Roberto Faraone Mennella has been busy, for the past few weeks, designing the Spring/Summer windows of Faraone Mennella London! The boutique is, and will be for the whole season, a chic “Orangery” full of colorful flowers , rare gemstones and one-of-kind jewels.
The “Orangery” originated from the Renaissance gardens of Italy, when glass-making technology enabled sufficient expanses of clear glass to be produced. Soon after, Orangeries became symbols of status among the wealthy. The 1617 Orangery (now Musée de l’Orangerie) at the Palace of the Louvre, inspired imitations that culminated in Europe’s largest orangery. Designed by Jules Hardouin-Mansart for Louis XIV’s 3,000 orange trees at Versailles, its dimensions of 508 feet (155 m) by 42 feet (13 m) were not eclipsed until the development of the modern greenhouse in the 1840s, and were quickly overshadowed by the glass architecture of Joseph Paxton. Notable for his 1851 design of the Crystal Palace, his “great conservatory” at Chatsworth House was an orangery and glass house of monumental proportions.
The orangery, however, was not just a greenhouse but a symbol of prestige and wealth and a feature of gardens, in the same way as a summerhouse, folly or “Grecian temple”. Owners would conduct their guests there on tours of the garden to admire not only the fruits within but the architecture without. Often the orangery would contain fountains, grottos, and an area in which to entertain in inclement weather.
