n 1988, the design and architecture historian
Renato De Fusco released a weighty tome about
Italian furniture company Driade on the occasion of
its 20th anniversary. Entitled The Design Game, it
highlighted how the company’s output often contained
a dash of whimsy. ‘Looking at Driade’s most peculiar
characteristics, I’d say there is a recreational factor,
a tendency to playfulness that is present throughout
its design process, but mainly in its projects and
communication,’ he explains in the book. ‘Among
all its inspirations, the ludic one stands out.’
In 1968, its three founders, siblings Enrico and
Antonia Astori and Enrico’s wife, Adelaide Acerbi
Astori, created Driade based on ‘genius and insanity,
design and poetry’, as the current CEO, Giuseppe
Di Nuccio explains. Since then, the brand has worked
with some of the most imaginative minds in design,
from Enzo Mari and Nanda Vigo in the late 1960s
to Borek Sipek in the 1980s and 1990s. Driade also
gave a young Philippe Starck his irst big break in
1984 when it produced the chairs he designed for the
Café Costes in Paris. Starck’s pieces are still a celebrated
part of the collection today. Many more illustrious
names in design have passed through the Driade
stables, from Konstantin Grcic and Naoto Fukasawa »GIANT
STEPS
Driade celebrates 50 years of playfulness
with a collection that’s out of this worldPHOTOGRAPHY: FEDERICO CIAMEI WRITER: ROSA BERTOLII
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