The Hearth for Valcucine

Neri&Hu was invited to participate in a group exhibition in Valcucine’s showroom in Milan on the occasion of the Salone del Mobile 2024. The aim of the exhibition is to “transform kitchens into captivating and domestic scenarios”.The installation titled “the hearth” focuses on the kitchen as a spatial metaphor for warmth and conviviality within a home. The installation is divided into two parts, one public in nature with the kitchen sitting on an open plaza and the more private kitchen contained within a wooden structure. One extroverted and the other more introverted but both symbolizing home and shelter. The introverted structure is composed of black stained wooden louvers with folding and diagonal planes. The exposed beams and pillars strengthen the reading of the house within the Valcucine showroom.

Both spaces contain a kitchen as the hearth of its daily activities. In the plaza, the more public character is marked by a central communal table and a constellation of wooden stools specifically designed and made for this installation while the house heightened the more intimate aspects of our daily lives. To complement the two kitchens, Neri&Hu developed a system of everyday objects that enhance the kitchen and allow multiple and unexpected uses. The installation offers Valcucine and their guests multiple reading to an often traditional understanding of a kitchen as purely a utilitarian space.