smeg50style.com

The prize ceremony for young directors MOVI&CO was held on 1st December at the Triennale in Milan. The winners included the viral video created for Smeg by Nicola Martini, which interprets the famous FAB fridge from an ironic and fun standpoint.
An original creative idea brought to life with a lively rhythm and playful feel. A free and uninhibited look which takes on the difficult task of approaching a style icon in order to interpret its soul in a new way. The film created for Smeg by the young video maker Nicola Martini makes the FAB fridge the star of a fun story, which transforms domestic life into a game.
The viral video came about as a result of Smeg’s participation in the VIII edition of MOVI&CO, an annual competition aimed at directors aged between 18 and 35 years of age for the conception and creation of advertisements, viral videos and company films.
Yesterday evening the closing event took place at the Triennale in Milan with awards given to the most deserving projects. The jury headed by the Rector of the University IULM of Milan Giovanni Puglisi, which also included Renzo Arbore and the director Daniele Lucchetti, awarded the Smeg video the prize for Best Creative Idea.
Smeg wanted to be involved in MOVI&CO because they share the spirit of the initiative, which encourages the world of business to interact with that of young people, giving them the opportunities to make full use of their creativity for the development of new and different narrative ideas.
It is this freshness that gives extra value to the viral video, it is an unconventional form of communication which offers a new and original interpretation of the product. The 29-year old director Nicola Martini, welcomed the challenge to bring an icon of design like the 50’s retro Style Smeg fridge to the video, and to present an original take on its explosive personality not only in terms of its appearance but also from a functional point of view.
The idea originates from a domestic scene, where husband and wife come back home after doing the shopping. They start to put the food away in the fridge as if they were playing an absorbing game of Tetris, with increasing pace and competitive glances emphasised by the progression of the soundtrack inspired by the tune which accompanies the famous video game. In the last frames a virtual Tetris is formed with all the Smeg products from the 50’s Retro Style line in a cheerful puzzle full of colour.

The task faced by the director and his troupe required great care and insight so as not to distort or trivialise the product. The end result met all of Smeg’s expectations: the viral video, which will be published on youtube and on the website www.smeg50style.com, is undoubtedly a good base for continuing to mutually exchange ideas on how to interpret this product’s huge personality.

Which domestic appliance brand features in the British cult animation, Wallace and Gromit’s Curse of the Ware Rabbit? Eager to find out more, we sent a keen film reporter to investigate!

The hit film The Curse of the Were Rabbit follows the eccentric inventor Wallace and his intelligent but silent dog, Gromit, as they come to the rescue of a village plagued by thousands of rabbits in the crucial lead up to their esteemed annual vegetable competition! During an operation to brainwash the rabbits to stop eating the prize vegetables, Wallace presses the wrong button on his wacky ‘manipulation-o-matic’ machine, and swaps personalities with one of the crazed rabbits! Disaster looms!

Over run by hundreds of rabbits loose in the house, and with a terrifying Were-rabbit on the rampage, Gromit struggles to cope – he escapes to the kitchen, for a moment of light relief (perhaps for tea and biscuits?) - and this is when a Smeg 50’s Retro Style fridge, star of many Hollywood productions, takes centre stage! Gromit turns to the rather special SMUG fridge – and OPENS IT to discovers hundreds of rabbits packed inside! Find out how they got there, and what Gromit does next by watching the film! Can Gromit save the day?!

Our reporter interviewed the creator of the film Nick Park who said “ the Smug fridge idea came from the fact that we’d all be pretty pleased if we had a Smeg fridge of our own and that perhaps Wallace might be a bit ‘smug’ about owning a Smeg fridge. It was all a bit silly, but it went down really well with our audiences and people still reference it today, so hopefully it’s one of those little details that people appreciated.”

The world of trend setters has once again declared its passion for 50’stylosophy. Ubisoft, the most important French videogame company, wanted to decorate the relax room at their HQ on the outskirts of Paris, using design products with a strong aesthetic impact that unite form and colour.

Two items from the Smeg 50’s Retro Style range (a FAB28 and an orange Fab dishwasher) were among the various furnishings which were specially requested by the company. To complete the look of the relax room, an 18m² vertical garden created by Amaury Gallon (a pioneer of botanical art, who for years, has combined innovation with plant design) was inserted. The garden further flatters the sinuous forms of the products and the result is a perfect design-mix that has given Ubisoft a convivial, original and stylish ambience.

Passion for FAB&Co has arrived in Moscow!

The lounge bar of the Ararat Park Hyatt Hotel is by no means the last in a series of exclusive locations in the Russian capital to have bought Smeg 50’s Retro Style appliances. The bar is an active part of the 5-star superior hotel designed to attract luxury globetrotting clientele who demand privacy, and excellent service. Situated in the centre of Moscow, the hotel is strategically positioned between the main historical-cultural sites such as the Bolshoi theatre, the Red Square and the Kremlin, and the most exclusive shopping malls such as GUM and TSUM.

The Conservatory Lounge & Bar is located on the top floor of the luxurious building and has recently been reviewed by the respected interior design magazine Architectural Digest who describe it as one of the most beautiful licensed premises in the world. Besides the uber-modern decor and the delicious menu there is also a distinctive veranda from which clients can enjoy magnificent views of the entire city. It is in this extremely popular exterior space that they have placed a FAB28 branded by Veuve Cliquot. It marries perfectly with the style of the hotel bar and lends the veranda a wonderful touch of retro allure.

The choice to enrich the décor with this object of design is not the result of chance, but derives from the belief that the FAB itself embodies the essence of the Conservatory - a luxury product that has a huge aesthetic impact.

Smeg Holland recently renewed their collaboration with the TV program Top Chef, a working relationship that first began back in September 2010, when they supplied all the cooking appliances for the show, amongst others 8 iconic FAB28’s in Black Velvet. The first show, inspired by the American format of the same name, was transmitted on Dutch TV in the autumn of 2010, followed by a second serie throughout Spring 2011. It follows a group of amateur chefs performing various challenges and being judged by a jury of well-known Dutch chefs; Robert Kranenborg and Julius Jaspers. Every week the challengers were each put to the test at a Michelin star restaurant, such as the Librije and Beluga.

The popularity and the success of the show last year made the producers of the program specifically request Smeg products for a second year running to install in the individual kitchen zones in which the young chefs show off their skills each week. This winning choice not only helps to characterise the set, but at the same time it guarantees excellent performance.

The new season of Top Chef will start in September 2011.

The FAB28 refrigerator appears in TF3, the third movie of the Transformers series. The film Transformers: Dark of the Moon, directed by Michael Bay, sees Optimus Prime and his loyal Autobots conflict once again with their enemies the Decepticons, who want to avenge the defeat that they suffered in 2009's film Revenge of the Fallen.

In TF3 the Decepticons are involved in a perilous space race between the United States and Russia, and Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) the Autobots' human friend, is called to the aid of the robots against a new and terrible enemy: Shockwave, the tyrant of Cybertron, conqueror of the home planet of the Transformers.

The FAB28 appears in the kitchen of Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), the on-screen girlfriend of Sam, the films star. The film was previewed to a worldwide audience on 29/06, and, since its release 2 weeks ago it has already made more than $645 million dollars at the box office.

http://www.transformersmovie.com/