As part of the Re-enchanting Villa Medici project, the French Academy in Rome is delighted to announce that it has entrusted the artistic direction of the renovation project involving a total of 6 historic rooms to India Mahdavi, a Paris-based architect, designer and scenographer, internationally renowned for her unique visual style that embodies a cosmopolitan and joyful art of living where hospitality, comfort and elegance come together as one.
This project is being carried out in collaboration with the Mobilier National, a major institution of creation and heritage since the 17th century, and with the support of the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, which has supported the arts and crafts for over 20 years.
For this project to be unveiled on April 14, India Mahdavi is proposing a new approach to Villa Medici’s rooms, where geometry and colour play a fundamental role and contribute to renewing the spirit of the place, thanks to a new layout featuring exceptional furniture specially designed by India Mahdavi for Villa Medici.
India Mahdavi
Architect, designer and scenographer, India Mahdavi lives and works in Paris.
Created in 2000, her studio is known for the diversity of its international projects which explore the fields of architecture, interior design, scenography, furniture and object design – with a strong focus on craftsmanship and know-hows, as a way to revere and strengthen ties between the hand, the mind, the heart and the eye.
India Mahdavi is known for creating unique environments that all combine a modern sense of comfort and elegance with color and humor, in a cross-cultured ‘art de vivre’.
Polyglot & polychromatic, India Mahdavi has become a signature, elaborating a special vocabulary that is joyful, cosmopolite and elegant all at the same time.
The Mobilier National
The Mobilier National has been supporting arts and crafts since the 17th century. Its mission is to ensure the conservation and restoration of its unique collections and to preserve and pass on exceptional expertise. A major heritage site, the institution is also a major stakeholder in contemporary creation and the promotion of French decorative arts.
The Mobilier National creates and restores tens of thousands of pieces of furniture and objects destined for the furnishing and decoration of public buildings in France and abroad. More than three hundred and forty men and women work daily to maintain, practise and promote the institution’s excellent techniques, in Paris and across the country. The Gobelins and Beauvais factories are dedicated to tapestry, the Savonnerie factory to carpets and the Puy-en-Velay and Alençon workshops to lace. The Atelier de Recherche et de Création (ARC–Research and Creation Workshop) promotes creation and contemporary design in France.
The Bettencourt Schueller Foundation
The Bettencourt Schueller Foundation is a family trust and has been recognised as a public interest organisation since its creation in 1987. It aims to “give wings to talent” in order to contribute to France’s success and influence.
To this end, it seeks out, selects, supports, guides and promotes men and women who are imagining tomorrow’s world today across three fields that make a tangible contribution to the municipal good: the life sciences, the arts and humanitarian aid.
In keeping with the spirit of philanthropy, the foundation works through prizes, donations, personalised support, communication and co-constructed initiatives.
Since its creation, the foundation has awarded 634 prizes and supported more than 1,000 projects submitted by talented individuals, teams, associations and organisations.
The Foundation has been involved in the arts and crafts sector for over 20 years. It was one of the first actors to value the contemporary dimension of these crafts through the Liliane Bettencourt Prize for the Intelligence of the Hand®. It identifies this expertise as an internationally important asset that needs to be promoted abroad. It has contributed to the recognition of arts and crafts as a practical training eligible for international residencies. In this context, it has sponsored the Villa Kujoyama since 2014, the Villa Albertine since 2021 and now also the Villa Medici.
Devialet
Devialet is an acoustical engineering company operating at the intersection of luxury and cutting-edge technology. Devialet is on a mission Bring sound back to where it belongs in people’s lives through memorable audio experiences.
The foundation of Devialet’s success is a series of radical patented innovations that are embedded in every Devialet product: Expert Pro amplifiers, Phantom speakers, Devialet Gemini true wireless earbuds, Devialet Dione soundbar and Devialet Mania portable speakers.
By coupling unrivaled sound quality with a sleek and modern design, Devialet’s world-class engineers set a high standard for innovation and push the boundaries of what can be achieved with audio engineering.
The Maison Tréca
A subsidiary of the Adova Group, a French artisanal group specialising in bedding, Maison Tréca embodies the art of sleeping ‘à la française’ thanks to the legacy of master craftsmen whose unique expertise has been passed down since 1935.
With creations inspired by the greatest palaces and designed by internationally renowned designers (Quaglio Simonelli, Andreas Weber, Christian Lacroix, etc.), Tréca offers a tailor-made comfort experience.
All the collections are made from natural, rare and precious materials, refined in the workshops in Reichshoffen (Alsace) and Mer (Loir-et-Cher), ensuring an excellent sleep.
Society Limonta
Society Limonta is the brand that embodies the excellence of Italian textiles, dressing every home environment with care and passion. Founded in 2000 as part of the Limonta Group, it has stood out from the outset for the high quality of its fabrics, made from natural and finished yarns, thanks to a meticulous process of research and development, perfected in a completely local production line, which before being “Made in Italy” is “Made in Limonta”.
Each year, it offers two seasonal collections, inviting you to choose between different textile qualities and shades. Society Limonta’s philosophy is very simple: never be satisfied. The desire to find ever different ways of interpreting the material is reflected in the choice of complex and refined processes, such as dyeing clothes. “The research” is a journey into the memory of fabrics. A journey that leads to the rediscovery of tradition and craftsmanship, to elaborate them in a contemporary way.
Present online and in its flagship shops in Milan, Rome, London, Geneva and New York, Society Limonta carries out both residential and contract projects, creating a bespoke textile design that is attentive to the most specific tastes and requirements. With the latest OLTRE Society collection, the brand also offers design objects that complement the products related to home textiles.
The Maison Craman-Lagarde
Craman-Lagarde, a company of Manufactures EMBLEM Paris, created by Martin Pietri, a descendant of the Jacob-Desmalter line of cabinetmakers, perpetuates the excellence and tradition of art cabinetmaking.
For five generations, the talent of specialised craftsmen has been used to create replicas of high-quality 18th century or Art Deco pieces, as well as contemporary creations and editions in collaboration with the great names in design.
Craman-Lagarde is one of the last French companies to master such a high level of excellence and to group together on the same site the trades that are essential to the creation and production of art furniture: cabinet making, marquetry, wood carving, lacquering and varnishing, working with bronze and precious and rare materials.
Dedar
Founded in 1976, Dedar is a family-run fabric house that expresses a personal style with its cutting-edge contemporary collections. Located close to Como, in the heart of a manufacturing district, Dedar experiments and innovates to attain product perfection through an ongoing dialogue with those craftsmen and textile specialists who are most familiar with the techniques employed in the production of excellent fabrics.
Characterized by seductive colour palettes and unexpected patterns, Dedar’s fabrics combine precious yarns with research into fiber technology to offer various solutions for curtains, upholstery and wall covering of timeless elegance. From 2011 to 2020, Dedar partnered Hermès in the production and distribution of furnishing fabric and wallpaper collections.
The company has also embarked on a strategic project to integrate issues related to sustainable development into the choices, processes, and corporate objectives
EDIT Napoli
EDIT Napoli is the international fair dedicated to authorial design and design authors, directed by Emilia Petruccelli and Domitilla Dardi. The fair is firmly grounded in the notion of local realities, sustainability and quality over quantity, through production processes that combine craftsmanship with design for pieces that can be replicated. The fifth edition will be held from 6 to 8 October 2023 at Archivio di Stato di Napoli and in some of the iconic sites of Neapolitan and Mediterranean culture.