TOM DIXON IN CONVERSATION WITH ANGELA MISSONI

TOM DIXON IN CONVERSATION WITH ANGELA MISSONI

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Tom Dixon in conversation with Angela Missoni

A live conversation with Angela Missoni, Creative Director and President of Missoni

 

Tom Dixon speaks to Angela Missoni from Missoni, an Italian luxury fashion house based in Varese and known for its colourful zigzag designs, textiles, and knitwear.

 

Initially founded by Angela’s parents, Ottavio and Rosita, in 1953, Missoni is a family-run business boasting three generations. Angela tells Tom how she took over from her mother as Creative Director in 1997, debuting her first line for the brand. At this time, Rosita turned her attention to interiors, and at 89 years old, is still the Creative Director of Missoni Home.

 

Angela Missoni

Example of Missoni fashion - A lady wearing a patterned dress

 

As well as a love for fashion, Angela has inherited a passion for homeware from her mother. Speaking to Tom from her eclectic home in Northern Italy, she explains that rather than following a uniform colour scheme or trend, she takes a more spontaneous approach to her interior. Within her home, she strives to create "a relaxed atmosphere", "where people feel good". 

 

"I want to see the personality. When I get into a home, I want to feel like it’s a home, and I like to understand the personality of the owner."

 

Although interested in design, she rarely buys new furniture, preferring to collect longstanding, unique objects from flea markets and from antique shops.

 

Whilst on the video call, Tom notices stripes dotted around her villa  – Missoni’s signature motif. This striped design is varied across Missoni’s pieces – with juggled variations of multicolours, horizontal and vertical lines.

 

"I'm never sick of stripes, of zigzags…. Stripes are like music – like when you play piano – with 7 notes you can do whatever. I can still re-imagine."

 

Missoni combines pattern and interior design with her custom Melt LED pendant light. The idea for this came to Tom after he was “trying to work out if [he] could put a sort of filter [on MELT] and get a psychedelic pattern inside the lamp”.

 

Melt light close up

 

They compare design fairs, such as Salone, and fashion events. Tom points out that design used to be much more open to the whole world, whereas fashion was a lot more closed. Angela notes that:

 

“Interior is something that is there, it is something you can put in a theatre and many people can watch it and come and see’.

 

“Fashion is rarely fascinating when it’s on a mannequin… you need to have life insight”.

 

Watch the full conversation below.