Dante - Goods and Bads aims to create furniture, objects, lamps and accessories that are practical, useful and efficient, that generate an emotional response in the user by association or aversion, evoking habits, memories, and tastes - the good, the bad but never the ugly. Dante - Goods and Bads is a German collective born in 2012 from an idea developed by Aylin Langreuter and Christophe de la Fontaine. Langreuter is an artist and writer with a degree in fine arts from Munich and philosophy from Vienna. De la Fontaine is an industrial designer with twelve years of experience in Patricia Urquiola's Milan studio. Today both are professors of Industrial Design at the Stuttgart Academy. In addition to products designed by Langreuter and de la Fontaine, Dante - Goods and Bads gives shape to projects by designers like Stefan Diez, Andrea Steid, Raquel Pacchini, Garth Roberts, Jakub Zak, Pietro Russo and Christian Haas. Although the brand is based in Neukirchen, Germany, almost all of its products are handcrafted in qualified workshops in Brianza and then distributed worldwide - from Australia to Japan, China and Canada. The company's vast European distribution network began in Germany and branched out to Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, UK, France, Poland, Finland, Denmark, Austria and Luxembourg.
Inspiration and emotion: design according to Dante - Goods And Bads
Every Dante - Goods And Bads collection is inspired, guided and influenced by a special guest (an individual, an institution or a concept) who imbues the objects with emotions, habits or memories. "The question we asked ourselves is: what is inspiration really? And where does it come from?" explained Christophe de la Fontaine to Archiproducts at the presentation of the Silent Associé collection at Imm Cologne 2018. "For us, the creative process is never just about creating. It also refers to something else. Rather than hiding this approach, we like to emphasise it." The Admit One Gentleman line, inspired by the myth of the gentleman, features bartender Charles Schumann, who designed a tumbler and a champagne bucket. The Parallel Choice Assortment features dreamlike optical effects inspired by photographer Camille Vivier. In addition to the search for the practicality that typically guides the design of any product, Dante - Goods And Bads seek the aspect tied to human warmth. The brand's products are born to create a connection; they are closer to talismans - rather than simple everyday objects - charged with values like a sense of humour, vanity or passion. This approach produces armchairs, chairs, stools, benches, tables and coffee tables that stand out for their innovation and boldness, moving between design and art, combining different materials and daring combinations crafted to perfection. This is the case of the Epilogue stool in the shape of an elephant's foot, or the Voodoo talisman chair whose back is decorated with tribal signs. The same approach characterises Dante - Goods and Bads table accessories, mirrors, coat racks, screens, and carpets freed from their practical function to explore an almost narrative dimension.
Design furniture from the Bavarian forest. The 2021 collection by Dante - Goods and Bads
To present the 2021 collection, in the absence of the usual April appointment with Milan Design Week, Dante - Goods and Bads imagined a Fuori Fuori Salone format. A Bavarian forest stage set was brought to the world via internet through a series of short video clips that revealed the inspiration behind each product. The 2021 collection by Dante - Goods and Bads includes a variety of collections. Serpentine, the brand's first sofa, was designed not as a single piece of furniture, but as a veritable seating system, with different sizes, finishes and constellations. The Bold table and chair are inspired by the typical chromatic and material contrasts of trainers translated into cork, aluminium and leather. Rayons coffee tables change appearance depending on the visual angle with which they are viewed. The Babel bookcase, composed of five wood trays divided by thin metal structures, forms separate units that can also be used as coffee tables. The How to See Plants series of vases was produced in collaboration with Rosenthal. The Biscotto bench was inspired by the savoiardo, a typical Piedmontese dessert.