I agree with Wallpaper. This beautiful, mirrored arc (actually, a cabinet), which took centre stage at Cappellini during the Milan Furniture Fair last spring, has been named by Wallpaper* magazine as the best domestic design in its 2010 awards. Designed by Alessandro Mendini, it is being made in a limited edition of 33 pieces - conferring upon it the rarity of a work of art (and virtually ensuring it a future as a desirable, tradeable antique). Graphic and precise, it is indeed as much sculpture as furniture. It is monumental - standing almost two-and-a-half metres high and 1.8m wide - yet seems almost to float, weightlessly and without volume. That is thanks largely to the mirrors, which cover the black-lacquered wood from which it is constructed - but also to its rigorously drawn lines and perfect proportions.
Mendini, now in his 79th year, continues to be both prolific and influential - as a product designer, architect, teacher and writer. Never one to chase the column inches (perhaps because his CV includes stints on "the other side" as the editorial director of Casabella, Modo and Domus magazines) he's less well known to the general public than many of his would-be peers - yet, to many in the design world, he is almost a deity.
In my book its provenance alone goes a long way to qualifying Archetto as an object of extreme desire. But, failing any realistic possibility of actually owning such a rarity, perhaps one of Mendini's countless, brilliantly designed and easily affordable everyday objects (Alessi coffee pots and bottle openers, Swatch watches, Ritzenhoff ceramic dishes) will provide some consolation.
Archetto cabinet: price on request from Poltrona Frau Group Design Center, Corniche Road, Khalidiya, Abu Dhabi; 02 635 9393; www.cappellini.com