Inside Casa Italia Paris, a Design Reprieve at the Olympics

MILAN — The B&B Italia Camaleonda sofa by Mario Bellini and the Flos Viscontea pendant lamp by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni are among design icons keeping national athletes and their coaches company during the Summer Olympics in Paris.

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During the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, which kicked off Friday and will close Aug. 11, Team Italy and special guests will be hosted at Casa Italia Paris in the Le Pré Catalan. The Napoleon III-style building is immersed in the verdant expanse of the city’s largest park, the Bois de Boulogne, Italian Olympic Committee CONI said on its website. On Friday, Italy’s president cut the ribbon on the venue, walking distance from the Champs Élysées. Brimming with historical significance, the building was inaugurated in 1856 and in 1894 hosted a dinner that feted the birth of the Olympic Games of the modern era.

CONI said the first Casa Italia project was unveiled at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984. This year’s project is called “Ensemble.”

“Casa Italia will bring the value of Ensemble through art , architecture, design, hospitality and celebrate its athletes in a context where each element will be able to tell how the utopia of brotherhood becomes a tangible reality precisely thanks to the Olympics,” the organization said.

In a statement, luxury design firm B&B Italia, which is part of the galaxy of Flos B&B Italia Group , formerly Design Holding, said it and fellow lighting brand Flos contributed to an emotional and comfortable atmosphere with its most recognizable products.

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“The two brands come together in a shared, harmonious project that aims to celebrate the artistic and cultural excellence of Italian design ,” B&B Italia said Friday.

According to the organizers of Italy’s largest design trade show Salone del Mobile, Casa Italia Paris 2024 hosts the works of 19 leading artists representative of Italian contemporary art as well as design works by 32 internationally renowned designers alive and deceased, created for 11 Italian companies. They include Humberto Campana for furniture maker Edra; Mario Bellini, Piero Lissoni , Milan-based Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola and Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka for high-quality glass furniture , doors and partitions maker Glas Italia; designer Brodie Neill for Riva 1920; late Italian designer Ettore Sottsass for Poltronova, and Finnish designer Antti Kotilainen for Arper.

In a broadcast published on national Italian news platform ANSA, Mattarella was accompanied by his daughter Laura, Italy’s ambassador to Paris, Emanuela D’Alessandro, CONI President Giovanni Malagò and CONI secretary general and Italian mission chief for the 2024 Games, Carlo Mornati.

“This Casa Italia shows how our country takes part with conviction in the Olympic Games and what Italian genius is,” the president said.

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