Federico Peri: Contemporary Essentiality

​Since 2011, Federico Peri is a Milan-based interior & product design studio. From the very start, the studio represented a safe space to express the founder’s authentic design philosophy, driven by a consistent quest for the essence of form, yet with a firm eye toward contemporaneity.

Both his proximity to metal manufacturing in his early years, and the international experiences he collected abroad, by living and working in a Parisian artist's residence, deeply contributed to form Peri’s refined taste, fueling his fascination with the greatest icons of design history.

The various projects, ranging from retail concepts, commercial spaces, private homes to furniture design, perfectly showcase Peri’s functionalist approach, favoring an intimate connection to function and individual contests above all. Peri’s faithful devotion to clear lines and shapes goes hand in hand with his heartfelt desire to let the materials, often preferred in their most authentic form, speak for themselves, revealing a visceral bond with craftsmanship.

In 2019 the studio welcomed a new entry, the designer Enrica Saviane, who mainly collaborates with Federico on interior projects such as Eden Sky House and Amabilia Suites.

​How did you first become involved in the world of design? Tell us your story.

Our passion for design originated when we were young. We both attended the IED, where we met, both dreaming of doing this job, and so it was. After university, we worked for two important interior design studios in Milan, