Milan is the place to attend cultural events such the fashion week and Milan Furniture Week, where the new trends are exhibited. For this event, Dior invited seventeen artists from all over the world to design their version of one of the emblems from the house: the Dior Medallion Chair, available in the Dior Maison line.
Recognisable by its oval chair back, the Medallion chair is originally a French furniture symbol that appeared during Louis XVI’s reign. Monsieur Dior chose this chair’s style to seat the guests for the fashion shows located to the 30, avenue Montaigne in Paris. Now, the chair is a timeless and accessible piece. Among the seventeen artists selected by Dior to reinterpret the Medallion Chair, we focus our attention on three artists that gave the iconic chair a New look.
Deconstruction for Khaled El Mays. The Lebanese artist, based in Beirut, owns his multidisciplinary studio, where he purposes furniture, interior designs, and graphic designs. His creativity creates a dialogue between Eastern and Western cultures like the coffee tables he designed, inspired by Mediterranean and Middle East architecture. For Dior, he imagined three chairs illustrating his creative touch. For his artwork, El Mays cares about sustainability with responsibly-produced materials. The artist's taste favours leather and thread, which he prefers to source from local craftsmen. The Dior Medallion by Khaled El Mays shows different shades of deconstruction, modifying the chair's uses.
Iranian Egyptian architect and designer India Mahdavi gives the Medallion a more ethnic look with her five series chairs. She pays attention to the chair back and the seat she embellishes with her signature palette composed of vivid colours and patterns, with woollen crochet techniques made thanks to Indian craftsmanship from Kashmir.
Japanese artist Tokujin Yoshioka makes it clear as the sunlight. His creative process combines contemporary art with architecture to transcend senses using smells, sounds, and light, which means a lot in his artworks to create emotions and souvenirs. Yoshioka transforms the Medallion chair into shades of light that are an abstract representation of the irregular forms in nature.
From a furniture piece that became timeless and affordable, Dior arrives to make it trendy and luxurious again by collaborating with relevant artists to watch.
