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One summer morning in 2010 Londoners woke up with an inexplicable sensation of vertigo. They leave the house after a cup of tea, and a sumptuous breakfast of bacon and scrambled eggs, and strangely, they feel strongly attracted to everything that is red. With the excuse of having to make an urgent telephone call tens of people squeeze inside phone-boxes seemingly about to burst. Double decker bus passengers tour around the city without a break and without ever getting off the red buses. Crazy people get inside the post boxes and look out through the letter flap to spy on the semi deserted streets.

For the whole summer nearly half a million people find refuge in Hyde Park where, in amongst the greenery, the bright red hall of the Serpentine Gallery stands out. Designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel, it was decorated in red, only red. Nouvel added 9 shocking red Smeg fridges to the interior to bring a touch unique style. Artists, poets, intellectuals and common people all met up to sip fresh drinks taken directly from the SMEG fridges and, suddenly, their sense of vertigo just disappeared.

Let me introduce myself. My name is FAB28, an Italian fridge, baby pink in colour.

I used to live in Ismaning, which is a small town near Munich. It’s a clean, neat and peaceful place, but perhaps just a little too quiet for someone who loves rock’n’roll and the crazy idea of travelling like a true roadie from place to place.

I’d often think of what another fridge would do in my place. Maybe it would have quietly stayed in a corner of the kitchen? I was different though. I’d grab a beer from my cool drawer and dream about faraway places together with Stefan Gburek, the guy I lived with, a great friend and a German artist.

I often asked myself that maybe, just maybe all I needed was a change of scene. When Stefan finally got round to suggesting it then, it was bound to be a big fat yes. We decided to hitchhike across Germany in five days to reach Wows!ville, one of the last true rock bars in Berlin.

We spent 680 km on the road. We travelled with Polish truck drivers having the gift of the gab, many driving somewhat dangerously! We also travelled with the inevitable hippies riding in Volkswagens, celebrated Germany’s World Cup win over Argentina with a huge crowd in a city square, explained to the local police that we weren’t crazy, and witnessed the inquisitive faces of men, women and children baffled by my travels. And as we sipped our ice-cold beers after reaching our destination, we were already fantasizing about our next stop:  a rock bar in, wait for it, in Tibet.

In the beginning, there were benefactors. Churches would commission artists to design large paintings that glorified creation, and the sovereign would hire sculptors and artists to come up with huge commemorative paintings of victories and battles.

Then, times changed and the world become more secular, and the Giottos, Michelangeloes and other artistic giants were replaced by the likes of Selwyn Senatori, an eclectic Italian-Dutch artist who paints directly onto refrigerators.

That’s why it’s now perfectly normal to see a cyclist in his final sprint pedaling like the wind on the pink door of a Smeg 1950’s style fridge . To honour the opening leg of the Giro d’Italia that began in Amsterdam some time ago, our Mr. Selwyn painted six FABs with images inspired by this historic cycling race - all before a live group of onlookers in the Smeg Holland showroom. 

Selwyn also illustrated six FAB30s entirely with seafaring themes during Sail Amsterdam 2010, the largest nautical exposition in the Netherlands.  Once again, he did it in front of a captivated crowd. 

That’s a far cry from the time when only Popes and emperors could witness such undertakings.  And let’s face it:  Botticelli, Perugino and Pinturicchio simply wouldn’t know what to do with a spray can now would they?

We hereby declare that the era of supermodels and exorbitant modelling fees has come to a close. The period of those pale and yet so attractive young faces has definitely faded. Our proposal is of curvy forms, sensuous shapes filled with enormous quantities of food. Of course, here we are really thinking of another fabulous Fab design, aren't we?

Who would deny that this refrigerator is endowed with the 'physique du role'? We've all cottoned on to that: from Betsy Johnson who placed it in a prominent position in her showrooms during the Fashion Week in New York, in 2009,  to Macy’s, where it was also presented on a couple of occasions, in 2007 and 2010, in its corner outlet between 34th Street and Broadway.

And then, there was the 55DSL store in 2008, the Rugby window and the Paul Smith one and even the one in Beijing where it was displayed next to brands such as Versace, Armani, Prada, Gucci and Loro Piana.

So, why all that? Simple. This is a rather 'eclectic' and versatile and – shall we say – trendy design. It goes well with so many different styles and so everyone wants it. It would appear that it does so much even for the image of other brands. Unlike supermodels, though, we've yet to find a photographer who's managed to catch it out in scandalous or embarrassing situations.

People, who believe that in minus zero temperatures the human mind begins to stop thinking and fall into a deep sleep, are making a big mistake.

It is a common theory that when the temperature drops well below zero degrees everything stops functioning including a person’s mind and their capability of taking on ideas about new and cutting edge design and traditionally stick to what they know.

This does not appear to be the case in Tallinn where the temperature drops to below zero for six months each year, where Elux organised an event to present Smeg to the elite designers, journalists and food critics of Estonia. The event incorporated the working use of the new cooker C91GMXI with Estonian Chef Anni Arro cooking a classic Italian dish.

The show was presented by the famous Estonian anchor Tauri Tallermaa, who discussed the philosophy and vision of Smeg. And, the grand finale, they gave away to one lucky participant, a FAB10 fridge hand painted by a famous Estonian ceramic artist Liisu Arro. Smeg would like to thank Estonia, Elux and the freezing temperatures.

Do you remember the painter who famously painted food arranged to resemble faces and human beings?  Noses were made from courgettes, cheeks were round ripe tomatoes, and hair was straw and savoy cabbage.  Not only are artists of our time following in Arcimboldo’s footsteps, but they’re also doing it with a splash, in a tasteful and refined way.

That’s precisely what culinary design is all about; breaking the rules, turning food into a purely artistic object totally stripped of its functions of taste, flavour and nutrition.  The stage at the Vendome Luxury Show in Paris was set, an event to bring together the best of today’s new trend-setters in fashion, art and design, during Fashion Week.  

Held in October 2009, the twelfth edition of Vendôme Luxury Live was born – dubbed “fooding”.  16 fridges from the 50’s Retro style line were used to store the original, imaginative creations by several international culinary designers.  Of course, Smeg was delighted to have been chosen as the backdrop for such an inspiring artistic movement including the creators of works such as “Chocolate Floors” and “Bread Handbags”. 

We’d also just like to give a small round of applause the person who holds the original copyright or trademark behind culinary design - who first decided to stick a carrot into a snowman’s head to imitate a nose – what a genius!

© 2010 by XXB