There’s something wonderful about this credenza by Alessandra Baldereschi. One in a series of ‘four seasons’, this is summer. Last year in Umbria I met a young artisan who made cabinets and armoires very similar to this one in the traditional manner, the way his father and grandfather before him had done. He was looking for a new angle. Something distinctive to grow his market while staying true to artisanal values. Baldereschi must have been listening.
The console is one of 50 new pieces from the just-minted first collection of Italy’s youngest design brand, Skitsch. Meaning the opposite of kitsch in Italian, Skitsch is the love child of ex B & B Italia/Mooi mover and shaker Renato Presi and design maven (and Skitsch creative director) Cristina Morozzi. The brand refuses to be defined by any style tag, preferring instead to cultivate a deliberately mixed stable of young and established, mainly Italian designers, all lovingly encouraged to do their own thing.
Skitsch has just opened in grand style in Via Monte di Pieta’ 11, downtown Milan, to coincide with il Salone del Mobile. And with profile and pedigree to outdo any design start-up on the planet, we certainly won’t be the only ones keeping an eye out.