Serena Confalonieri’s picks for the Music & Design series

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Mattia Lanzarone

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Serena Confalonieri portrait photo by Andrea Agrati

Serena Confalonieri, ph. Andrea Agrati

The Italian designer and independent art director curates a music playlist for the readers of Salone del Mobile.Milano

September 1st marks a new entry into our Music & Design series, an in-depth inquiry into the relation between music and design.

Each entry, a designer selects for the Salone readers a dozen songs that most inspire them in their everyday craft. Today, Italian designer and indipendent art director Serena Confalonieri takes over the series, bringing a unique indie, pop, rock, metal and classic mix to the design table.

Below, you’ll find her selections for this week’s Music & Design entry. You can listen to the playlist in its entirety on Spotify, and find all the other M&D playlists on our profile.

Jump in the Line by Harry Belafonte

Because it recalls exactly the mood I was thinking about when I designed the Calypso collection: an exotic 1950s atmosphere, a vacation in California or Hawaii, amid the muffled sounds of marimbas and cocktails in the warm wind. The design came about during the first COVID-19 lockdown, a time when something like that could really only be dreamed of and when we didn't know if and when we might travel again.

Razorblade by The Strokes

The guitar riff goes up and down like the string sequence of the Arcadia ottoman, designed for Gebrüder Thonet Vienna and presented at the Salone.

Make It Wit Chu by Queens of the Stone Age

A very sensual song, suitable for the soft love goddess lamp Venus.

Wave Of Mutilation by Pixies

A dreamy atmosphere, stimulating the imagination in moments of creativity.

Once In A Lifetime by Talking Heads

One of my favorite songs ever. The genius of David Byrne is able to open the mind.

Jump by Van Halen

For the energy boost of the opening line "I get up and nothing gets me down," which is a bit of a mantra for Monday mornings.

C’est la vie by Achille Lauro e Fiorella Mannoia

For the refrain to be sung at the top of your lungs instead of getting angry when a project does not start.

Electrolite by REM

I would call it a "comfort song," the kind that calms me down and restores me after particularly difficult days.

GIOVANNA HARDCORE by M¥SS KETA

Because M¥SS KETA is now as much a symbol of Milan as fashion and design.

Attitude by Sepultura / Preludio in mi minore by Chopin

When I work for me metal and classical are equivalent. They are two genres that I really enjoy and listen to when I need to concentrate: neither of them lends itself to singing over them, so my main distraction is eliminated.

1 September 2022