PARANA

Parana is a hand-shaped and hand-painted ceramic fruit bowl designed by Masanori Umeda, featuring blue spheres decorating the corners and zigzag lines running down the sides. It's often paired with the whimsical Orinoco vase, by the same designer, featuring a white stem and spheres at the base. The Japanese designer chooses the names of two of Latin America's largest rivers to playfully experiment with the combination of shapes by creatively connecting the vertices of the triangle.

Masanori Umeda graduated from the Kuwasawa Design School in Tokyo in 1962. In 1967, he moved to Milan and worked in the studio of Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni. From 1970 to 1979, he was a consultant for the design and furnishing systems studio at Olivetti, where he met Ettore Sottsass. In 1981, Umeda designed his most famous Memphis piece: the Tawaraya Ring, in which the founding members of the group were photographed by Studio Azzurro in a shot that became one of the most iconic Memphis images. A synthesis of East and West, Tawaraya combines, as a metaphor for conversation, a boxing ring with the tatami mats of traditional Japanese interiors.

W 40, D 37, H 9 cm; 2.5 kg