La Cabina dell'Elba by Aldo Rossi: a miniature architecture

Models of Cabina dell'Elba – beach hut-inspired wardrobes – by Aldo Rossi on plinths in gallery

(Image credit: Courtesy Galleria Jannone)

published 19 December 2022

The ‘Cabina Dell'Elba’, created in 1982 by the Italian architect and designer Aldo Rossi is an ode to fleeting time and freedom. Reminding us of summer, the beach hut-inspired wardrobe is simple and universal, resonating with Rossi’s vision of designing an interior space that harmoniously coexists with the outside.

Model of Cabina dell'Elba by Aldo Rossi on plinth in gallery

‘They appeared to me as a minimal dimension of living, an impression of summer,’ wrote Rossi in his Autobiografia Scientifica. ‘I had simply noticed the peculiarity and universality of the huts on the beaches. Not only on Elba. But seeing is not enough: you have to watch till you take possession of the image and through the image of the thing.’ Taking ownership of the beach hut as an image, but more importantly as an object, absorbing it and repurposing it, Rossi’s ‘Cabina’ shifts from a temporary item into an enduring one, inhabiting our homes.

After 40 years since its creation, Milanese gallery Antonia Jannone Disegni di Architettura presents ‘Aldo Rossi. Cabina dell'Elba’, an exhibition entirely dedicated to the transient yet lasting beach hut/domestic wardrobe (mine is blue and pink, and works as a food storage cupboard in the kitchen).

Rossi’s drawings and studies of the ‘Cabina dell’Elba’ will be accompanied by an edition of nine miniature cabins especially made for the show and reproduced according to the study model made by Bruno Longoni furniture atelier, which produced the wardrobes, together with Rossi. ‘It is always a great emotion for me to deal with the work of Aldo Rossi. I feel a strong connection to the “Cabina dell'Elba” project, because I had the opportunity to meet Aldo on the island [of Elba]. Rossi is a unique, interesting and very communicative designer,’ says the gallerist Antonia Jannone. ‘I hope with my re-editions to come just a little closer to the beauty he was capable of.’

‘Aldo Rossi. La Cabina dell'Elba’ is on view until 29 December 2022 at Antonia Janonne Disegni di Architettura

Corso Giuseppe Garibaldi, 125
Milan

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Maria Cristina Didero is an independent design curator, consultant and author, who has contributed to many publications over the years; she is currently Milan editor of Wallpaper* . Didero has consulted for companies such as Vitra, Fritz Hansen, Lexus, Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Valextra among others. Based in Milan, she works internationally, curating exhibitions for institutions: some of her most recent projects include Nendo: The Space in Between and The Conversation Show at the Holon Design Museum, Israel; FUN HOUSE by Snarkitecture at National Building Museum, Washington D.C.; SuperDesign a project about Italian radical design, NY; Vegan Design, or the Art of Reduction by Erez Nevi and The Fish and The Crowd by Carlo Massoud, Milan. In April 2022 she curated a Mathieu Lehanneur exhibition at the Triennale in Milan called The Inventory of Life, while in July she debuted a project at the MK&G in Hamburg titled Ask Me if I Believe in the Future, alongside a series of ongoing collaborations. She was appointed 2022 Curatorial Director of Design Miami/. She is currently preparing two projects for Milan Design Week 2023.