Antalya / Izmir

Best known as a founding member of Sottsass & Associati and the Memphis Group, Aldo Cibic was one of the earliest designers to collaborate with Bisazza. The Antalya chair and Izmir bench were created for Casa Bisazza – the firm’s very first Milan showroom, imagined by Alessandro Mendini back in 1994. For each, Cibic covered an anodized aluminium structure with mosaics.

This is a project that emanates vitality. While I was designing it I was very pleased because the unique language I saw behind it was basic, Neo-plastic; pure geometric shapes that I could use to express my vision. I took various standard objects, for example a wood bench, which when covered in mosaics became something completely different. Even the chair is an ‘attachment’ of signals: an organic element and an occasional table. The marvellous thing is that the underlying structure gains a new life by using mosaics and anything becomes possible.

Aldo Cibic