When a 60-year-old purveyor of painfully chic sofas and armchairs decides to blow up a bubble to celebrate the debut of its latest collection, questions aren’t necessary. As any furniture lover worth their designer coffee table knows, great design pieces trump kooky events any day.
That was the case at Minotti, the Italian creator of sought-after luxury that has a celeb client roster that reads like a publicist’s dream: Madonna, George Clooney and Julia Roberts all own more than a few pieces stamped with the Minotti label. The furnishing brand launched its latest collection at the Minotti Bubble at the Fort one balmy Friday night.
Cooked up by Momentum, the activation arm of McCann World Group, the Minotti Bubble resembles a tent, blown up to bubble-like proportions. On the invite, surrealist images were projected onto the tent’s material, providing event-goers with equally pretty striking images of, say, an oversize floral pattern or cloud-flecked blue sky.
The venue resembled an outdoor party deck with the bubble situated across the always-busy Embassy Club, with a red carpet leading to the bubble’s entrance. Minotti furniture littered the lawn and interiors of the bubble. At night, box lights glowed against the sleek all-white surfaces of the label’s signature sofas and chaise lounges.
Minotti’s loyal clients like architects Ed Calma and Gil Coscoluella and interior designers Anton Barretto and Chat Fores paid homage to the label. Hosted by Ferdie Ong, son of Antonio and Fely Ong, owners of Living Innovations, which has been distributing the Italian luxury label in the Philippines since 2002, the event was also brought about by McCann’s Momentum group managing director Toti Solionco and art director Miguel Aranaz, the brains behind the design of the Minotti bubble.