I S SUE 115 06 The Verner Panton section of the Amini stand at Salone del Mobile 07 Romantica Square (positive), Verner Panton x Amini 07 08 Romantica Circle (negative), Verner Panton x Amini 09 The Panton Lounge by Capsule and Verner Panton Design AG at Corso Como 08 patterns. But while cards may be easy to make to size, making handmade rug measurements exact can be tricky. Ferid is keen to point out that the company artisans have been well trained to make sure this is no problem. So your grown-up game of carpet cards on the walls and floor can go ahead without interuption. That being said, making rugs from a design archive and turning an artwork into a rug with its own design identity is no easy task, and for Ferid and Amini it involves cultural responsibility. ‘The challenge in developing a Design Icon lies precisely in the intense cultural research involving various stakeholders, whose judgment is always crucial for us,’ he says. ‘Ultimately, proposing a Design Icon for us is a cultural activity rather than mere business or marketing. What drives us is the desire to “nourish” the market, not only with commercial proposals but also with works that live up to the name they carry, and to give to our collections a strong bond with the design history of the last century.’ The playful, immersive designs of Verner Panton bring a great deal of energy and positivity into the elegant design inventory of Amini. Ferid concludes: ‘We choose authors based on whether they have made an original contribution to the cultural discourse of their times, which remains relevant today.’ www.amini.it 09