The Poltrona Frau Museum, designed by Michele De Lucchi, does not fit into the traditional concept of the museum - strictly speaking, it is an industrial building located on the premises of a factory. Inside the museum, on an area of 1400 m2, furniture, materials, photographs, drawings are exhibited - everything that one way or another can tell about the centenary history of Poltrona Frau.
The museum building is a simple white volume, as if braided with an orange ribbon. Behind this "tape" is a private lounge area: a quiet and secluded place that you would not at all expect to see in a "production" building of this magnitude.
Directly next to the entrance is a small cafeteria with a library, and to the right of it is the beginning of the exhibition. Here, in the center of a small, light-flooded courtyard, stands the Vanity Fair armchair, a piece of furniture that has become iconic both for the factory and for Italian design in general. Nearby, there are nine “totems” - stands with multimedia screens, which sequentially describe all stages of the chair's production, thus revealing the concepts that make up the Poltrona Frau technical glossary.
Further in the chronological sequence are pieces of furniture that were of great importance for the establishment of the factory and the development of its popularity. Armchairs, chairs, sofas and beds are placed in a kind of "towers" of four, six, and eight meters in height. These “towers”, wooden frames upholstered in soft translucent fabric and backlit with warm light from behind, give the impression of huge garden lanterns and create a magical atmosphere in the museum.
There is also a part in the museum dedicated to large projects of theaters and auditoriums, furniture for which was produced by the Poltrona Frau factory. There is the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the concert hall in the Forum building in Barcelona. Each of the buildings of the theaters presented here was designed by world-famous architects, Pritzker Prize winners: Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, Herzog & de Meuron and others.
The exposition continues the world of cars, yachts, airplanes and helicopters, the interiors of which were developed by the craftsmen of the Poltrona Frau factory. This part of the museum presents the most prestigious projects for leading international companies such as: Ferrari, Maserati, Lancia, Pershing, Italo and Etihad Airways.
Text: Nastya Mavrina
The Poltrona Frau factory in Russia is represented by ARCHI STUDIO >>>
