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May 21, 2017

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Italian style combines designs with lifestyles

STEFANO Piontini is the head of design in the Shanghai branch of Vudafieri Saverino Partners, run by partner Sean Guo. Headquartered in Milan, Italy, the company has been doing projects in China since 1999 and opened its Shanghai practice in 2012.

True to the Milanese tradition of the “creative studio,” VSP’s work spreads from architecture to retail design, to interior design and decoration.

The design intention is to mix architecture and life, linking together architectural culture and sensitivity to trends in design, fashion and art, dialectically and transversally leveraging on direct experience and knowledge in these sectors.

It’s hard to be not proud of a project: we like to develop stories that fit customers and brands, rather than design spaces, so every story is fascinating and involves our team deeply in the process.

Since 2000, a significant part of the firm’s activity has been devoted to retail design projects for luxury prêt-à-porter brands and over the past 14 years, we have completed around 40 retail design concepts worldwide, and over 700 individual store designs (Louis Vuitton, Lanvin, Givenchy, Jimmy Choo, Roger Vivier, Tod’s, Kenzo, Pucci, Moschino, Delvaux, Fossil, Buccellati, Neuhaus and others).

I’m currently involved with my team in almost 20 different projects.

The most exciting one is a new retail experience that we are developing inside the mall of Beijing SKP: the designed spaces cover more than 2,000 square meters spread over four floors inside the mall.

On each floor, a specific concept displays the exclusive collections proposed by the international multi-brand Select: a dynamic design for men, more classic and sophisticated furniture for women, innovative materials and finishes for the young lifestyle collection.

As mentioned, we are basically story-tellers: a successful project isn’t just a matter of design but a combination of experiences to live, values and emotions to communicate, dreams to play, lifestyle to be represented.

A good architect listens and dialogues to users, interpreting their stories through the space, creates atmosphere with materials and finishings. It’s a stage where life takes place.

Personally, my inspirations could arrive unexpectedly: a magazine, an art gallery, a simple walk downtown could provide the right hint, but the most important moment is the dialogue with our customers and the feedback that they provide us.

The best ideas are generally based on the teamwork we do in office where we collect inspirations and clients’ requests to shape our design.

I personally designed my apartment, looking at the needs of my wife and I.

I think it’s really important for a designer to shape his own space because you can experiment with new solutions.

Definitely miles on planes, some good bottles of wine and paper from the traffic police. Jokes a part, I like to surround myself with good friends and people who give me good vibes.

My favorite place in Shanghai is the area of the West Bund, close to Longteng Avenue: the docks there have been totally converted in an incredible promenade from the Lupu Bridge to the West Bund Artistic Center. It’s a space to relax and get inspiration.

More than a trend, design is oriented to become more and more defined according the personality, passions, wishes and needs of the client. In this sense, it will get more and more important to educate the taste of the customer and, for the designers, to keep ourselves updated on fashion and art trends.

With the Italian consulate we are creating a club for the Italian Architects in China.




 

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