Wednesday, 16 April 2008 | Levent OZLER
Five Floral Fiats in Milan
It was more a case of Bloom Bloom than Broom Broom in Milan yesterday when Italian police grounded a fleet of floral Fiats on their way to the design centre of Milan for the opening day of Salone Internazionale del Mobile, the biggest event on the international design calendar.
The cars, each of which had been decorated with a floral livery created by one of five designers, were scheduled to drive around the Zona Tortona, promoting the beauty of flowers to the audience of design journalists that frequent the Zona on Press Day. However, en route, they were flagged down by police, and deemed unsafe to negotiate the equally hazardous Milanese traffic. The cars were given a police escort with motorbike outriders who stopped traffic in order to let the floral convoy through to the Via Tortona, where it has been carefully replanted in front of the Hotel NHow.
The designers include Karim Rashid, Arik Levy, Fredrikson Stallard, Studio Arne Quinze and Studio Job - all major names on the design circuit.
A spokesman for the Flower Council of Holland, who provided the flowers for the event, said, "It's a shame that we've been grounded, but even if the cars don't move, they're still fantastic to look at - it's not every day you get the chance to see a Fiat 500 covered in 1,000 pink chrysanthemums."
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