In 1982, Giorgio Armani was unable to find a lamp that was suitable for his Milan office. He set about designing one himself, with the same refined pure lines and romantic simplicity his ready-to-wear collections are famous for. The lamp sat on his desk until 2000, when he turned his gaze towards the world of interiors with a new home collection anchored by the lamp and including such categories as furniture and wallpaper.
Two decades on, Armani/Casa is its own division within the Armani empire, with 41 stores in 29 countries offering everything from bathrooms and kitchens to sumptuous upholstery and stonetop dinner tables. Like his sartorial collections, Armani/Casa’s runway-worthy pieces are fashioned from precious materials —mother-of-pearl, galuchat, rare woods—showcasing the artistry of the atelier. “Every object is the result of a complex, painstaking process from research to design, from experimenting to the final production,” he says of his exacting approach.
This level of detail is evident in Armani/Casa’s take on fitness gear, available in stores this winter. The PUMP collection inherits the refinement and style of one of Mr. Armani’s leather bags or smartly tailored suits. Comprising a set of dumbbells, a jump rope, and a yoga mat all in black leather, the fashion house is challenging the potential of fitness equipment—with Armani’s touch, unsightly gym gear has become tasteful home design objects. “It has been exactly twenty years since, with the launch of the first Armani/Casa collection, I began to structure the project of a total lifestyle, extending my vision and aesthetics to interior decorating and beyond.” If Armani made fitness equipment this beautiful, we’d like to see him take on luxury vinyl flooring.
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