For designers, being able to revisit a project first executed almost a decade prior is a rare opportunity. The demands of the market can mean pursuing novelty over improving on existing ideas. But this year, Milan-based Japanese designer Kensaku Oshiro is expanding on the Leplì collection of stools, benches and ottomans that he first designed in 2016 for Poltrona Frau. 

“Designing from the same project strengthens its identity,” Oshiro tells Monocle when we visit him at his studio in La Fontana, a northern neighbourhood of Milan. “I prefer to perfect a few products rather than work on 100 that might not be [as good]. Fewer items, fewer designs, fewer concepts – it works better for me.”

The new addition to the Leplì family is a chair and armchair – available in swivel, wheeled and fixed versions – that echo Oshiro’s original idea of the silhouette of a woman in a belted dress. (The original Leplì features a cinched middle, top-stitched seams and soft pin-tucks made from the leather that Poltrona Frau has become known for since the company was founded in 1912.) The sartorial inspiration is, of course, also apt in the context of Milan – a fashion capital as well as a centre for design.

The playful barrel shape of the new Leplì chair and armchair is accentuated by a thin leather belt at the point where the base meets the seat. The pieces are also available in Poltrona Frau’s wide range of high-quality leathers – derived from the food industry – that can be rendered in a single-block hue or combined according to taste. “Leather is one of the oldest materials,” adds Oshiro. “I see it as a very Italian material and then I combined it with my Japanese point of view which is to keep only what is essential.” It goes to show that playing the long game can pay off.

Via Alessandro Manzoni, 30, Milan
poltronafrau.com 

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