The Credenza collection includes cabinets and rugs, designed by Milan’s Patricia Uruiola and Federico Pepe
Product designer Patricia Urquiola and graphic designer Federico Pepe have collaborated on a highly decorative collection of modern furniture and rugs for the Milan-based brand Spazio Pontaccio. The Credenza collection—a suite of cupboards, screens, low tables, and carpets—is making its debut at this year’s Salone del mobile in Milan, and is making waves for its contemporary interpretation of stained glass. By leveraging the handiwork of skilled Italian artisans, the ancient technique is given a vivid graphic remake, thanks to vibrant abstract patterns and geometric shapes that define the furniture as art pieces as much as functional objects.
The inspiration for the Credenza collection (‘Credenza, which in Italian means both a cupboard and one’s belief.’) was, in part, the stained glass window of the Cologne Cathedral, designed by artist Gerhard Richter in 2007. Richter’s project, 2 years in the making, yielded a dazzling arched window mosaic of more than 11,000 squares of colored glass—marking a major moment for a slowly disappearing craft, which Richter reprised and imbued with modern day reverence. Urquiola, who reportedly wasn’t always enamored of glass, and Pepe were invited by Spazio Pontaccio “to recover the symbolic value of stained glass windows,” via a contemporary furniture collection that merged a nearly obsolete and once-sacred technique with the designers’ decidedly modern visual sensibilities.
Five different rug designs comprise the Credenza carpet collection by Patricia Urquiola and Federico Pepe
A cabinet and screen, part of the Credenza collection by Patricia Urquiola, on view at Milan’s Salone del Mobile
