VANITY MIRROR COLLECTION

BY GAMFRATESI

RITUALS AND REFLECTIONS

HISTORY REWRITTEN

 

The collection takes its inspiration – and its name – from the vanity-table mirrors of the 18th century, which typically featured three adjustable mirror panels connected by hinges, allowing the viewer to admire themselves from multiple perspectives. In its Vanity design, GamFratesi reinterprets one of the key functional elements of this – the hinge – in a contemporary context, thereby creating a modern design that preserves an aesthetic link to the past.

FUNCTION AND BEAUTY

 

This new collection of wall-mounted mirrors takes a near-forgotten mirror typology – the classic vanity mirror of the boudoir dressing table – and ingeniously reinvents it for contemporary interiors. Vanity embodies GamFratesi’s unerring ability to bring the highest levels of craftsmanship and technical precision to even the most apparently simple of forms. With three variants – comprising one, two, or three mirror panels – the Vanity Mirror Collection offers a high degree of versatility, and represents a perfect balance of function and decorative beauty.

A CLASSIC REFERENCE

 

Another vintage reference point for GamFratesi was Gio Ponti’s F.A.33 Wall Mirror of 1993, which was reintroduced by GUBI in 2015. In its previous mirror design for GUBI, the IOI Wall Mirror, GamFratesi responded to Ponti’s art deco aesthetic. With Vanity, the studio pays homage to the iconic curved line that defines Ponti’s design by incorporating a gentle arc into the upper and lower edges of the Vanity frame. This creates a sense of kinship and coherence within GUBI’s portfolio of mirrors, while also introducing depth and intriguing play of perspective to GamFratesi’s design.

PAIRING WALNUT AND BRASS

The hinges themselves are finished in brass, which pairs beautifully with the warmth of the hand-crafted walnut veneer used on the panels. Created bespoke for the Vanity Mirror Collection, the hinges require the highest degree precision in order to achieve the necessary tolerances (just one-tenth of a millimeter) and ensure a satisfyingly smooth but reassuringly controlled motion.

FOR ANY ROOM IN THE HOME

 

From its earliest days, GUBI has led the way in integrating mirrors into interior spaces beyond the bathroom, where they would conventionally be found. The Vanity Mirror Collection follows suit, being designed for use in all rooms in the home outside the bathroom, including those where mirrors might not be typically featured. The design thus brings both clean contemporary elegance and an unusual versatility and interactivity to any space or style, with a gentle but reverent nod to history woven in.

OPEN OR CLOSE THE PANELS

 

Hinges are a principal feature of all three variants of the Vanity Mirror. As well as incorporating the fixtures for wall mounting and support, the hinges allow the panels to be angled by the user, changing the look and light in the room as they like. In the three- and two-paneled versions, the panels fold flat over each other, effectively ‘closing’ the mirror when not in use. In the single-panel Vanity Mirror 1, the hinge allows for a 15º rotation along a central axis.

GAMFRATESI

 

GamFratesi has been working with GUBI since the inception of its studio, and the collaboration has produced some of its most admired modern designs, beginning with the Beetle Chair, and including the IOI Wall Mirror – another perfect marriage of function and decoration. Drawing on their dual heritage, Italian Enrico Fratesi and Danish Stine Gam share GUBI’s ability to synthesize seemingly opposing ideas – the classic and the contemporary, the intellectual and the sensorial, the crafted and the engineered. These defining juxtapositions – and the explorative material curiosity that animates their design practice – are brilliantly exemplified in the Vanity Mirror Collection.

 

VANITY MIRROR COLLECTION