Contemporary Pop Style: young and bright environments

Contemporary Pop Style: young and bright environments

From Pop Art to interior design in its historical and contemporary meaning, the Pop style is characterized by dynamic and fresh interiors. Iconic objects, saturated and bright colors define fresh and youthful environments that are always current.

Giving a sparkling touch to the Pop-style home is quick and easy… let’s see how!

Pop interiors

example of a room in a pop style, with a strong color point and geometric references in black and white.

The origin of Pop Art

The style of furniture that we know as Pop and its contemporary meaning derive from the artistic movement developed in the United States. Born in the second half of the fifties, it knows its best period of development in the subsequent sixties and seventies.

These are the years of the economic boom and the rise of unbridled consumerism as a consequence of an ever greater economic well-being of society.

The name pop art is the abbreviation for “popular art”, which emphasizes the strong relationship between the new artistic current and “popular” objects. The goal of Pop Art is precisely to stage the consumer society by adopting an almost ironic meaning.

Desecrating the courtly conception of art by comparing it to objects extrapolated directly from mass society. In doing this, the expressive language used directly takes up the same expressive forms of the consumer society. The result is a vision of the artistic work perceived as a commercial product.

Advertising, television, cinema and supermarket shelves, the new temples of consumerism, become the subjects of works of art. Among these, Warhol’s famous Campbell sauce cans, whose graphic design is taken directly from the advertising prints of the time.

The bright colors and their full shades are taken up by the heroes of cinema and entertainment reproduced in cartoons, comics and serigraphs. After the resilience of war and the vision of a world in black and white, the colors of the new well-being invade society, rapidly changing its values.

Warhol, Lichtenstein and the other pop art artists tell this revolution through the symbols of the consumer society. The provocation itself becomes a force of consumerism, like a frame from which it is impossible to get out.

roy lichtenstein pop art
keith haring pop art

The expressive language of Pop Art between serigraphs and cartoons: Roy Lichtenstein and Keith Haring are among the best known exponents

oldenburg cadorna

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Ago e Filo, Milan

Andy Warhol Campbel Monroe

Andy Wahrol is definitely the Pop Art artist par excellence, with his illustrations of the Camper Souce and the reproductions of the face of Marilyn Monroe

Design icons

The improvement of the company’s economic conditions allows the purchase of products that are not only functional but also purely aesthetic. The design of furniture and home interiors adapts accordingly by changing shapes, materials and values.

Precisely for this reason, in those years, Industrial Design, intended as a serial production of elements, had the apex of its development. The increasingly conspicuous demand of the company satisfies the manufacturing industry which responds with new, impactful and original objects.

The designers of the time best express their creativity by experimenting with new materials. Experimenting with alternative manufacturing techniques also allows them to shape the material to better convey the design idea. The many icons of Design, especially Italian, that still crowd the collective imagination date back to those years.

These also become the characterizing element of the interiors, giving them an eternal and whimsical character. Some examples are the Vitra chairs designed by Verner Panton, the Ball Chair by Eero Aarnio, the trolleys by Joe Colombo and all the products of a nascent Kartell.

ettore sottsass Milan interior

Paradisiartificiali Studio, Tribute to Ettore Sottsass, Milan

pop material icon design

Plastic and plexiglass are appreciated for their ductility and material expressiveness in the Pop style. The design icons are characterized by bright colors and soft shapes.

Sacco chair
Joe Colombo
Kartell

Here are some icons of Design: Zanotta’s Sacco armchair, Joe Colombo’s Boby trolleys and Kartell modular units revisited in a modern key with new pastel colors and innovative textures.

Pop Art in house interiors

For a Pop Art style décor, the first to lead the chorus are the bright and lively colors. Especially chosen in their saturated and bright colors, they completely exclude the use of shades in favor of full colors. The importance of visual coherence between the different rooms of the house is reflected precisely in the use of well-balanced colored hues.

The furniture inside the rooms does not exceed in number but rather stand out for the fluidity of the shapes and the chromatic choice. The choice to place iconic design objects is appreciable. Pieces of furniture that have marked history.

