Re-enchanting Villa Medici: a vast refurbishment from 2022 to 2025
The vast project to refurnish and refurbish the interior of Villa Medici was launched by the French Academy in Rome in 2022 on the initiative of its director Sam Stourdzé in order to promote contemporary design and arts and crafts in a spirit of dialogue with the heritage of Villa Medici. The artistic direction of the project is entrusted to internationally renowned names and involves invited contemporary designers. This three-year project (2022 – 2025) is being carried out thanks to an ecosystem of public and private partners and sponsors who are combining their expertise and commitment to this re-enchantment, helping to make Villa Medici a place where remarkable skills are perpetuated and the heritage of tomorrow is invented.
As a partner from the outset of the project, theMobilier national is providing Villa Medici with exceptional textile pieces from its collections and is advising and assisting the artistic directors throughout the various phases of the project.
The story of this re-enchantment of Villa Medici unfolds in three chapters:
Chapter 1: the reception Salons(December 2022)
The 6 reception Salonsof Villa Medici located on the garden level have been refurbished in collaboration with FENDI and the Mobilier National, under the artistic direction of Kim Jones and Silvia Venturini Fendi. With the support of: Bobin Tradition, Devialet
The rooms of Cardinal Ferdinand de Medici and two adjoining historic rooms will be refurbished by India Mahdavi, a leading architect, designer and scenographer.
9 guest rooms located in the historic Villa Medici building are being refurbished in three stages, through three calls for projects aimed at contemporary designers, architects and artists working in teams with art craftsmen. This project benefits from the support of the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, which has been involved in the crafts sector for over 20 years.
Winners of the first call for projects:
The project Camera Fantasiaby Gaëlle Gabillet and Stéphane Villard (Studio GGSV) & Riccardo Cavaciocchi (Paper Factor) and Matthieu Lemarié
The project Studioloby Sébastien Kieffer and Léa Padovani (Pool) & Romain Boulais and Félix Lévêque (Atelier Veneer)
The French Academy in Rome – Villa Medici would like to thank all the partners and sponsors who have supported the project and contributed to making this re-enchantment possible:
Partner of the Reenchanting Villa Medici project :
Main sponsor of the refurbishment of the reception Salons of Villa Medici:
Sponsor of the refurbishment of the guest rooms of Villa Medici :
With the support of :
ABOUT :
Mobilier national
The Mobilier national has been supporting the arts and crafts since the 17th century. Its mission is to ensure the conservation and restoration of its unique collections, and to perpetuate and transmit exceptional know-how. The institution is also a major player 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 intended for furnishing and decorating public buildings in France and abroad. More than three hundred and forty men and women work daily to maintain, practice and showcase the institution’s excellent know-how, in Paris and in the regions. 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 – promotes creation and contemporary design in France.
Maison FENDI
The FENDI Maison was created by Adele and Edoardo Fendi in Rome in 1925. The first FENDI boutique was opened, followed by a handbag shop and a fur workshop. The FENDI brand quickly became internationally renowned for its elegance, craftsmanship, innovation and style. The 54-year collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld began in 1965, and in 1992 Silvia Venturini Fendi joined him as artistic director. In 1994, she was given responsibility for leather goods accessories and then for the men’s clothing lines. In 2000, the LVMH group acquired a stake in FENDI and became a majority shareholder in 2001.
In September 2020, Kim Jones was appointed Artistic Director of haute couture and women’s ready-to-wear, while Delfina Delettrez Fendi, the fourth generation of the Fendi family, joined the House as Artistic Director of jewellery.
Today, FENDI is still synonymous with quality, tradition, innovation and creativity.
Bettencourt Schueller Foundation
The Bettencourt Schueller Foundation is a family foundation and has been recognised as a public utility since its creation in 1987. It aims to “give wings to talent” in order to contribute to the success and influence of France.
To do this, it seeks out, selects, supports, accompanies and promotes women and men who are imagining tomorrow’s world today, in three fields that contribute concretely to the common good: life sciences, the arts and solidarity. In a philanthropic spirit, the foundation acts through prizes, donations, personalised support, communication and co-constructed initiatives.
Since its creation, the foundation has awarded 634 prizes and supported more than 1000 projects led by talented individuals, teams, associations and organisations.
The Foundation has been involved in the arts and crafts sector for over 20 years. It is one of the first actors to promote the contemporary dimension of these crafts through the Liliane Bettencourt Prize for the Intelligence of the Hand®. It identifies these skills as an asset of international attractiveness that must be promoted abroad. It has contributed to the recognition of arts and crafts as an artistic practice eligible for international residencies. In this context, it has been a patron of the Villa Kujoyama since 2014, of the Villa Albertine since 2021 and now also of the Villa Medici.
Banque Populaire Foundation
Since 1992, the Banque Populaire Foundation has been the national patronage instrument of the 14 Banques Populaires and their members. It is involved in the fields of music, disability and, more recently, arts and crafts to help talented, inventive and tenacious individuals to launch their life projects.
It is one of the oldest foundations in the financial sector and is the only one to support individuals by giving them financial means but also the comfort of a network of relationships and long-term support.
Attentive to the quality of its commitment to its laureates, the Foundation has sought out well-known personalities in each field to form expert juries. Listening, support and trust are the foundation of the Foundation. In 30 years, 943 projects have benefited from its support.
Tréca
A brand of the Adova Group, a French artisanal bedding group, Tréca embodies the art of sleeping the French way thanks to the heritage of master craftsmen whose unique know-how has been passed down since 1935.
With creations inspired by the greatest palaces and conceived by internationally renowned designers (Quaglio Simonelli, Andreas Weber, Christian Lacroix…), Tréca invites you to an experience of made-to-measure comfort.
All the collections are made with natural, rare and precious materials sublimated in the workshops of Reichshoffen (Alsace) and Mer (Loir-et-Cher), guaranteeing a sleep of excellence.
Devialet
Devialet is an acoustic engineering company operating at the intersection of luxury and advanced technology. Its mission is to redefine the place of sound in our lives by offering unique and impactful sound experiences through iconic products.
Devialet’s success is based on the 200 patents that underpin several radical sound innovations built into all Devialet products, including Expert Pro amplifiers, Phantom speakers and Devialet Gemini wireless headphones.
Combining unparalleled sound quality with elegant, modern design, Devialet engineers are committed to constantly innovating to push the boundaries of what can be achieved in acoustic engineering.
Bobin Tradition
Bobin Tradition is a century-old company that has been restoring, preserving and cleaning tapestries, carpets and delicate or precious textiles, both antique and contemporary, since 1906. Among them are priceless creations – some of which are monumental – that belong to the cultural and historical heritage of France.
The company is the custodian of a complex know-how, based on the mastery of traditional and highly technical methods, entirely handmade in its workshop. Bobin Tradition’s expertise is used throughout France and abroad by a wide range of institutions, museums, ministries, companies and individuals who place their trust in us time and again. Bobin Tradition is still the only French company to carry out this activity.
A team of passionate craftsmen committed to the preservation of cultural heritage, who have proudly invested in the restoration of two tapestries in Villa Medici.
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.
