Bright young thinking: infiniti

‘Past success is no indication of future results’, so the saying goes. And yet, many of the biggest design brands are so quick to highlight their size and past experience. For example, showcasing old work from now out-of-touch designers, multiple award wins from decades previous and accumulated historic sales. On the other hand, infiniti is a young Italian brand, and proud of it. At just ten years old, infiniti celebrates youth by mining the best young creative minds from all over the world, showing confidence in their fresh ideas and innovative processes.

Arguably infiniti’s most iconic design, the Loop chair and its extended family, is the result of their first collaboration with youth after a chance design fair meeting with the collection’s Scandinavian designer Claus Breinholt. The original Loop chair’s distinguishable feature is its curves, or perhaps I should use the singular ‘curve’, because it’s just about impossible to mark where the seat, back and arms sections meet. Breinholt was awarded a scholarship at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts due to his innovative approach to the design process, and this was exactly the kind of free, undiluted creativity that infiniti were looking for. As the first ever one-piece shell chair to include seat and arms in curved wood, Breinholt’s Loop chair was groundbreaking.

After the success of Loop came Pure Loop, a pared-down ‘pure’ version, more subtle and subdued to meet ever-changing design trends. Together with the rest of the collection, the Pure Loop family has the flexibility to create a vintage, informal look in both private and public environments with a variety of material, finish and colour options combined with nine separate bases.

Breinholt’s trademark for innovatively pushing the boundaries of commonly used materials is represented in his latest infiniti project, the Canova chair. His intention with Canova was to create, in his own words, “A monobloc plastic chair with a clear reference to the classic wooden café dining chair.” In Canova, Breinholt has done what few others would. “My main ambition was to elevate [polypropylene] out of its traditional perception.” he says, “I wanted to get the most out of the material as I could.” As well as polypropylene, Canova utilises high-quality Kvadrat upholstery, or waterproof fabrics and leathers for outdoor applications, all in a wide range of colours and shades. As the chair frame itself is available in seven different colours, a huge range of tone-on-tone or bold two-tone combinations are possible.

infiniti’s successful philosophy to work with the newest creative minds doesn’t simply mean cherry-picking the best graduates from the top international design schools, the forward-thinking brand is also in the market of nurturing young talent themselves. Designers from any background, with any level of experience are welcomed to submit projects for infiniti’s biennial design competition, De-Contest. With a different brief each time, the contest is reserved for applicants under the age of 35, with no other barriers to entry.

A clear example of this philosophy in action is Philippe Tabet, a young designer who entered and won De-Contest recently with his Ruelle chair, now in full production by infiniti. Ruelle is a love letter to the sight of café chairs spilling out of bistros onto typically small French village streets, or ‘ruelles’. In a similar relationship to Tabet’s with infiniti, the Ruelle chair is a fruitful collaboration between a light but bold aluminium frame and a strong and supportive beech plywood backrest, with the striking shape and colour combination providing a true statement to both residential or contract dining scenes.

As an ambitious young brand, by working with youthful and broad-minded designers infiniti have been able to create a quite unique modern version of a cosmopolitan Italian style, always without taking themselves too seriously. A product catalogue that exports infiniti’s youthful personality into worldwide markets has helped the brand to become an internationally-recognised name. As infiniti continue to work with the newest, fresh and creative talent such as Breinholt and Tabet in the years to come, time will only tell what the future can hold for the brand.


© Architonic