Compared to the Boho style, this choice of antiques, however, is not aimed at abundance but is limited to a few significant pieces. One of the most famous examples is the Mouth-shaped sofa by Gufram, inspired by Marilyn’s lips. Its strong visual impact and its iconicity make it the protagonist of the rooms to the point of being enough to define the stylistic imprint of the entire room.

bedroom colors graphics
living room icons drawings

A bedroom inspired by the design of the Memphis group designed by Jannat Vasi. On the right: a Pop-style living area amidst colorful furnishings and minimal graphics

bedroom pop style minimal
living room pop style

Carpets, fabrics, stylistic shapes and chronatic choices respond to a balanced overall vision in the Pop style.

The Pop style is recognized for the choice of plastic materials and resins, which exploded in use and experimentation in those years. The flexibility and ductility of these materials allow the designers to have the maximum artistic expression, managing to produce series furniture with original and fluid shapes.

To these is added the plexiglass, appreciated for its transparency that assimilates it to the noblest glass, but extremely resistant. To enrich the Pop-style interiors, paintings and decorations whose graphics are directly inspired by the world of comics and screen printing.

These stand out among colored walls, sometimes covered with wallpaper with graphics characterized by abstract and hypnotic lines, also used in the choice of carpets.

pop icons design graphics

Minimalist graphics and furnishings with bizarre shapes, including colors and products of the Pop style

The pop style according to Modulor: the contemporary variant

The grit and character of the Pop style is certainly appreciable for dynamic interiors and young personalities. Its highly characterizing expressive charge applied to contemporary interiors sometimes risks creating environments that, when experienced daily, tend to “tire”.

For this reason, the variant in our projects always tends to contain the Pop imprint of some elements within the home furnishings. Few elements that, in terms of shapes and colors, lead back to the freshness and creativity of this style, but blend perfectly with neutral and contemporary interiors.

Combined with the brightness of white furnishings and environments, they are also able to further enhance themselves, becoming stylistic icons of home furnishings.

pop art house corridor pop art
living room pop details

A Modulor creation on a project by Studio MILO in a contemporary style with refined Pop details: from the choice of the paintings, to the precious carpets by CC-Tapis passing through the living area in perfect Pop style

pop living room

A few details in chromatic uniformity are enough to give grit and character to an interior: walls and furnishings of this creation give a decisive touch while remaining balanced overall

pop kitchen

Our project of Omelette table with rotating yolk flanked by red Pantone chairs and a kitchen in black and white.

Bergamo industrial attic

A brightly colored Smeg refrigerator and an artfully crafted table complement a linear kitchen in this splendid Bergamasco Loft.

The Pop style in its traditional and contemporary meanings responds perfectly to strong charisms. A little eccentric and certainly very creative personalities, who do not, however, give up balance and stylistic elegance. Far from being chaotic, the well-balanced Pop style instead expresses a stylistic and conceptual refinement, as well as a passion for visual art forms.

One kitchen a week: contemporary pop

One kitchen a week: contemporary pop

contemporary pop kitchen front view

The first of four kitchens we want to present you is part of an interior that we can define as “contemporary pop”.  

THE RENOVATION

The renovation of the kitchen area develops around the element of golden curved false ceiling, strongly desired by the client. The design challenge consists of thinking at a room that could fit at best this existing element with a strongly stylistic character.  This ceiling is reckonable both for the chromatic choice and for the shaped profile, in addition to the strong dynamism underlined by the lighting following the shape. The closing wall and its entry door have been deleted in favour of an open-space. What remains is a load-bearing pillar, also gold-painted, to which an island worktop with lower containing volumes, cooking hob and drawers. The ovens are arranged in the full-height elements on the left side of the French door opening towards the kitchen’s interior. In doing so, they are almost hidden. The real development of the kitchen follows the course of the back wall which in turn is made of two different types. On one side, the full-height doors that house both the built-in refrigerator and storage shelves for food and drinks are placed directly facing the living area. The depth of the full-height element acts as a support for the living room lightened by service shelves. The red backdrop also recalls, giving further chromatism, some wall units in the living room and the choice of some furnishing elements such as vases. The second type, visually lighter, occupies the kitchen’s part adjacent the French door. It consists of a countertop with a built-in sink and suspended wall units with internal shelves. The lower part holds the washing machine compartment.  

SHAPES AND MATERIALS

Even the chromatic and material choice reflects the desire of giving incisiveness to the room, through the use of plastic laminate in two different shades of gray. A contemporary pop interior animated both in shapes and colours, in which the attention to the design of each components is easily visible. To further enrich the kitchen, the extractor fan as an element of design, and the suspended light that recalls the material choice. The dining table harmonizes the ceiling’s shapes, attached to the adjacent cooking island.

contemporary pop kitchen
countertop and wall units
dining table and shelves living room
red wall units and containing door
island kitchen contemporary pop
hidden fitted oven
contemporary pop dining table
Mini version of Omelette table

Mini version of Omelette table

The Omelette table was born as a customizable furnishing accessory, which original dimensions can be adapted, as in this case, to the needs of customers.  

