Since 1980 DILMOS has been a synonym for research; always open to
receive projects and reflections. DILMOS continues to evolve hand in hand with its authors.

The 2006 collection is composite and cosmopolitan. It includes work by Studio Job proposed by DILMOS as an installation, Perished; mosaics by Akomena; silicone creations by Alessandro Ciffo, mirrors by Davide Medri, the "Ortofrutta" of Andrea Salvetti, and the Androids of Roberto Mora: all authors well known in DILMOS circles. The 2006 edition is reinforced by the presence of three new designers: Pieke Bergmans with Crystal Virus, Lorenza Bozzoli, creator of Rimirror, and Roberto Semprini with his Piet furniture.
The great freedom expressed by these projects, the independence of languages and paths explored make some common themes appear even more significant and interesting:

idyll with architecture
architecture is the great protagonist of the present; design is part of this phenomenon, intervening on walls and floors in various decorative forms and surfaces offering various ways of interpreting space

design and reinvention of materials and textures
inlays, mosaics, paper, fabrics, light silicone surfaces, lost wax metal castings, blown glass … the recovery, reinvention and innovation of techniques and materials

animals
the reign of animals as a metaphor, the human world is too embarrassing

uniqueness
in the process of production and user relationships

life and death
virus, epidemics, skeletons, refuse, all contaminate the objects. But the idea of death is restored to life by the beauty and detail of these works. The ability to surprise opens up relationships, contacts, and perhaps a new conception of thought.
Clara Mantica, april 2006

ON SHOW:

PERISHED, design Studio Job (Job Smeets is Belgian, Nynke Tynagel is Dutch; they live and work in Antwerp, Belgium).
PERISHED
A furniture ensemble, composed of table, bench, screen, cabinet and lamp, realised in precious hardened tropical woods, decorated with inlays depicting animal skeletons. It recalls art decò but also Flemish art and is proposed as a precious collector's set. The objects are used as canvases on which to write in ancient hieroglyphics or modern graffiti. The inlays were cut using high-tech lasers and assembled by expert craftsmen. The wallpaper, by Vescom, reproduces the same decoration as the furnishings and completes the proposal by creating a "total" physical and metal space. "We want to create a collection that is exclusive for the quality of the materials and techniques; haute couture products that will last at least a hundred years," say the authors and they add "through the skeletons, violent and innocent, their direct graphic forms depict our times which are extravagant and violent. Ours is a story uniting past and future, combining fiction and reality."

ANIMAL SKIN, BELISARIO TABLE, Akomena design (Francesca Fabbri lives and works in the Romagna countryside).
ANIMAL SKIN
New modular mosaic carpets from the "Animal skin" collection.
The motifs of the previous series, played essentially in minimalist black and white have been enriched with new inserts: zebras and cows are accompanied by giraffes, leopards and tigers in warmer and more sunny colours. The collection thus results more vivacious and dynamic thanks also to the modular choice making it possible to freely arrange the carpets and insert the mosaics in the architectural context according to the most innovative projects for the interior.
BELISARIO TABLE
Table with top in white marble mosaic with a central rotating tray and brass feet. Belisario continues the series of single pieces started last year for the show "Storie di tessere lucenti". Akomena's deep knowledge of hand crafting continues its expression in "unique" pieces, unrepeatable, because each with its own virtues. As Francesca Fabbri says, "this expressive capacity is concentrated in hours and hours of work in order to create a unique piece for a unique person".

CRYSTAL VIRUS, design Pieke Bergmans (Dutchman living and working in Sprang Capelle).
CRYSTAL VIRUS
Glass forms blown directly onto existing objects in the Dilmos collection. The crystal virus has infected a chair (Ferruccio by Roberto Mora), a console (Crasi by Mora), a box and stepladder (the Ortofrutta series by Andrea Salvetti): the infection has recently been located.
These pieces of furniture seem particularly adapt for these lovable luminous creatures that slither so impudently over tables and chairs leaving irremovable traces. "Attention!" young Pieke Bergmans warns us: "The crystal virus will become a global epidemic".

RIMIRROR, design Lorenza Bozzoli (living and working in Milan)
RIMIRROR
Collection of square modular mirrors (70x70 cm) with metal filigree. They can be used to line whole walls, composing futuristic tapestries, each one different from the other. By varying the composition, the design also varies and the metal elements become lace which mirrored in themselves form new kaleidoscopic patterns. As Lorenza Bozzoli explains: "these airy embroideries hover on the walls with a feminine atmosphere in a play of mirrors that is romantic and technological at the same time.

