POLTRONA FRAU MUSEUM
TOLENTINO, MACERATA, ITALY, 2011-2012
Inaugurated to celebrate the centenary of the prestigious Italian furniture brand, the corporate museum occupies 1400 sqm in the south part of the factory. Next to the entrance and together with the outlet, it is indicated on the outside by striking portals in the distinctive colour of the logo. Inside a spacious hall with an exceptionally high ceiling, theatrical boxes in wood and cloth stage the evolution of Frau’s design and processings, spelt out by decades. With an emblematic model picked to represent each period, they are complete with a lavish array of original period documents from the corporate archives. More slender towers house the Frau icons of all times, selected from the company’s most successful products. A white showcase celebrates in particular Vanity Fair, while special sections illustrate such themes as “The intelligence of hands”: the techniques of processing leathers and colour; contract works done to designs by top international architects; and the “interiors in motion” of sophisticated seats for cars, trains, planes and luxury boats. A bookshop and a cafeteria, facing a small, tree-planted courtyard, provide a peaceful oasis against the noisy factory background.
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