All-encompassing creativity
As its arabesque space, she is dynamic, versatile and without edges – Chichi Meroni mixes the arts establishing a perfect balance between fashion, design and architecture.
You are a multifaceted character, passionate about art and culture, designer, interior decorator, fashion designer. Can you please tell us how your position was born and what influenced your creativity?
Since childhood, I have been immersed in these worlds – Architecture, Design and Fashion – that influence each other, where great creative people in the Milan of the 60s met. My creative enthusiasm, the fashion collections, explorations in the design field, have always been led by my strong passion for the balance of shapes and colors, and the shock of detail.
Fashion and design: how does this combination come about and how do the two themes fit together?
Fashion and Design not only have a common base, which is art, but also influence and draw inspiration from each other continuously. The meeting between two arts often gives original and surprising results. Moreover, if these arts are expression of interconnected thoughts that contaminate each other, then food for thought and creativity can only arise.
Let’s talk about arabesque, how was this cult store born?
Established in 2010, Arabesque is a multifaceted venue, a contemporary wunderkammer; midcentury furniture, men’s and women’s clothing and accessories collections, vintage jewellery, Haute Parfumerie, ‘very rare‘ books, exclusive couture services; all unique products. A varied range that derives from the word ‘arabesque’, a decorative and imaginative motif here combination of shapes and contents. Today the new space of the arabesque is an interplay of curves between seven moons and sinuous walls with bubble-shaped display niches. Dynamic, fluid, with no corners.
Both in the showroom and in your creations we often notice an eastern taste. Why?
I am very fond of the sophisticated minimalism of Japanese architecture and its ability to give the void spiritual value, especially after visiting the great dome of the Teshima Art Museum in Ryue Nishizawa. In Japan, I think refinment and order are everywhere. In an era in which perfection is a goal and people tend to be identical, Rei Kawakubo, Junya Watanabe, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake destroy the most classic prejudices and fashion trends, creating something absolutely timeless, clothes that challenge the strict rules of fashion. The garments are created to escape regularity, as in a work of art. Unique, cerebral, exciting pieces.
Discover Issey Miyake fashion and design
What are the latest design and fashion collections you presented?
Medio Cielo. Collection of three limited edition vases inspired by the world of astrology, the constellations seen in the sky of the Wadi Rum and the stars I saw on the Nile, during the last
trip to Egypt. The peculiarity of this vases collection, made of transparent artistic mouth-blown Murano glass, are the zodiac signs, engraved or sandblasted, that enliven their surface as the day-night duality, transparency-opacity. The new line named Recercle Milano. To give a second life to already existing clothes that are regenerated and converted into new shapes and constructions. Recovery and reuse of raw materials such as fine fabrics and iconic clothes that I transform. It is a limited edition collection. Larabesque.net
