Ancient stories and fables, forgotten legends, colours and scents of the Orient. These are the suggestions brought to light by Turquerie, the new collection of carpets entirely handmade by designer Vito Nesta, exclusively for Les Ottomans.
Les Ottomans
Premiered at Ladies&Gentlemen during the Salone del Mobile, the collection Les Ottomans is a homage to the oriental world, a journey into the atmospheres of the ancient and glorious Constantinople, where mystery and magic, history and myth, tradition and design mingle. Consisting of two round pieces 2 metres in diameter, the collection of Vito Nesta stands out for its dreamlike and fascinating mark, the evocation of a dream and visionary presences animated by human and animal figures, surrounded by the colours of typical Iznik ceramics. The author's stylistic mark imposes itself in a precious work, where the presence of a City of Gold enriches the enchanted and colourful world of Les Ottomans.
Vito Nesta
A designer from Apulia by origin and Milanese by adoption, Vito Nesta graduated in Interior Design in Florence. An interior designer, art director and craftsman driven by a lively curiosity for foreign cultures, he considers travel to be a constant source of his inspirations. His creative thinking is expressed through graphic and product design, interior architecture, photography e painting.
Among the companies that have relied on his creative flair are Cadriano, Devon & Devon, Effetto Vetro, Fratelli Majello, Imarika, Karpeta, Les-Ottomans, Myhome Collection, Riva 1920, Roche Bobois, Texturae and Secondome Edizioni.
Our editorial team interviewed Vito Nesta for the occasion.
Where did the idea of creating a collection inspired by Constantinople come from?
Les Ottomans is a Turkish brand and this aspect fascinated me a lot. Already in the dish service Constantinople I had recounted the ancient city with my own eyes, with its mysterious and fantastic allure, rich in history.
How does your creative process come about?
There are no precise rules about my creative process. Sometimes some projects are born from images I have stored over time, things I have seen during travels and put momentarily in a sort of imaginary personal cauldron; others are born by chance while drawing; others again as a result of long and careful research into what I am going to draw. In designing, I like to be carried away by events, as in life.
Fantastic worlds, ethereal figures, fairy-tale suggestions: this seems to be your signature, the feature that unites your works. What gives rise to this stylistic signature?
The world of decoration increasingly belongs to me as a language. My approach to reality and art is certainly very romantic, emotional, almost viral. The characteristic that unites all my works is that of telling stories, of immersing myself in the colours, scents and sensations of an experience and then translating them into a language that is perceptible, transversal, universal.
What is art to you? If you had to give art a form, what would it be?
I would encapsulate the concept of art in the episode "Le vacanze intelligenti" from the film "Dove vai in vacanza?" with Alberto Sordi and Anna Longhi.
The actors play Remo and Augusta, who agree to have their undergraduate children organise their holidays at the 1978 Venice Biennale, only to be disappointed and perplexed. After crossing the avenue leading to the gardens, seeing a guide talking to a group of people stopped to look at a wall (the work of sculptor Mauro Staccioli), Augusta asks her husband Remo what the guide is talking about. And he, very lucidly: 'and what does he say? He explains, doesn't he? He explains 'e cose che noi non potèmo capì'. Later, during the visit, a stop by Augusta in a room of the exhibition generates a paradoxical and very comical misunderstanding, fuelled by a conflict between opposing planes of observation of the same exhibited object.
This episode made me think about the criteria of what is definable as a work of art, that is, the discussion of what are the canons of common beauty and what we unanimously define as art. I think art is that something that generates a reaction, a question mark, a feeling, that stirs the mind of the viewer. It does not have a rule or canons to follow, but an intent: 'to create a reaction'.
For more information on the designer, visit vitonesta.com
[vc_images_carousel images=”1587,1588,1589,1590″ img_size=”full” autoplay=”yes” hide_pagination_control=”yes” wrap=”yes”]
