including showrooms for Artemide and Poltrona Frau, packaging and retail design, set design for Radio Televisione Italiana, Susaki Crystal tableware and design in the field of graphic and publications. |
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HANS KOLLHOFF "Something that fascinates me is the essential form of the handle in wrought iron. A sculptural shape from the spindle to the lever, emerges from a piece of metal, through a simple handicraft process. This corresponds to my morphologic thought in designing. The handle develops morphologically from a round rosette, gradually becoming a rectangle that curves upwards and turns to the outside towards the round section of the handle. A complete shape that expresses its function unequivocally and offers a good grip to the hand." |
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RON ARAD "Before the door handle was put in production it was cast. Although the origin and geometry of its shape comes from a folded flat piece , the handle enjoys the play between the volume that is required for a comfortable grip and the lines of the folded plate, and a game of two tones ( i.e. we can see the external polished side with the matt finish inside ). There is also a dimple in the pivoting point which provides a natural thumb grip. In terms of material, surface treatment and overall form, the design of the handle is clearly related to the other pieces I was designing at the same time." |
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JOHN PAWSON "I am interested in architecture which offers a total vision, where nothing jars. Everything must be considered as anything which you place in a space has an impact – even something as apparently insignificant as a light switch. Design for me is about a process of refining and reducing, to reach the point of perfect clarity where form and function coincide. " |
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FRANK O. GHERY "in this case, I worked the same way as I always do. I thought about the problem and I started sketching to work through some of the issues. Based on the sketches we made a series of models in wood so that we could test our ideas. The models were really important, we were able to touch and feel the door handles, we were able to refine our initial ideas. Using the models we made sure that the door handles worked properly, we made sure that they looked good, we made sure that they felt good in the hand when grasped and turned." |
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ZAHA HADID The ZH Duemilacinque door lever captures the seamless beauty and architectural dynamism synonymous with the work of Zaha Hadid. Composed of cold nickel alloy, this distinctive piece of hardware is characterized by an angular downward crimp, a design that energises both its form and the space surrounding it. The irregular form of the rose, specially designed to recall the grips unique shape, further elevates the visual impact of this piece. Designed expressly for the Puerta America Hotel in Madrid, Hadids collaboration with Valli + Valli is a stunning manifestation of her signature style and a valuable addition to the Fusital collection. |
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RICARDO BOFILL " the creation of each object is for us an opportunity to approach in the most allusive way the question of form and of its innermost meaning without causing a break with the vocabulary of the work built up. It is for just such a reason that, under the functional appearance, the design of this handle is directly inspired by the syntax and the techniques used in the elaboration of our architecture. The design of this handle lies particularly in the joint between the pin element and the handle itself, a joint which is inspired by the structural joining of metallic profiles, with the object of harmonizing all of the component elements." |
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ANTONIO CITTERIO "My work on handles involves the redesign of classic models studying the small details and new proportions which then become the characteristic elements." |
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CHI WING LO "Born in Hong Kong in 1954, Chi Wing lo studied architecture at the University of Toronto and Harvard University. Subsequently he taught at Syracuse University N.Y and later was a member of the Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart in 1991. Presently he has a practice with Panagiota Davladi based in Athens. Striving for a synthesis of past and present, familiar and enigmatic, real and imaginary, he sees this ambivalent exactitude could help a work to cut through the drifting currents of time." |
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PIERLUIGI CERRI "I see it if I decide to look at it. I just caress it or grip it strongly several times a day. It opens all doors. I look at it with the fondness I reserve for all objects having a precise function. I look at it with irony if it combines with the door in an insolent way. It belongs to the world of discreet but efficient objects: the tableware, the switches and most definitely the handle which reveals deeply the culture of the environment." |
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JEAN NOUVEL "That’s what I call a basic, elementary object, the zero degree of design. A minimal solution to give personality to a door, to a window. Its elementary shapes have a natural logic to my architectural approach."
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