MILAN — In the newest development of Dior’s collaboration with Philippe Starck, a collection of furniture was unveiled at Milan’s stately 18th-century Palazzo Citterio during Design Week.

The presentation was conceived as an immersive experience, as Miss Dior chairs — from the primary Dior by Starck collection last yr — were displayed through a surprising choreography: an aerial ballet, suspended above a mirrored floor in black to reflect the lightness of the objects. The installation was punctuated by videos projected on giant screens, to the rhythm of a musical composition by Soundwalk Collective, which consists of Stephan Crasneanscki and Simone Merli.

Starck revisited the Monsieur Dior armchair and the Medallion chair, while expanding the product offering with tables and stools — equally light and seamless.

“This duo of creations — the Miss Dior chair and the Monsieur Dior armchair — is thus perfectly balanced through these vital, existential notions of gravity and lightness, of yin and yang,” Starck said. “At the middle of the design is that this magnificent paradox: taking advantage of less to offer probably the most of more. Empty being more powerful than full. A way for me to increasingly explore my passion for Asian cultures, where the thing is described by what ‘surrounds’ it, the contour, the remaining space ‘around’ it.”

Starck described it as “a couture furniture collection,” inspired by Christian Dior’s family, his sister Catherine, the “little brothers and sisters” to the Miss Dior and Monsieur Dior chairs, “like a side table — all the time useful for putting a book or a tray — and stools, all extremely elegant. Then there are the tables, the maternal element — where we’re fed — gathering us all at mealtimes, like a queen mother. There are round and oval tables…an evocation of Madeleine, Christian Dior’s mother, a gardening enthusiast, who could possibly be imagined arranging a bunch of flowers on the dinner table.”

Reflecting know-how, technology and harmony, Starck has refined the structure of the seats in aluminum to the intense, with the best silhouette. “Aluminum is the purpose zero from which every thing is built, the concept of intelligence and purity of technology,” he said.

“I desired to go for the minimum of the minimum, with pieces injected due to the flow of the metal in fusion (contained in the hole steel body that’s the mold with its cold inertia). The flow of the metal is a decisively magical moment, of infinite fragility: it either works or it doesn’t. When the metals meet, in full fusion, it’s an event of great beauty,” he continued.

The pieces can be found in numerous materials and colours — from aluminum to pink, black or fluorescent orange toile de Jouy. Tables and stools were designed in numerous sizes.

The brand new Dior by Starck collection shall be available in a collection of Dior boutiques from 2024, in addition to to order in any respect Dior locations.