The first was Marnìn, an appliqué shaped like a moose from the white mantle dressed in dreams. Then gradually other nice-looking animals with funny names began to populate the Karman zoo, a cheerful farm that has owls, fish, parrots, pigs and many other representatives of the animal world.
"Irony is my signature style” - explains the father of these creations, the designer Matteo Ugolini - and the animals refer to the world of childhood, the game, the enchantment. As a child, I was really fixated, so it was natural for me, once I grew up, to bring back part of that childhood imagination into my work". It all started with Marnìn the deer, explains Ugolini; “it is a warning, a beacon to guide us, a symbol.
“It only exists in fairy tales and in place of its mouth, it has a light bulb that speaks to us in a special language, that of light".
A light that makes us a kid again, like the Porcamiseria piglet, proof that the spirit of young children is present at Karman, even though that part of us unfortunately fades.
The fish could not have a more evocative name than Aprile. Instead of the scales on its body, it is covered with flowers and the fins and tail are leaves in praise of nature and its poetry.
In the merry band of happiness, Ti Vedo also takes part with the lucky little owl, the first lamp that looks at us as well as makes one look. Va Lentina is a nice little snail that eats the leaf and rests discretely on any surface, while the rabbit Wow! jumps out of schemes, inviting us to take a break from time to time, to provoke, astonish and surprise thanks to a click of the light.
That isn’t enough? Well, let’s meet Yahoo, a special rocking horse that gallops with fantasy: even here the child that is in us comes back to life, with a desire to dream. Romantic butterflies alight on the appliqué Central Park, while the parrots, Pepo and Majo, perch on two lamps, distinct but inseparable.
The family will soon expand with new protagonists and catalysts of emotions, ready to live in every room of the house, giving a touch of irony and lightness, Ugolini’s trademark design. All of the animals are made of white ceramic which, explains the designer, "is a material easy to shape, able to make the most realistic material and subjects."
Your favorite? "Marnìn, of course, the progenitor, the beginning of this wonderful adventure."
