Loro Piana Interiors Teams With Argentinian Designer Cristián Mohaded
MILAN — Loro Piana Interiors is introducing a new project in a collaboration with Argentinian designer and artist Cristián Mohaded.
Called “Apacheta,” it will be installed at Loro Piana’s sprawling Milan headquarters in the Cortile della Seta and be unveiled during Design Week. The expansive location will be transformed into a dreamlike landscape inspired by the Andean tradition.
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“Apachetas are piles of irregular stones that mark paths in the Andes, built by travelers over centuries and growing to become massive towers,” explained Mohaded. “They were left as a tribute and a thanksgiving to the spirit of the Pachamama, Mother Earth, and considered sacred.”
They were the starting point for Mohaded to create a series of unique pieces of furniture with Loro Piana Interiors.
“We pay tribute to nature, sharing with Loro Piana values such as a passion for nature and its gifts, materials, fabrics and craftsmanship, and the certainty that beauty and harmony can arise from contrasts,” continued Mohaded.
There is a deep connection between Loro Piana, which is helmed by chief executive officer Damien Bertrand and controlled by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, and Argentina, and in particular the province of Catamarca, where Mohaded was born and where Loro Piana sources the rare vicuña, and whose contrasting landscape with its majestic rocks, rivers, and white and red lagoons is a source of inspiration.
The installation in the Loro Piana building will present 12 towers of up to 8 meters rising from the ground. Irregular, angular, and apparently unstable, the stones will be covered with Loro Piana Interiors fabrics from old collections, here gaining a second life, in sync with the brand’s focus on sustainability and the possibility of reusing discarded materials.
Nestled among the towers will be the pieces of furniture designed by Mohaded: sofas, stools, a bench and courtesy tables. The stones, he said, are softened by using Loro Piana’s precious fabrics — including vicuña.
They feature hand-carved and chiseled oak elements in the more rounded parts, to create contrast. Wood and Incas alpaca and wool are juxtaposed with ceramic, whose colors are inspired by the Argentinian lagoons, red or white, the same colors as the towers. The colors of the lagoons are caused by sediment, micro-organisms, and the pigmentation of some algae. Ceramic is transformed into the surface of the tables, to create small lagoons between the furniture.
Mohaded said the project reflects the connection between Loro Piana and Latin America, where the company has been actively contributing to saving the vicuña species since the ‘80s. In 1994 it headed the International Vicuña Consortium, signing an agreement with the Andean communities to buy, process and export vicuña fibers created from animals that were gently and humanely sheared.
“We approached Cristián knowing his passion for craftsmanship, his research in materials, his extreme love for them, for their textures and contrasts,” said Francesco Pergamo, director of Loro Piana Interiors division. “Everything he creates starts from this and we thought it was the right artist to entrust with our own materials. When we saw the project, we had the immediate certainty that it was beyond expectations. Cristián has not only put all his magic into the materials, but has infused the design with all the values we share.”
The Apacheta pieces are available by order only. Mohaded is already working on a second chapter of Apacheta, but was mum about the details.
Mohaded has also designed the Arca Bag — his first foray into fashion, which will be presented in Loro Piana’s pop-up store in Via Montenapoleone during Design Week.
The name, Arca Bag, refers to the Latin meaning of the term, which identifies a piece of furniture used in ancient times to store clothes and precious household objects. “The idea is that the bag is designed to hold and protect one’s personal belongings, where craftsmanship and technology come together,” he said.
The base of the bag is realized in hand-woven wicker, while the upper part is crafted in velvet calf leather, thermo-molded in 3D for a closure that remains almost suspended, yet very secure. The Arca Bag is proposed in three sizes — small, medium and large — and in three different colors — wheat yellow, currant red and black — available to order.
The Loro Piana Interiors division was launched in 2006, initially only aimed at professionals in the sector and now also open to end consumers. It is also present in the yachting and aviation industries and in the hospitality area.
Pergamo was previously director of women’s and leather goods product development and was named director of the interiors division in 2019.
His and the division’s first main project was the renovation of Villa Cima, in the heart of the Villa d’Este park, in 2019, with interiors entirely by Loro Piana.
The “Apacheta” installation will be available Tuesday and Wednesday for a private preview, while it will be open to the public from April 20 to 23.
There will also be an outdoor installation in Piazzetta Brera to complete the project.
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