GIGI XVI HIP-HOP cabinet
Designed by Ferruccio Laviani for Fratelli Boffi, the Gigi XVI Hip-Hop cabinet features a structure with frames and inlays in carved solid wood; a complex composition executed with different wood species and traditional metal inserts.
The surfaces emphasise the depth of the texture and the precision of the drawn pattern, while the raised top, conceived as a console, integrates functional elements into the structure.
Gigi XVI Hip-Hope is a three-drawer chest in solid natural walnut, enriched with decorative inlays inspired by a musical theme in different wood scenes, with a glossy walnut interior and a shellac finish exterior.
Through his deliberately cheeky approach to tradition, Laviani introduces an unexpected imagery into the language of historic woodworking. In Gigi XVI Hip-Hop, inlay is not fragmented but reorganised: an ancient lexicon capable of absorbing contemporary signs without losing formal rigour.
“This project stems from a natural continuation of the research on classical furniture developed for Fratelli Boffi and on the expressive use of wood. The starting point is the archetype of Lombard furniture – the Louis XVI cabinet, inspired from Giuseppe Maggiolini’s woodworking tradition – reinterpreted through new inlays. Classical decorum is turned into contemporary iconography and patterns, or into almost mosaic-like chromatic compositions, maintaining and amplifying the central role of woodworking and the inlay technique.” Ferruccio Laviani
Classical iconography gives way to pop symbols from the contemporary music culture such as cables, earphones and microphones which have been translated into the same compositional discipline reserved for historic ornament.
