A Mario Bellini Camaleonda, to be exact. You might not know his name, but you know his design. It sits in the living rooms of a large swath of tastemakers. Thereβs Teigen, but also artist Daniel Ashram, influencer Aimee Song, lifestyle expertΒ Athena Calderone.Β When noted perfectionist Marc JacobsΒ opened his Madison AvenueΒ pop-up store in 2018, he placed a green corduroy Camaleonda smack-dab in the middle.
Milan-born architect and designerΒ Mario BelliniΒ just may be the closest thing to a modern-dayΒ RenaissanceΒ man: His creative output spans genres, from electronics to furniture to architecture to cars, comprising iconic designs in each. Vintage Mario BelliniΒ sofas,Β dining chairsΒ and otherΒ seatingΒ pieces are widely coveted, and the designer has been the recipient of multiple prestigious Compasso dβOro awards. More than 20 of his works are in the permanent collection of theΒ Museum of Modern Art.
Itβs beautiful and bulbous, like a giant bunch of bubble wrap decided to drape itself in voluptuous velvet or live it up in leather. (It might evenΒ be, well, a bit ugly.) The Camaleonda has no set shape: the piece is morpheus, consisting of shifting sectionals positioned by owner preference. But perhaps itβs best to let Bellini describe his creation in his own words: βI crossed two words:Β camaleonte, or chameleon, an extraordinary animal capable of adapting to its environment, andΒ onda, or wave,βΒ he toldΒ Architectural Digest.
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