EDEN

LuisaViaRoma turns the Florence store into “Eden”, an idyllic and harmonious garden.
The store’s interior was assigned to Sara Ricciardi, a young Italian designer who used her imagination to construct a dense and placid atmosphere, using feathers, palms, peacocks and lakes of turquoise water. The installation celebrates the exclusive Attico capsule collection for LuisaViaRoma.

Sara’s interiors depict an ethereal garden featuring moving brass and feather machines by Mazzanti, arches in aubergine-colored tiles by Ceramica Bardelli, printed Botanical wallpaper by Decogenius, and a series of sofas born from the collaboration between Valencian Houtique and the precious moire fabrics of Antico Setificio Fiorentino. The atmosphere is completed with Bianco Bianchi’s scagliola tables, golden palms designed exclusively for LuisaViaRoma by Duccio Conti Caponi, a twenty-year-old chaise longue by Jonathan Adler and ostrich feathered trees by A Modern Grand Tour. At the center of the installation is a fountain with pink colored water, symbolizing life and fruitfulness. The fountain is created in collaboration with Marioni, paying homage to Bosch’s “Garden of Delights”. Sara Ricciardi recreated a satellite installation inspired by Eden, which is also featured at the Numeroventi Design Residency in Via dei Pandolfini, 20, in Florence, Italy.

Among all gardens in the world, why just the Eden? What is the connection between Eden and Fashion?
My projects always start with a series of keywords, in this case, it was inspired by the Attico brand and their new capsule collection that highlights the ironic, feathered and seductive nature of birds. I wanted to turn the shop into a peaceful and erotic garden full of peacocks, butterflies, slow movements, rose water and brass plants. Eden is the garden of delights, where everything happens happily, where you can have time to play and enjoy.

What does Eden mean to you?
I found it interesting to outline a soft and calm space for a highly foot-trafficked fashion shop by playing up on opposite frequencies of calm and relaxation, using dense colors to give a hypnotic atmosphere.

Is there a focal point in the installation?
I played with the layout of the French Garden, using symmetry that gives peace to the eyes by distributing the store in a mirror-like manner from right to left. Niches, palms, mannequins, all follow a continuous symmetry in the passage with a central point: the fountain. The water symbolizes wealth and prosperity and is inspired by the shapes of the fountain portrayed by Bosch in the “Garden of Delights” in which there are 4 spills that represent the 4 rivers of Eden: the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Ghion, the Pison.

What can you tell us from the satellite installation in the Numeroventi Design Residency space?
Number twenty was the place where I stayed during the period when I followed the installation at LuisaViaRoma in Florence. I experimented there with feather compositions and wandered among the powerful rooms and installed feathered fans, scajola plaster sitting rooms, and tactile sculptures.The statues of the joyous cherubs of the wide stairway of the palace hated me, so I adorned them with feathers at each passage, and tickled them with ostrich feathers.

Numeroventi is Creative Studio, Boutique Hotel and Artist Residence, as a place where creatives can rediscover the core of their profession. It invites them to break out from routines and be inspired; by local and international artists, by the space, and by the city of Florence. The Venue is based few steps from the Duomo in Via dei Pandolfini 20. Martino di Napoli Rampolla, creative director of the studio develops interdisciplinary projects hosting local and international artists with the aim of re-interpreting Florence and its heritage in contemporary key. Marina Denisova is a Florence based editorial and commercial photographer specialising in interior, fashion, travel and lifestyle. Her work is recognized worldwide for its style and elegance.