This article is part of our Design special report previewing Milan Design Week.
Known for palettes that are as flamboyant as his characters, the Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar uses color as an actor with its own dramatic energy. Recently, he teamed up with Roche Bobois, also renowned for its splashy color sense, to modify classic works from the French furniture company’s catalog that will be introduced in Roche Bobois’s Milan showroom during the city’s Design Week.
The Lounge sofa, for example, a precursor of the company’s modular Mah Jong seating that was originally designed in 1971 by Hans Hopfer, is being reissued in an edition of 50 for this occasion. Each sofa will feature iconic images from Almodóvar movies and film posters, and will be signed and numbered by the director.
Also on view will be the 11-year-old Bubble sofa, designed by Sacha Lakic. Bubble will be shown in four new colors — sky, moss, sun and fiery red — that are heroes of Mr. Almodóvar’s most recent film, “The Room Next Door,” a meditation on friendship and death starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, which was released late last year. (The sofa itself has a cameo in that movie, popping up in a scene set in a gym.)
A sideboard from Roche Bobois’s Rondo collection has been updated with new door panels featuring designs inspired by film posters and Almodóvar’s own still-life photos. The director also designed rugs and cushions that have movie poster motifs, including the floral pattern representing “Volver” (2006), the heavily mascaraed eyes from “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” (1988) and the deadly stiletto signifying “High Heels” (1991).
Apart from the limited-edition Lounge sofa, the collection will be available for purchase in mid-September, in Roche Bobois stores.
“I think these are pieces of furniture you can truly live with, and they evoke a very positive feeling,” Mr. Almodóvar wrote in an email. “The colors and patterns I’ve chosen reflect an intense joie de vivre. I believe that waking up and walking on that rug, or sitting on one of these pieces, will give you a sense of optimism.”
Éric Amourdedieu, the executive director of Roche Bobois Group, wrote in an email, “This collaboration with Pedro Almodóvar is a celebration of color, emotion and creative boldness. His unique perspective has breathed new energy into iconic Roche Bobois pieces, creating a vibrant collection inspired by the artist’s singular use of color.”
Mr. Almodóvar said his early aesthetic inspiration for his color sense was late 1950s cinema. “I seek that explosion of Technicolor that corresponds to the colors of my childhood. And also to my own state of mind. But also to that of the characters I create, because these characters — whom I sometimes place in extreme situations — are very baroque, very flamboyant. This kind of coloration suits them best.”
Two hues have dominated his cinematic palette, Mr. Almodóvar said. “I remember, for instance, that red has always been present.” And he recalled using green for the first time in “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!,” released in 1989: “There was a green sofa on which Victoria Abril appeared,” he said referring to the film’s star.
Those colors remain prominent in “The Room Next Door,” appearing in furnishings, clothing, makeup, cars and more. In the house in which much of the movie takes place, for example, a Roche Bobois Allusion sofa, also designed by Sacha Lakic, has been upholstered in a green fabric. On the terrace, a pair of Bitta deck chairs from Kettal appear, one in green, the other in a rusty red. Ms. Moore’s character drives a red Volvo XC60. When she goes to the gym, her trainer has on bright red socks. Both she and the character played by Ms. Swinton have a fondness for red lipstick.
For the project, his first full-length feature film in English, Mr. Almodóvar collaborated with the production designer Inbal Weinberg. The house belonging to Ms. Swinton’s character is supposed to be in upstate New York, but is actually in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, a small town near Madrid.
“A lot of my work was making sure things felt like they could be in New York and still have Pedro’s signature style,” said Ms. Weinberg by phone. A great many modifications were made to the home, including repainting all the interior walls a warmer white, replacing all of the existing furniture and objects, covering the pale wood elements with slightly darker and warmer cladding — even landscaping the grounds to represent the American Northeast and to include some bright red flowers.
Ms. Weinberg said the intense palette was meant as a counterpoint to the tragic story line, which, based on a novel by Sigrid Nunez, involves the planned suicide of a terminally ill character. Mr. Almodóvar “really wanted to step away from that and say, ‘No, we’re celebrating life. Life goes on around us, and there’s beauty everywhere.’”
At the same time, she added, they made the visual tone perhaps less vibrant than other Almodóvar films to reflect the somber plot.
The process of getting the set ready for shooting, Ms. Weinberg said, meant bringing in all the elements to test, often multiple times. “You can’t make decisions on one aspect of the visual design in a vacuum; it all has to come together for him to know if it’s working or not,” she said of the director.
“I never request just one sofa — I ask for two or three to have options,” Mr. Almodóvar confirmed. Once the floor and wall colors are locked in, the furniture is next, then the characters themselves.
“I position the actor or actress on the sofa, also testing different costumes and dresses,” he said. “At that point, it becomes three-dimensional — I work like a painter, but with objects rather than just colors.”
Does his own home look like any of his films?
Well, not entirely, he said. “At home, I decorate less. It is essentially a collection of furniture used in my films, but less harmonious than in the movies. Sometimes it looks like a furniture store.”
Mr. Almodóvar added: “For me, living in a space filled with furniture — maybe even too much furniture — doesn’t bother me. I don’t feel overwhelmed by it. But, for someone else, I imagine it might feel like total chaos.”
Roche Bobois will exhibit its Pedro Almodóvar-inspired collection starting Thursday, April 10, at its showroom at 14 Via Felice Cavallotti; roche-bobois.com.
