I’m constantly fascinated by definitions of “design”. I collect them like coins, marveling at the minor variations, turning them over in my mind, trying to determine their worth. This is a really nice one from HORM.it. The translation from Italian to English isn’t perfect, but I have to admire the use of the word “leitmotiv” I had to look it up. It means: “a recurring musical theme with definite association with a person, idea, event, etc.”

In Horm, design is expressed through clean shapes, from which any superfluous ornament has been wiped away thus reaching a smoothness not pursuing sensationalism but rather shrinking away from it. Along an onward path that relies on unswerving and on the harmony of the numerical elements, ines and thickness keep on relating to each other. The range of products and their combinations go through connections as like the bookshelves “solaio” and the table “united”, which can completely co-ordinate with each other as well as melting together. The same can be said for the ensemble formed by Capriata and Sin. Although in the diversity of spaces and of planning solutions, minimalism proves itself to be the leitmotiv of the aesthetics where the inner and the external order have a precise correspondence. The essentiality, passpartout of the Horm design, opens the doors to the infinite possibilities granting furniture the ductility which enables it to fit spaces changing as time goes by. Thus furniture becomes a living thing, because living means moving on.

HORM has a number of nice pieces, the highlight being their line by Japanese designer Toyo Ito, a master in dematerializing and lightening. Among his most recent works: Sendai Mediatheque (Japan), Bruges Pavilions (Belgium), Serpentine Gallery Pavilions (London), Oita Agricultural Park (Japan), Tokyo Tod’s Building and the most recent enlargement of the Barcelona Fair, where the two Towers, 114 m. high, will be standing in front of the Gran Via as the symbol for Fira 2. 2002 he started to collaborate with Horms and he projected Polka dots, Drill and Moony containers as well as Ripples bench. Only 99 pieces of this have been manufactured, each to be distributed on the world market with its own number and signature.