The Artisans

Digital artist Alessandro Pongan was born in 1963 in La Spezia and grew up between Milan and Brazil. Augusto Garau and Bruno Munari are among his teachers at the Polytechnic School of Design, where he graduated in 1983 majoring in Visual Design. He founded Officina Design in 1988 after years of working as a freelancer. His illustrious career as art director, set designer, and content creator in the field of communication and special events includes concepts for the Milan Expo 2015, and Expo Dubai 2020 and on commission for Lamborghini, Fiat, Maserati, AlfaRomeo, and Alessi on important projects and TV design in Athens for the national broadcaster Ant1 for the creation of television programs. Finalist in the international competition LAGI - Land Art Generator 2019, it was published in the book "Return to the Source" published by Prestel for its Red Giant concept, a public artwork capable of generating energy through solar rays.

Michele Stagni’s first drawings were reproductions of animals he found in encyclopedias as a child, spending hours shaping his own personal style. Drawing and sculpture, which he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence, built the foundations for his captivating, distinctive style which, within the artist’s body of work, finds its greatest expression in painting. Based in Livorno, Tuscany, Stagni’s intimate and emotionally-charged oeuvres have been exhibited throughout Italy.

Founded by Riccardo Redaelli, laErre Trunks is an Italian design company with over twenty years of experience in suitcase manufacturing. Paying particular attention to customers’ bespoke needs, laErre combines craftsmanship with cutting-edge design and industrial techniques to create singular travel companions marked by exceptional quality and sophistication that will withstand the test of time.

Born in Cologne, Germany, and raised in Italy, Stefano De Luigi began his career as an internationally recognized photographer by collaborating with the Louvre Museum between 1991 and 1993. His works focus on exploring the human condition and contemporary social issues. De Luigi is a member of the international photographic collective VIIPhoto, is a published author, and has contributed to the New Yorker and Time covers and editorials. He currently lives in Montreuil, France.

An internationally recognized visual artist, researcher, and National Geographic Fellow, Davide Monteleone’s interdisciplinary work includes image-making, visual journalism, and writing. He lived in Russia for ten years, where he produced his early series and four critically acclaimed monographs. A contributor to magazines such as Time, National Geographic, and The New Yorker, Monteleone’s work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums, including the Saatchi Gallery (London), the Nobel Peace Center (Oslo), the MEP (Paris), and Palazzo Delle Esposizioni (Rome).

Born in 1954 in Cagliari, Sardinia, Giampaolo Atzeni is a world-renowned artist whose latest project is paintings of surrealist inspiration with a distinctive style that the artist began developing in the ‘90s. After completing his Architecture studies in Florence, he worked as an actor in theatre and later as a photojournalist working in Africa, India, and the Middle East. He transitioned to digital art at the end of the 1990s during the spread of new computerized technologies. His works are exhibited internationally. He currently lives between Rome and Tenerife.

Reflecting upon reality and its various manifestations, photographer Carlo Matteo Golia began his career with the project "Fuori Orario" exhibited at the Toselli Gallery in Milan, Italy. Inspired by other contemporary artists, notably Marisa Merz, Lisa Ponti, and Giorgio Colombo, his works exude a distinctive pop style that explores different perspectives of mundane or daily life. Golia’s projects have been critically acclaimed and published internationally.

An internationally recognized artist in the Italian contemporary art scene, Chiara Sorgato began her artistic training at the Fine Arts Academy of Venice, where she studied Painting. In 2012, she won an artist residency at the Fondazione Bevilacqua la Masa in Venice where she produced several important oeuvres. Her works have been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums around the world. She currently lives and works in Milan.

Rosaria Corcione has been working in Naples since 2003. Her work is original and devoted to research, transforming real life situations into artworks, including sculpture and eclectic installations. Her work is often symbolic: Classic art, Renaissance, Baroque, but she also explores human existential concepts such as womanhood.

A student of artist and professor Pier Giorgio Balocchi at the Academy of Fine Arts of Carrara, Italy, Federico Caruso first trained as a set and costume designer for opera house and ballet, collaborating with Franco Zeffirelli in Tokyo and New York. At the same time, he developed a personal painting style, exploring the theme of “Anatomy of evanescence” marked by fluid and luminous brushstrokes made with oil painting, charcoal, and pastel colors.

Born in Alghero, an Italian city on the northwest coast of Sardinia, Antonio Bardino is an internationally renowned artist specializing in mosaic art. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts, he focuses his artistic work on experimenting with new graphic technologies in painting to portray the singularity of Nature. His latest oeuvres feature evocative depictions of plants inspired by the natural processes of birth, evolution, and growth.