MADAME CHIFFON, SANDY, ATIPICO, design Alessandro Ciffo (he lives and works in the countryside close to Biella in Piemonte)
MADAME CHIFFON
A wall hanging with a 250-cm high amphora composed of 1000 coloured silicone rags.
SANDY
Silicone tablecloth in limited edition (10 pieces) accompanied by an illustrated story edited by Giampiero Mughini and Pino Settani, with the title "Let me introduce you to Sandy, our silicone guest".
ATIPICO
New collection of vases, an evolution of the Tipico series. The combination of colours passes from typical black and white to atypical Silver-violet, violet-bordeaux, bordeaux-blue. A new production method transforms "full" into "empty", conferring particular lightness and transparency.

OUTSIDE, design Committee (Harry Richardson e Clare Page are English, they live and work in Deptford, south of London).
OUTSIDE is a collection including the Bamboo lamps, Door rug and Fly Tip wallpaper.
BAMBOO LAMPS
Bamboo stems in bright colours, bases in aluminium and lampshades in ruffled silk chiffon characterise these lamps. The bamboo motif is an aesthetic reminder of the 70s, a touch of the exotic combined with a modernist silhouette. Committee has created the first five pieces in one-colour combinations (including the silver glamour version) specially for Dilmos.
DOOR RUG
Designed for Rug Company, Door is a hand made rug in pure wool, knitted in brilliant colours.
The image is that of a door, a secret threshold to another world.
FLY TIP WALLPAPER
Silk screen painted by hand in thirteen colours, Fly tip wallpaper is a swirling display of objects - refuse … objects to be recovered - suspended in the air before reaching the sky or precipitating to the ground. The project is inspired by wallpapers of past centuries which depicted curious, ambitious and surprising subjects to accompany everyday life. Committee has delved into this pictorial and symbolic heritage but with a reference to everyday events.

MINIERA, design Davide Medri (he lives and works in Cesena)
MINIERA
A collection of mirrors, panels and tables with black reflecting mosaic borders.
"It doesn't matter whether the day is in the crater of the open sky or geologically occulted in the spacious underground" writes Davide Medri. "Unusual mineralogy where glass and metal shoot into mirrors awaiting a gut reflection. A cone, geometric forms, wavy surfaces. The black pigmentation predominates but the reverberation of light is waiting to enter, this is Miniera."

CHAINS FALL, ANDROIDS design Roberto Mora (he lives and works in Sant' Ilario d'Enza in the province of Reggio Emilia)
CHAINS FALL
A console and mirror with iron chains. Sheet metal rings, twisted together, produce a mesh of varying consistence. Entwined knots recreate suspended volumes, redesigning new forms. "Vibrations and metallic sounds chase each other in the reflection of an idea" says Roberto Mora "I have rethought my work in the direction of hand crafting, something that induces thought and arrives soon after the gesture."
"ANDROIDS"
Metal clothes hangers conjure up automatons; throwaway materials come back into use.

ORTOFRUTTA, design Andrea Salvetti (he lives and works in the country close to Lucca)
ORTOFRUTTA
The previous collection has been enriched by three armchairs, two fruit boxes and a dresser in natural or burnished aluminium.
They are "down to earth objects" without pretences, seeking simple and sensitive links with the memory of each one of us, rediscovering our roots and the simple earth.
"In this recent development of my collection I have tried to widen the theme of materials, surfaces and nuances, in the attempt to offer even more occasions to refer to nature and our origins, increasing the desire to take these objects with us, finding them a place in our home."

PIET, design Roberto Semprini (he lives and works in both Rimini and Milan)
PIET
Cabinet/container characterised by full and open spaces, in wood covered in silver leaf and lacquered. The exterior interprets on a three-dimensional level the works of masters in neoplastic art where the balance of form and colour are conceived as an abstract minimal language.
Roberto Semprini explains: "Often appearances are deceitful. A rigorous exterior offering space for only a few objects hides an interior that is just the opposite.

Thanks to all those who have worked towards this new edition of DILMOS 2006, special thanks to Clara Mantica for her contribution to the printing, and Emilio Tremolada for the photos.
A particular thank you to Vescom (www.vescom.com) for supplying and installing the wallpaper decorated by Studio Job.
And special thanks to Livolsi Group srl of Milan (via Marocchetti 27) for supplying the high definition liquid crystal televisions with a mirror effect. We are talking of "invisible technology", screens available in customised forms and dimensions.