OMELETTE TABLE

A short description of the project: Omelette was born as a peninsula table, from the need to have an asymmetrical support, with a wider and more comfortable part and a narrower one. The rectilinear shaping of the latter also allows a possible practical support on the wall. Unlike the snack tables in production, its sinuous shape allows you to have more comfort and accommodate more diners. The rotating yolk recalls the oriental tables. Here the desire for conviviality and sharing prevail and lead to the exchange and tasting of food by all those present at the table. With a central support point and legs on wheels it can be easily moved to the center of the dining area and then repositioned to rest on the wall. At this link a deepening on the project.  

MINI VERSION

The Omelette table was made in different finishes. The original one provides a coating of the upper surface with a GetaCore® slab finished at 45 ° and a central orange matt lacquered yolk. This on, that can also be usea as cutting board, rotates on a support swivel and a support structure consisting of a pillar and two legs on wheels in polished steel. To contain the prices, especially for the polished steel part, a second version in textured painted iron is provided. Concerning  the surface, the GetaCore® sheet can be replaced by a textured matt lacquered MDF. The second version is the one chosen by a couple of special customers from Naples, who felt in love with our project. the reduced spaces and the preference for a less impactful finish bring that the Mini version fully embraced their requests. The niche, in which the table was to be located, was smaller than the original design size, for this reason we resized the shape of the table leaving the spaces in proportion to each other and keeping, from an ergonomic point of view, the right space to devote to each person. The result is a delicious version of the table in a “Mini” version, the diners are reduced from 8 to 5 but the “scrambled egg” shape remains. The central pillar and legs were painted white and as regards the wheels, we used a version of Rotola, produced by OgTm, of a smaller size but with the same white and orange finishes.  

Omelette Table Mini version
leg detail
coupling detail
Mini Omelette lateral view
Mini Omelette front view

Aliens looking for books land at the kindergarten in Villa di Serio

Aliens looking for books land at the kindergarten in Villa di Serio

We are happy to share with you a special project for the kindergarten of Villa di Serio, which we have followed with pleasure, of the spaceship Elle Effe Elle.

A few days ago a brightly colored spaceship landed in the garden of the Cavalli nursery school in Villa di Serio. The two Martians Bi and Ci have landed in search of books.

The name of the unidentified object, all made in Valle Seriana, is Elle Effe Elle which stands for Little Free Library: inside it will host children for an exchange based on “take a book, leave a book.” Promoter of the project is the association Traiettorie Instabili which, with the sponsorship of the Municipality, carried out the project for free with the collaboration of private companies to encourage the reading habits. “We wanted to give the children a house of books – explained Alessandro Longhi of Traiettorie Instabili, before cutting the ribbon -, but when the manager asked us that it was suitable for the Under 6, without edges and without doors, we involved the friends of Officina Idea”. Giovanni Nervi and Paolo Carrara thus had the idea of ​​creating a spaceship, made of wood and steel, with a cap underneath where you have to get in to access the internal shelf that houses the books. To make Elle Effe Elle even more intriguing, Alice Tebaldi, a young designer who lives in Villa di Serio, conceived and digitally illustrated the rhymed story that tells of young aliens looking for books. “It is a very interesting project to encourage to read books,” said Mayor Bruno Rota at the inauguration. For now, the book-swap spaceship is a single prototype made by Modulor Progetti of Ranica, in collaboration with the MetalArredo Bonomi company in Alzano lombardo, but it cannot be ruled out that others can be landed at primary school or in the park. Today the vehicle will fly to the town hall square for the autumn festival. “The spaceship – explain the engineers-architects Carrara and Nervi – has a transparent cap to bring natural light inside but also to look at the sky just like an alien would do; the legs are adjustable, this allows you to reach the height suitable for the type of user expected for each library and to keep the library level even if positioned on uneven ground. The legs are fixed to an iron base which is then tied to the ground “.

Elle Effe Elle spaceship Villa di Serio
Elle Effe Elle presentation
Elle Effe Elle Villa di Serio