Corian Cabana Club at Salone del Mobile

The Gateway at Corian Cabana Club

Of all the FOMO inducing moments at Salone del Mobile last week, one of the most inspiring was the Corian Cabana Club. Celebrating the sensory world of maximalism that the magazine espouses, Cabana Magazine and Corian Design collaborated on a mythical and muticultural journey into an imaginary village with seven cabanas, each inspired by a different culture and created by noted design personalities, all members of the extended Cabana family.

Corian Cabana Club

Enter this idyllic Shangri-La through The Gateway. Designed by Cabana creative director Christoph Radl (who art directed the exhibit with Cabana editor-in-chief Martina Mondadori Sartogo), the portal sets the tone with a trellis structure constructed of Corian, which, like the magazine, bridges old and new, evoking character, personality and memories.

The Gateway at Corian Cabana Club

Cabana Corian Club Mystery Tunnel detailThrough the gateway lies the Mystery Tunnel, an enclosed pathway with dappled light glimmering through exotic vertical panels made of 35 different colors of Corian.

Inspired by a dream from childhood, Radl relates his vision. “It was pitch dark all around me and I could hear sounds of wild animals coming closer so I started to run toward a tiny light off in the distance. The light got more intense. It filtered in from the sides through small holes. The sounds of running water and birds chirping led me out of the darkness. And then I woke up.”

Corian Cabana Club Mystery Tunnel detail

Once within the village, each cabana represents a different living space, the seven together combining to tell the eclectic nostalgic vision that is the Cabana mood. You are first greeted by the Mexican bedroom, styled by Italian fashion designer Antonio Marras in collaboration with graphic artist/art director Paolo Bazzani.

Corian Cabana Club by Antonio Marras

With an explosion of color, pattern and iconography, Marras created a shrine to the natural world.

Corian Cabana Club by Antonio Marras interior

He explainsFrida Kahlo said: ‘I paint flowers so that they will not die.’ And so, flowers on flowers: wild flowers, buttercups, peonies, primroses, gardenias, daisies and roses. Roses and roses on a blue field for a  rebelión contra todo lo que te encadena.’ (Rebellion against everything that binds you).”

Corian Cabana Club by Antonio Marras detail

Even the exterior melds the human experience with floral narrative.

Corian Cabana Club by Antonio Marras exterior

Designer Ashley Hicks, whose distinctive London apartment was recently revealed, created, appropriately, an English Study.

Corian Cabana Club Ashley Hicks

With his signature mix of classic and contemporary, he created a room filled with references to his personal design legacy.

Corian Cabana Club Ashley Hicks

“There’s a room of memories and dreams, of giant flowers, obelisks and pattern. A room for a collector who is happy with collected images of museum objects – Renaissance armor and jewels, Chinese opium boxes and pharaonic cosmetic spoons – in a cabinet whose glass doors reflect Versailles.” You only have to follow Ashley on Instagram to realize his deep knowledge and love of the decorative arts.

Corian Cabana Club Ashley Hicks The English StudyAshley made the screens and small table with carpet, cabinet and desk of his own design. The fabrics are from his collection for Lee Jofa with Navajo wallpaper by his legendary father for GP&J Baker.

Corian Cabana Club Ashley Hicks The English Study detail

While Carolina Irving designed an American Bathroom, it has a distinctive exotic flair, with a sophisticated nod to time-honored cultures of primordial elegance.

Corian Cabana Club Carolina Irving

“My inspiration for this bathroom comes from antiquity. I am fascinated by ancient Roman and Byzantine basilicas with their walls covered in precious specimen marbles. I like the bathroom to be a sort of boudoir with an orientalist feeling.” 

Corian Cabana Club Carolina Irving American Bathroom

Using Jamb wall sconces, a selection of her own fabrics throughout (Kandyli a favorite I just used myself) and a Turkish style banquette, the room begs for an extended visit.

Corian Cabana Club Carolina Irving American Bathroom banquette

I found the use of Corian in Carolina’s space particularly effective, showcasing the new direction and aesthetics of the company.

Corian Cabana Club Carolina Irving American Bathroom wall panels

Italian artist and designer Idarica Gazzoni‘s colorful and pattern layered inventiveness was perfectly suited for a Chinese Meditation Room.

