Casa Reale

Milan 2012: With his Casa Reale at Entratalibera, Corso Indipendenza, Nigel Coates took over a derelict house, and filled it with his own designs while imagining it to be the home of a king without a kingdom.

Atmosphere was everything; capitalising on the flaking paint and buckled ceilings, the Casa Reale played with the ambiguous meaning of the word Reale in Italian both real and royal simultaneously. The installation showcased over twenty-five of Coates new designs including three new collections of lighting the Angel Falls cascade of crystal men, the multi-coloured and multiform Jolly collection in Murano glass, and several royal ex-voto sconces in lacquered steel. Also featured were several new furniture pieces. The Picaro chair, an anthropomorphic leather cushion atop a rigid stainless steel cuboid base, held the star position along with the Occhione mirror hanging on the wall behind it. Other pieces included the Reale mirrored sideboard, the animal-like Dome table and chairs, the Plasma leather and steel relax chair and the throne-like Struzza chair in vivid red ostrich leather. The project was a collaboration with Coates partner Italian companies including AVMazzega, Fratelli Boffi, Edizioni Poltronova, Slamp and Terzani. It also launched Coates first ever product catalogue, Casa Reale, which is available online and from his studio.