March 6, 2005 This arresting image originated in 2003 when 22 designers faced off in the Good Luck Design Exhibit, held in Milan during the International Furniture Exhibition 2003. The theme was fortune, magic and lucky charms but with his project, Raffaele Iannello chose to probe the world of black magic with this knife set and distinctive holder. The striking result has gone through several iterations and is now to be produced in commercial form by Viceversa, so we guess Raffaele was lucky after all. The final Voodoo Knife set will be released in the near future at Viceversa.
The original prototype was created in a 3D stereo lithograph model, was later painted in flame red. The two versions of the Voodoo Knife set seen here are both prototypes and we're told by Raffaele that the final version will be similar to the body of the initial version (main pic) but with the knives shown in the other photo and there'll also be a transparent cover that stops people who own the Voodoo set from emulating their little friend.
Several other of Raffaele's designs are also available through the internet, always interesting but perhaps not as downright challenging as the Voodoo.
Also at Viceversa is this Iannello-designed Pinnocchio toilet brush, inspired by the famous Collodi story of a mischievous puppet whose nose grew longer with each lie he told.
Finally, more Iannello creations available from Slamp are these two lights, being variations on the same theme. Two full size "aliens" (each 160 cm tall) catch your eyes with their striking shapes. The alien depicted in the first light, "Galactic embarrassment", hides themselves embarrassed. The other, "Galactic pinup", seems to be having fun. They're created in Opalflex (a special polypropylene with elevated luminous features), using a particularly sophisticated production technique that allows the design to be printed, obtaining different effects of depth on the entire object.
Raffaele Iannello's designs are always interesting and his site is worth bookmarking.