Corian Cabana Club by Idarica Gazzoni

“I tried to imagine Chinese patterns combining with Rajasthani ones, the overlapping cultural areas that are influenced by trade and the Silk Route, the light coming through the openings, the silence, the colors, the silks and velvets combining with the meditation sofa and the table. Perhaps peace and fulfillment are achieved in this small box?”

Corian Cabana Club Idarica Gazzoni Chinese Meditation Room

Gazzoni’s own fabrics and wallpaper contribute to this fantastical space. covering walls and benches

Corian Cabana Club Idarica Gazzoni Chinese Meditation Room bench

as well as the beautiful Chinese red fretwork, all crafted of Corian.

Corian Cabana Club Idarica Gazzoni Chinese Meditation Room fretwork

Decors Barbares founder Nathalie Farman-Farma created the wonderfully cozy Russian Living Room.

Corian Cabana Club Nathalie Farman-FarmaA longtime member of the Cabana inner circle, Nathalie is a well traveled and knowledgeable devotee of ethnic and folkloric craftsmanship and style, reflected in her pattern rich and colorful fabrics and interiors.

Corian Cabana Club Nathalie Farman-Farma Russian Living Room

“For the Cabana living room I wanted to create a relaxed and intimate refuge, one that was evocative of the great 19th-century Russian country settings of Tolstoy and Turgenev without the formal feel of a historical interior. The floral sofa surrounded by green plants is where I imagine curling up to enjoy a good novel.”

Corian Cabana Club Nathalie Farman-Farma Russian Living Room interior

Completely swathed in her charming Casse-noisette cotton, Nathalie’s space includes case goods (coffee table, bookcase and table) made of Corian custom created for the space.

Corian Cabana Club Nathalie Farman-Farma Russian Living Room with Corian bookcase

Fashion designer Stephan Janson was perfectly paired with the Moroccan Kitchen.

Corian Cabana Club Moroccan Kitchen

French born, based in Milan, he is often found in his beloved Morocco where he indulges in his love of gardening, evidenced here in his colorful cabana.

Corian Cabana Club Moroccan Kitchen by Stephan Janson

“When my colleagues at Cabana offered me to create a Moroccan room for the Corian® Cabana Club exhibition, I gladly grabbed the opportunity to show the Morocco I love. This is not the clichéd “exotic place” but the country I elected years ago to be my second home. It is now a country going through a great evolution, where modernity and tradition go hand in hand, where ancestral values learn to deal cleverly with technology, and where a simple kitchen is still the favorite family room!”

Corian Cabana Club Moroccan Kitchen by Stephan Janson detail

The clever treatment of the tiling shows the versatility of Corian and how it is a material limited only by the designer’s imagination.

Corian Cabana Club Moroccan Kitchen tiles by Stephan Janson jpg

The Tyrolean Stube is an enchanting alpine confection by designer Susanne Thun.

Corian Cabana Club Tyrolean Stube

“Childhood memories. I spent my summers in an Austrian village called Gargellen. Surrounded by cows and horses, I spent time with the children of the local farmers. It was all about simplicity. We spent our days collecting mushrooms and flowers. Evenings were spent in the Stube. Stube means Gemütlichkeit. Gemütlichkeit means true relationship.”

Corian Cabana Club Tyrolean Stube by Susanne Thun

Using traditional Austrian textiles and handcrafted wooden furniture mixed with a table and bench made of Corian,

Corian Cabana Club Tyrolean Stube by Susanne Thun at Salone

the room has an authentic Tyrolean feel.

Corian Cabana Club Tyrolean Stube by Susanne Thun detail

Anchoring the village as its centerpiece is architect Martino Berghinz‘s Spring Fountain. Completely crafted of Corian in their new Prima and Concrete collections, the sculpture is the unifying element of the virtual village, as both a gathering place, source of essential energy and elemental need for the entire natural world.

Corian Cabana Club Spring Fountain

“In our village all the eclectic members of the Corian® Cabana Club drink from the same fountain and the same goes for their friends in the jungle. The fountain brings them harmony. When water comes into contact with Corian®, there is a soothing, relaxing sound and the jungle reciprocates with its melodies. Everyone loves the fountain. And Corian, too, likes the fountain because the fountain shows it how to unite with water.”

Corian Cabana Club Spring Fountain by Martino Berghinz

Congratulations to all involved in the Corian Cabana Club. This wonderful creative collaboration proves that sometimes it does indeed take a village!

all photos by Filippo Pincolini

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