An award-winning artist of the contemporary scene, Sicilian-born artist Matteo Mauro has worked alongside renowned designers and artists the likes of Ron Arad and Isaie Bloch. A professor of digital art in London-based universities like UCL and LSBU, his works have been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, Marte Museum, and the Salon des Indépendants at the Grand Palais, to name a few. Defined by Forbes as the main Italian exponent of crypto-art, he collaborates with high-profile international brands on his digital paintings.

Born in 1988 in Ragusa and currently living in Palazzolo Acreide, Sicily, Salvo Alibrio is a brilliant, world-renowned photographer. A graduate of the John Kaverdash Academy of Photography in Milan, he opened his namesake studio in 2013. He is the man behind the 2020 Dolce & Gabbana’s ad campaign and reporting for Le Figaro Magazine and Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain. His successes include winner of the “People & Cultures” category at National Geographic Italy and first prize in the “Events'' category at the 2016 Tokyo International Photo Awards, to name a few.

Founded in 1968, Driade is an interior design brand that merges a refined artistic aesthetic with an ergonomic idea of functionality. Offering indoor and outdoor furniture perfect for commercial and private decors, its collections showcase an eclectic and inventive style that nonetheless remains timeless and elegant. The remarkable melting pot of cultures and sensibilities inspires Driade’s creative team and artisans, who seek to create pieces that reflect this magnificent diversity and curiosity for discovery.

Born in Genova in 1974, Raffaele Canepa was first introduced to analog photography as a child by his father. After a twenty-year-long career as a film producer, he started experimenting with infrared light (IR) and architecture, particularly how light responds to different materials and light conditions. Between 2015 and 2018 he produced two extensive series on Milan’s and Rome’s iconic buildings. His travels across the Middle East, South America, and Central and Eastern Asia focus on architecture and minimal landscapes, cultivating his passion for infrared photography.

Landscape photographer, nature guide, and professor of photography, Emilio Messina is a Sicilian-based artist dedicated to exploring the island’s little-known and uncontaminated places. His shots and articles have been published in newspapers, books, and magazines such as “Le Montagne Incantate” (National Geographic) and “Le Vie dei Tesori” magazines. His works have been featured in solo and group photographic exhibitions as well as ad campaigns and TV shows. He is also a co-author of “Borghi di Sicilia” (Dario Flaccovio Editore) and “Sicilia Vulcanica” (Moroni Editore).

Architect and artisan Riccardo Monte specializes in timber charring, a technique that consists in firing the bottom of wooden posts inspired by the ancient Japanese technique Shou Sugi ban used for timber preservation. Embracing the visual and tactile qualities of the technique, he creates bold, monolithic furniture distinguished by a singular texture. After working in London as an architect, he returned to his mountainside home in Ornavasso, Italy in 2016 and spent six months in a remote mountain cabin to get closer to nature and embrace a simple life.

Visual artist and novelist Gabriele Picco was born in Brescia in 1974. His drawings, paintings, and sculptures have been hosted in museums and private galleries worldwide, namely Eutopia in Shanghai and the Biennial Art exhibitions in Tirana, Prague, and Milan. Most notably, seventeen of his drawings have been included in the New York MoMA. In 2021, he participated in the “Imagination is a magic carpet” exhibition for the Turin ATP finals.

A visual artist, designer, and artisan from Rome, Cristiana Vignatelli Bruni has exhibited her works in renowned art galleries and museums in Italy, the Netherlands, and South Korea. Based in the idyllic Roman countryside, her work is interdisciplinary and is rooted in an unconventional definition of luxury, wherein art is present in everyday life in playful ways. Vignatelli Bruni creatively experiments with shapes and colors that do not conform to mainstream beauty standards to awaken our senses, brighten our relationships, and turn a simple gesture into something special.

Born in Rome in 1984 and raised between Argentina and Italy, Ilaria Facci is a contemporary artist and photographer whose stunning works explore a difficult existence, scarred by a retinoblastoma diagnosis when she was only two years of age. In 2014, her series of photographs ‘Autoscatti Sbagliati’ (wrong self-portraits) were showcased in renowned magazines, notably Inside Art and Vanity Fair. She published a book of poetry and photographs titled "Blu" in 2018, with a foreword by Italian art critic and curator Vittorio Sgarbi, who later curated other books and exhibitions for her.