Baxter - Worldwide 2020 Project
“Baxter Worldwide 2020” project was born from the impossibility of bringing the Baxter community to Milan and in particular from the question “if they can’t come to us, why don’t we go to them?”, says Paolo Bestetti, Baxter’s CEO.
The interesting thing is that, during the lockdown period, Baxter decided to transform this closure into a new opportunity by setting up this project, in which the goal was to involve the partners and, together with them, present the new collection to the professional community and brand lovers. The main challenge was to make people understand the new collection from a distance, always trying to express the essence of Baxter, which is not just design, but above all emotion and sensoriality. “We therefore tried to combine technology with the emotion and physicality of the product, thinking of letting people enter the new Baxter home and take them on a journey inside this house. This was the first step related to the digital part.
The other step instead concerns the physical part, the contact. Baxter has always carried out research on color and materials and this is a very difficult aspect to be conveyed at a distance. Material is something you feel and that gives you emotions. We then physically shifted our research at customers’ premises and what fascinated us the most was their reaction in previewing the new top secret products with a mix of digital and sensory clues, personally touching new leathers and new materials”, continues Paolo Bestetti.
The research on the 2020 collection began one year earlier and has undergone ongoing changes. The initial brief was to work on comfort and shapes that were soft and reassuring. This is how all the products, including the new sofa by Paola Navone (where comfort stands out) bring with them this reassuring aspect, as if the product conveys a sense of protection. Also, as for the development of the Piaf sofa, which is a product of the previous year, the intent was to give it more comfortable shapes and elongated seats.
Beside the development of new products, there is also the famous color research, as explained by Stefano Guidotti, head of Baxter’s style department. “This year’s palettes are essentially three. The first features classic, almost reassuring colours, which were then combined with elements of great contrast. It starts with browns, then all the warm tones of chocolate, combined with a very strong blueberry blue and a camel color. In addition to the colors of the leathers, each palette is then combined with materials; in this case brass and white marbles such as Bianco Gioia. The second color palette is declined in various shades of green; starting from military green combined with a very bright lime green which are combined with greys. The associated metal is alpaca, therefore a cold grey as if it was a kind of silver. The last palette, on the other hand, is decidedly surprising, in the sense that a very bright turquoise has been combined with a “nude” color, a sort of flesh color.” A research that aims to lead to recognition, as at a certain point the objects have to speak regardless of the logo itself, and this is also what happens for the new “Baxter Worldwide 2020” collection.
Part of the design of the novelties was carried out internally by the style department, while other products were designed by the Designers we have been collaborating for years with: Draga & Aurel, Paola Navone, Federico Peri, Pietro Russo, Studiopepe.
Technology has certainly been of great support in being able to realize this project and, as Baxter’s President Luigi Bestetti tells us “It was truly a novelty. It’s something I really enjoyed: being seated at my desk and seeing the whole team on one screen to discuss what’s new. Doing something new and getting it right immediately is what keeps you going.”
Baxter usually presents the novelties of the year in Milan, but that’s not all. The intent is to create a community that encompasses all the brand’s partners and lovers, organizing events such as at Baxter Cinema in Milan or at the Sheraton Diana Majestic Hotel, creating a convivial moment.
“The most interesting aspect of the Worldwide project is that we will start from Tokyo and on the same day, we will tour the primary locations in the world passing through Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok, Moscow, Tel Aviv, Paris, Milan, Rome, London, New York up to reach Los Angeles.
“Twenty-four hours with Baxter!“ concludes Paolo Bestetti.
