In 2001, the Italian Ministry for Cultural Affairs declared Harry’s Bar in Venice a national landmark. A local for the past 30 years, French designer Philippe Starck has designed a chair in recognition of this most celebrated restaurant and the man who created it.
As a city, Venice is anything but generic. But this new chair designed by Philippe Starck and made by Kartell is a tribute to the history of the city, the iconic Harry’s Bar and its owner Arrigo Cipriani.
A local in the city for three decades, French designer Philippe Starck has taken the Generic chair concept he developed with Kartell and applied it to the design needs of tiny cafés and bars along the canals and buried deep within the watery city. Designed along the lines and scale of a traditional living room armchair, the Venice chair interprets the mood of the small and aristocratic Venetian bar with its thousand facets. Refined and reduced in details, the result is a chair with a lightness in form a discreetness in approach.
“This model particularly touches me because it is a tribute to Arrigo Cipriani and his Harry’s Bar in Venice”, remarks Starck. “I have been living in Venice for 35 years and have always visited Harry’s where I see Arrigo doing the most modern thing: transforming, in a turn of the hand, this incredible urban microcosm. I watch him while he reinvents his small space, alternating rectangular tables and square tables for 2, 4, 6 up to 12 people. His secret? Small armchairs, lower than all others.”
Venice, the latest member of the Kartell Generic collection designed by Philippe Starck. Photo c/o Kartell.
"This model particularly touches me because it is a tribute to Arrigo Cipriani and his Harry’s Bar in Venice. I have been living in Venice for 35 years and have always visited Harry’s where I see Arrigo doing the most modern thing: transforming, in a turn of the hand, this incredible urban microcosm. I watch him while he reinvents his small space, alternating rectangular tables and square tables for 2, 4, 6 up to 12 people. His secret? Small armchairs lower than all others."
Philippe Starck
Joining the Generic family of community seating, Generic for Venice is the latest addition to the collection that includes Generic A, a chair designed for the office, and Generic C, the chair designed for bars, restaurants and public places.
Kartell is available exclusively in South East Asia from Space – Australia – and Space – Asia.
