On 10 December Porro celebrated Christmas at its showroom in Milan, via Durini 15 and simultaneously started the celebrations for its 90th birthday, which will go on throughout 2015, with a collection of wooden spinning tops designed by Piero Lissoni.

The 5 models, with alternate colour tones, theme variations coming in several combinations of materials and woods, are handmade, by turning the 16 essences of Porro’s collection, with the simple yet precious taste of daily, handmade objects and of artisanship.

If model A has a compact shape and a sinuous handle, and it’s available in the two versions A1 with an ash stem and tip and a Canaletto walnut plate and A2 with an elm stem and tip and a Canaletto walnut plate, model B plays with the contrast of colour shades along its thickness, thanks to a natural and heat-treated oak multilayer; model C with its sharp and aerodynamic shapes has a cherry stem and tip and a rosewood plate, whereas model D with its mongoi stem has a hat-shaped natural oak plate. Finally model E, in the two versions E1, with a cherry stem and ash plate, or E2, with an ash stem and cherry plate, has a large, slightly curved plate: small differences which make it possible to choose one’s favourite shape and colour combination, or to buy all of them to make a small collection.

A child’s toy which is also loved by adults, universally famous, that marks the flow of time with its spins, showing new faces time after time, and enchanting with its shapes, materials and colours, to recount Porro’s life with lightness, “on tiptoe”, along the story of contemporary design and wood research which beautifies and makes the brand’s proposals unique.

The exposition setting is Porro’s showroom set up for Christmas, whose shopping windows reproduce graphical snowflakes and the sketch of spinning tops created by Piero Lissoni, showcasing the latest products by the brand.
The dining area features the new table Ipe by Piero Lissoni with its austere, industrial silhouette, with its black back-painted crystal surface and its U-shaped iron legs, along with the chair Gentle by Front and the bookcase System in heat-treated tanne, a wooden essence characterized by its burnt color and streaky grain.
In the entrance hall, the square cupboard Schermo by Alessandro Mendini with sloping hinged doors created with an inlaid design on the front, achieved by combining three different types of wood – elm, oak and acacia – according to abstract geometric compositions, goes with Bellevue mirror by Soda Designers with its stainless steel frame and segments that are protruding yet blunted, that rotates giving diverse perspectives and refractions of reflected images.

The living area combines the small armchairs Ghiaccio di Lissoni and the adjustable table 3table by Front with a Tiller cupboard by Lissoni in eucalyptus.

Included in 12 glass cases with a multicoloured plexiglass background, different in size and proportions, the spinning tops are freely placed in space – on the surface of the Ipe table, on the shelves of the System bookcase, on Modern suspended shelf – apparently hanging in the balance, catching an instant of their rotational movement.