Grado vs. Visual Creator Daniel Palillo: A Talk about Comfort and Discomfort

Copywriting: Amanda CHEN

Two years ago, we had cooperated with Daniel Palillo the visual creative person to make an installation art in the 2020 Guangzhou Design Week, which was an unprecedented event that brought about a lot of breakthroughs to Grado Design.

WHO IS DANIEL PALILLO?

Uniqueness

Daniel Palillo succeeds as an independent visual creator who is popular among many celebrities and buyers. He works as a fashion designer, but he’s not a so-called fashion designer. Instead of following all the trends in the fast-pacing fashion industry, Palillo’s been keeping on his own uniqueness and strong personal expression. As a Finland-based artist, he got little influence from the elegance and calmness of traditional Nordic design. He took inspiration purely from his subconsciousness, which is shaped by his observation on daily people and routines, as well as his travels around the world.

Discomfort

To sum it up in the artist's own words , his visual style is “big, colorful, and mixed with joy and sorrow”. Even in the dramatic form of graffiti, any viewers can easily empathize his chaotic feelings of fear, confusion, lost, and pain from the mannequin’s facial expressions, though sometimes they laugh. Very typical Palillo’s works show a combination of bold childishness and whimsical discomfort. He is exactly the kind of “do-whatever-you-want” wayward artist. Whereas, certain people buy it no matter what he does. With highly saturated colors popping out and cartoonish images swooping in, any viewers would absolutely be shocked by a “trick-or-treat” situation created by his works. That is to say, Palillo’s been clear about the fact that he “wouldn’t like to make things that everybody likes”. So he always embraces the dramatic beauty of absurdity and dares to express a lot of discomforts. On the other, people would be easily caught by the overwhelming excitement split from his coloring. Since Palillo by all means works on maximizing the narrative of his works.

Expression

Palillo considers his works as “conversation pieces” that people always want to start talking about. And they are. What he’s been doing is pinning his creativity for freedom on different carriers and spread it in a visual form. Palillo’s work is built on the pillars of art, narrative and his intuition with humorous flourishes. It’s obvious that Palillo’s exhibitions are more communicative and controversial than others’. His avoidance toward any trends of the industry has led to pieces that feel truly fresh and enhance his particularly strong personal expression.

WHAT DID HE DO WITH GRADO

Palillo had made four graffiti works on the sofa upholstery fabrics and then Grado R&D team applied them on our GRADO CONTRACT collection’s iconic Cloud Sofa. The sofa’s unique cloud-inspired silhouette is a perfect fit for what Palillo was conveying.

Daniel Palillo：

“I did these paintings after traveling to Santiago de Chile. They are like holiday postcards of my mind. My art comes from my unconscious mind, so my works are a reflection of my current life. In Chile, people had very positive and happy mindset I hope it can be seen in these art works as well.”

Chile is a vibrant and passionate country that pulsates with energy and creativity. One of the most striking forms of self-expression in Chile is through graffiti. The country is renowned for its vibrant street art scene, with talented artists using the walls and buildings of cities like Santiago, Valparaíso, and Concepción as canvases for their incredible creations. The graffiti in Chile is not just random tagging or vandalism but a way of telling stories, expressing emotions, and creating a sense of community. The country's street art scene is alive with bold colors, intricate designs, and powerful messages, making it an integral part of Chile's cultural identity.

See how Daniel Palillo’s four works of graffiti told a very South-American story:

Chapter 1 Bear

As the weather gradually turned cold, this year's bear had had enough of the long hibernation she had endured in previous years. She stopped preparing for hibernation and decided to go to a party in Chile, far, far away. She brushed her fur neatly, blinked excitedly, and hummed happily along the way, climbing over one mountain after another. Eventually, she arrived at the party and found herself in a place filled with colorful flowers! There were blue, red, and even some yellow flowers she had never seen before, dazzling her senses. She was so happy that she buried her face in the ground and lay there, grinning from ear to ear.

Chapter 2 Flower

The flowers here never wither, so bright that even the flying insects around them got lost. The air was filled with a sweet scent that immediately intoxicated anyone who took a deep breath. This place was perfect for a party! This winter, we had invited all the animals to attend the party! We would cover the slate on the path with small yellow flowers, and we would hang beautiful orchids on the cinnamon trees. The wind was gently swaying our hammocks, and a small succulent plant was placed nearby while we started playing the guitar. This would be a perfect party!

Chapter 3 Skull

The bear built a bonfire in the clearing, stacking the wood like building blocks, one on top of the other. Along with the wood collected in the evening, there was a pile of skulls. The bear reserved one skull to use as a seat and rolled the other skulls into the fire one by one. As each skull rolled into the fire, blue-green flames shot up like fireworks, spreading in all directions, a beautiful sight to behold! The bear looked at the colorful skulls and couldn't help but clap, but the next second, she folded her palms and closed her eyes to make a wish: "I will bury you here, hoping that more beautiful flowers will grow here!"

Chapter 4 Dancer

As he waved his long arms and joined the bonfire party, the bear next to him asked, "Why do you keep dancing?" He didn't stop his dancing and turned his head to smile at the bear, saying, "It took me five years to learn how to walk, another five years to learn how to run, and then five more years to learn how to dance. But I haven't learned how to stop dancing yet." He continued to move to the beat in front of the bonfire, the flames casting a red glow on his face, and the skulls in the fire crackling with blue flames. "But now," he excitedly grabbed the bear's hand, "isn't tonight the night to dance?"

WHY DID GRADO DO THIS?

It’s both a challenge and a chance for Grado to artistically cooperate with Daniel Palillo. Apart from his great reputation as a fashion designer and his shining label of pop stars’ favorite, we were thinking about more profound, meaningful possibilities that we could spark from this installation art display.

Invisible vs. Visible

One of Grado’s core design idea is “make furniture invisible in the space”. We care about how furnishing products seat into the space, even become “invisible” in the space. Visually speaking, our designs are never made to be loud or distracting. We adore minimalist silhouette and fresh color palette that offer a natural and tranquil look. What Grado has been pursuing and seeking is voluntary simplicity, timeless silhouette, durable use and high comfort. However, Palillo’s been well-known for creating illusion of turning over the naughty graffiti book, conversation pieces that trigger people’s desire to talk, and his cannot-be-copied style of unusual proportions and black humorous details. During the 2020 Guangzhou Design Week, Grado was unprecedentedly aggressive to challenge our core ideas and embrace something new.

Sophistication vs. Childishness

Grado’s furnishing designs have been embodied a style of minimalist sophistication, basically targeting at people at their late twenties and thirties. We’ve been demonstrating a rather Nordic temperament of calmness and elegance with neutrals. While from color palette to form of expression, Palillo keeps on emphasizing his bold childishness by adding a layer of childlike filter to each of his work. However, we found an incredible chemistry between our Cloud Sofa and Palillo’s Chile impression graffiti with pop-out colors and cartoonish characters. From which, we officially opened the door to much vaster aesthetics and values in our design.

Restraint vs. Overwhelming

Pursuing a restrained expression has been the long-lasting aesthetic of Grado. In contrast, Palillo’s out-of-control excitement is overwhelming from his works at all times. Design is born to have something to do with the creator’s emotions and its audience emotions. Grado, who is always restrained in expressing emotions, was making a breakthrough with Daniel Palillo. By injecting his emotions triggered by Santiago de Chile into our four Cloud Sofa pieces, Grado became a way more enthusiastic story-teller, displaying our inclusive and abundant personalities.

Comfort vs. Discomfort

Every furniture manufacturer focuses so much on “comfort”, “ergonomic comfort”, “softness”... While seizing this cooperation with Palillo, Grado took a differentiated route by infusing our pieces with certain visual interest of “discomfort”. We knew that it was time to try unconventional things. To embrace the bold, to embrace the new. Grado never got satisfied with what we’ve achieved, but strives forward to one destination after another. The unconventional “discomfort” was exactly our brave new trip during the 2020 Guangzhou Design Week.