Red Has Never Left the Room

From rust to lacquer, from ruby to Bordeaux, red is a modern, impacting, provocative colour, but at the same time it is linked to Italian tradition, as the numerous checkered tablecloths offered by many restaurants abroad remind us of. A choice that has always attracted stylists - first of all Valentino Garavani, blown away by the vermilion dresses worn by the actors of the opera house in Barcelona - artists, creative designers, advertisers.Big brands are recognized in this colour, Ferrari, Coca Cola, and interior designers: bold, virile, crisp, it lends itself to great contrasts and catalysing attention within the image.

It is a colour that can give character to any space in the house, from the living room to the bathroom to the bedroom, but needs to be used with extreme care: if overdone or chosen for the furnishing of small and scarcely illumined environments it tends to reduce them. Its kingdom is the living, spacious, sunny area. Its throne is the kitchen. According to holistic colour therapy, red has the power to stimulate appetite and, perhaps for this reason, is also considered a must for the furnishing of this part of the home. As demonstrated by many interior design proposals, featured on brand catalogues and  specialised magazines, red can transfer all its vitality when used to "stain" minimal, monochromatic environments, especially in combination with light colours such as white, grey, beige and sand. Red is, in short, coming back to the forefront of interior furnishings. In truth, it never really left. Today, it dialogues with authority and a touch of malice with the trends of the moment. 

Pleasantly embedded as an "accent", it goes perfectly with total white and total black, the favourite choices of the latest fashions, loading it with elegance and brightness: it just takes a wall painted in this colour, or an object, even better if an appliance. The choice is wide: you can opt for the fridge, the espresso machine, the toaster and the kitchen robot, or drop it into bases and wall units with contemporary, opaque or lacquered design to give originality and dynamism to a single-colour space, which would otherwise be two-dimensional.

An interesting idea comes from a Romolo Stanco design, conceived on the inspirational line of the setting of one of Kubrik's greatest masterpieces, "A Space Odyssey". Here, red, in its brighter and more vibrant shade, is used to cut white’s absolute purity and thus create an eccentric and controversial contrast. The kitchen comes alive in an open space where it lives together with the living room. The surfaces are all painted in pure white lacquer, sublime, as is the exchange between natural and artificial light, ready to create unique furnishings that take on different aspects at every angle.