Edit Napoli 2024: heritage and experimentation in the editorial design fair

16 October 2024

edit napoli 2024

Among the “Cult” of the fair is also Cassina’s homage to Filippo Alison, the curator who brought Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s work in the catalogue.

Among the most innovative autumn events of the moment is also Edit Napoli, an editorial design fair born from an idea of ​​curators Domitilla Dardi and Emilia Petruccelli.

The sixth edition has just ended and, as usual, has involved designers of different origins, making variety one of its strengths. The main venue is the Archivio di Stato, housed in a monastic complex from the 1600s: the ancient cloisters seem the ideal place to welcome, by contrast, the experimental ideas of independent designers who participate in the fair alongside prestigious companies that here tell their story in an unusual context.

This is the case of Cassina, protagonist of one of the six “Cult” events parallel to the fair. The company, hosted in the court theatre of the Royal Palace, has chosen to tell the story of Filippo Alison’s personality with the installation “Editare iMaestri, Tributo A Filippo Alison”. In the 1970s, the Neapolitan architect carried out extensive research on the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, research that led to the inclusion of some of the Scottish designer’s works in Cassina’s iMaestri collection, which still today edits the most iconic projects of the great protagonists of modern design.

Photography: Eller Studio

At the centre of the stage of the court theatre, the Hill House 1 chair and the Willow 1 armchair, which are still part of the Cassina iMaestri Collection, surrounded by other models that are no longer in production but are significant of Alison’s contribution to Cassina’s history.

Ethimo also took part in the fair, casually placing its latest productions among the vaults of the seventeenth-century cloisters: on display were the new Patio collection, designed by Studio Zanellato/Bortotto, the Lustra lamp and the Folia coffee tables by Luca Nichetto, the new Innesti vases by Studiopepe, the carpet from the Nodi line by Paola Navone and Hut, the alcove designed by Marco Lavit.

edit napoli 2024
Ethimo | Innesti

Ethimo | Lustra

Ethimo | Folia

An editorial design fair, Edit was also the ideal setting to present the Issho collection by RAUM for Carpet Edition: it is a tribute to Carlo Scarpa and his Brion Memorial, evoking its architecture and atmosphere, and in particular the entrance marked by two circles through which one enters, which are also male and female, ying and yang, shadow and light.

edit napoli 2024
Carpet Edition | Issho

This is why the collection is called Issho, which translates from Japanese as “together”. The two modular elements that make up the carpet are therefore designed to reproduce the arch of the memorial but can be freely composed to give life to further configurations. The two modules are distinguished by small but refined compositional elements: a lowered edge for one and fringes for the other, brick color for one and purple for the other, colors taken from the mosaic that characterizes the architecture of the memorial.

Also interesting is the Ornamentum installation by De Castelli that has married the experimental and creative soul of the fair in an excellent way.

Photography: Eller Studio

Photography: Matteo dei Maddalena

Calling together 31 designers who were asked to interpret the theme of metal erosion on a series of works of art and design that represent as many decorative patterns. Among the designers involved are Alessandra Baldereschi, Constence Guisset, Francesco Forcellini, Luca Pevere, Pio and Tito Toso and Zanellato and Bortotto.