Gallerist Nina Yashar On the New Reality of Interiors

Episode Summary

The world’s biggest and most renowned design and furniture fair Milan’s Salone del Mobile, which was supposed to happen last month, has been officially cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic - first time in its history, since its very launch in 1961. Today, ZG19 is meeting (at distance) one-of-a-kind Milan gallerist Nina Yashar, whose legendary Nilufar space is a must-see stop on the Design Week trail, to ask about how the misfortune is affecting the industry in long term perspective and how we should re-shape public spaces, incorporating smart technologies and well-being oriented trends in design.

The Speaker

An interdisciplinary universe of Milan’s design temple Nilufar gallery, located in Via della Spiga, is of three dimensions: Discovering, Crossing, Creating. Its founder, Nina Yashar, who was born in Tehran and moved along with her family to Milan during the swinging 60s, is a ceaseless explorer. Her vision stands at perpetually observing and scouting new talents and movements; continuously creating eclectic kaleidoscopes and heterogeneous matrixes by joining together time, geography and traditions; and finally eagerly giving life to bold projects and unrivalled site-specific shows, working both with great masters and emerging authors. Nilufar, meaning Lotus flower in Persian, as a symbol of creation and mysticism, composes dialogues between works from different cultures and periods in a single space, opening up doors to a new category that Yashar calls “functional art”, a hybrid where design meets art. Always a step ahead of her contemporaries, Nina Yashar supports a more female-integrated design scene, mixing vintage and contemporary pieces in the projects set in her enormous experimental interdisciplinary furniture showroom Nilufar Depot, founded in 2015.

Hosts: Elizabeth Zhivkova and Farah Piriye

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