After the presence at MOST during the “Salone del Mobile” of Milan, from the 22nd to the 24th of May, Searching for Cassiopeia, a limited edition collection of 12 concept chairs designed by Fabrica for the Italian Chair District, will be showcased at the Clerkenwell Design Week in London, a three-day festival celebrating design's creative richness, social relevance and technological advancements through an exciting programme of workshops, presentations, product launches and debates.

From 21st to 24th May: Crypt of the Museum of the Order of St John
St John's Lane, Clerkenwell, London, EC1M4DA

From 25th May till the end of June: W Hotel
10 Wardour Street, Leicester Square, London, W1D 6QF

Searching for Cassiopeia is an exploration of this constellation often known as Cassiopeia’s Chair. To those who have always thought that sitting is a banal and ultimately repetitive gesture, the project - which was recently presented at MOST, an epicenter for the freshest ideas in communication, food, culture, design and the digital industrial revolution instigated by Tom Dixon for Milan Design Week 2012 - shows that a throne is very different from a step, a chaise longue very different from a bench, a stool entirely the opposite of a small armchair. It shows that to relax after a day’s hard work you need the right backrest, and that there is nothing better than falling into soft padded mat with your loved one.

In the fall 2011, a group of young designers from Fabrica, Benetton’s communications research centre, visited some of the companies that make up the Italian Chair District, a centre for manufacturing excellence located in the hearth of Italian Region Friuli Venezia Giulia, where the value of tradition and experience, the importance of design and the attention paid to environmental issues merge together and are passed down from generation to generation.

From this encounter and from the comprehension of the expertise of the Italian Chair District, twelve designs were born, each piece an original and masterly interpretation of the act of sitting. The challenge set to the creative mind of Fabrica was clear: to create a sitting collection that highlighted the manufacturing skills and capacities of the Italian Chair District, giving prominence to the different manufacturing techniques available, extolling the industry’s distinctive features, giving importance to the various production phases while showing the world the range of materials the District is capable of melding and transforming. Bending, assembling, turning, painting and upholstering are just some of the techniques used in this collection.

Searching for Cassiopeia
CDW 2012 - Crypt of the Museum of the Order of St John
22nd - 24th May
10am - 9pm

W Hotel
25th May - end of June