MACHAS

When travel meets fashion & technology: playful illustrations for Piquadro

Pitti Uomo and Salone del Mobile are unmissable high-end fashion and design events taking place in Italy. Every year, brands go head to head with creativity and imagination to launch their new collections and to capture the attention of increasingly exigent and international clientele.

Machas has been collaborating with Piquadro for a few years now to scout the best creative talent and to bring to life unique, eye-catching visuals to adorn their B2B and B2C commitments.

This year, the Italian design-led brand was looking to create colourful, modern and dynamic illustrations to enhance the key aspects of their new collections, in which functionality meets technology.

Machas identified with the work of artist Stefano Marra, whose vector technique blends modern minimalism with Saul Bass-inspired compositions, the perfect style fit for Piquadro’s new season aesthetics.

Stefano and Machas produced a series of nine illustrations that made their debut at Pitti Uomo 2019, both as a grand mural outside their self-contained space in the Fortezza and throughout the different sections of the booth. 

Stefano’s inspiration for the artwork came from music and movies: “I usually try to get inspired by the music I listen and the movies I watch. Marvin Gaye, and the movies of Alfred Hitchcock and Otto Preminger. Also, I tried to improve my style, making it more personal. I studied my favourite artists and designers: Fortunato Depero, Saul Bass, Seymour Chwast and Pierre Mendell.”

In addition to Pitti Uomo, Stefano’s illustrations were also used as murals at Salone del Mobile 2019 in Milano, at the ILM International Leather Goods Fair in Germany, as well as in five Piquadro flagship stores across Europe including their Regent Street store in London.