Another appreciated quality its light stability

Maserati is used for the seats and dashboard of the Gransport MC Victory, Audi lined with the passenger compartment of the Q7, Ferretti does the same for the decoration of its yachts... The list is long of the prestigious customers of Alcantara. Invented in 1972 by Japanese researchers for an alternative to the fallow deer, this synthetic material of polymer, moiré and velvety as chamois skin, but much more resistant, lends itself to multiple uses. Its manufacturer, the Italian company Alcantara SpA decided to let know to the public.

The opening of a vast showroom two years Via Tortona in Milan and the advertising campaign in decoration magazines are part of the operation seduction based on the prestige of the "made in Italy". Piloted by Patrizia Beltrami communication Director and designer Giulio Cappellini, the Alcantara Lab sponsors a competition open to students and creative since last year. Theme in 2008: travel and nomadism. Submission of projects on 21 November with an awards ceremony scheduled in Paris on 22 January in the margins of Fashion Week. In 2007, the candidates had worked on the objects of everyday life: logical, the motto of the manufacturer is not to make "extraordinary every day"

The first to have understood are the car manufacturers. Lancia, in particular, that, in 1985, Bishops of Alcantara seats of the Thema. The product was launched and the automobile represents today approximately 60 of the opportunities of the plant North of Rome in Nera Montoro, in the hills of Umbria.

Light stability

Head of the Department of research & Development, Carlo Ammirati tells how characteristics have imposed the Alcantara in the binnacles. "More comfortable than fallow deer because antiperspirant, its light weight and the fact that we can associate it with other materials by welding in fact an ally of the engineers who seek to reduce the weight of the cars.". Gain can reach 20 kg per vehicle. "Another appreciated quality: its light stability. Test in the testing laboratory of the centre, a sample of a deep black well tomorrow, which could cover the wheels.

When asked about his goals to five years, the pattern of Alcantara, Andrea Boragno, responds to the tac TAC that after the Interior of the vehicle he would like to tackle their body! It would be wrong to only see as a joke, both the product managed to slip across. The fact that it is washable and much stronger than most tissues made a furniture and decoration. Including designers the most "trendy" as Patricia Urquiola covered her wheelchair for Moroso Fjord. Icons of the design of the 1960s and 1970s, Zanotta and the Ligne Roset Togo couch bag have also adopted it.

Conquered male universe

Lelièvre, the prestigious publisher of tissues, has entered it in its catalogue. Supreme dedication: its use in shops hotels Puerta Madrid and Milan nhow Americana, two places of the contemporary "companies". "These collaborations illustrate the work in depth with the world of design and style", welcomed Patrizia Beltrami. Among the recent converted, Nokia chose this area to protect its phones, opening the market of technology and multimedia.

In the universe of luxury accessories, Louis Vuitton double this product some of his bags since 20 years. Chanel also. In fashion, it is on the male marks seems to have the most followers. PAL Zileri uses it by small keys for the lining of collars and parts of elbow of its sport jackets. Close to the automotive universe, the German designer Heinz Bauer associates it with the leather for his Original Cabrio jackets at the wheel of a convertible. Remains to overcome the resistance of the women who Alcantara is still often synonymous with fashion for "seniors". Playing on its extreme flexibility, Riccardo Tisci, the new artistic director of Givenchy, engaged in an exercise in style in black and white in one of his recent parades. Will there be to emulate