Dolce Stil Novo by Smeg

Inspiration is a mysterious beast. For some, it comes effortlessly and often. For others, it hides timid and reticent, demanding gentle coaxing before it will consider informing a work of art, a song, a poem, a design. To inspire its most advanced built-in collection to date, Smeg wandered all the way back to 13th century Italy to revel in a literary revolution.

With the Italians’ signature affinity for romance, Smeg drew inspiration from the historically pivotal dolce stil novo literary movement. Steered by a new school of poets, the ‘sweet new style’ of lyric love poetry was characterised by its sincere, rapturous expressions of love, its view of womanhood, nature and the divine, and its beatific, musical tenor.

Like the poems of the movement’s proponents – specifically Guido Guinizzelli’s Al cor gentil rempaira sempre amore (In the gentle heart abideth love) – Smeg’s Dolce Stil Novo range dances with new frontiers, illuminating boundless possibilities for appliance design. Materials of the highest quality and painstakingly perfected details find complement in strong, modern lines, and trim accents of copper and stainless steel. Black glass by award-winning architect Guido Canali underscores Dolce Stil Novo’s uncompromising elegance.

Dose Café by Smeg, which fuelled the energies of DENFAIR 2017’s attendees, offered not only an opportunity to showcase the brand’s Dolce Stil Novo range – comprising immaculately designed ovens, a blast chiller, multi-functional drawers, gas, induction and mixed hobs, hoods, wine cellars and coffee machines – but also the opportunity to immerse individuals in its richly romantic inspirations.

Injecting nature into the space – a theme woven through ‘sweet new style’ works – the balustrades demarcating Dose Café featured laser-cut birds in a gentle nod to Guinizzelli’s intoxicating prose.

Within the gentle heart abideth Love,

As doth a bird within green forest glade,

Neither before the gentle heart was Love,

Nor Love ere gentle heart by Nature made.

Considered bursts of greenery by Glasshaus lent lightness and energy to the space while tempering the range’s dark, sophisticated palette. In addition to porcelain sheet benchtops by Artedomus, clean-lined Nolita chairs and Ikon tables by James Richardson invited guests to gather, eat, drink, linger, and absorb the poetry of Dolce Stil Novo’s designs through all five senses.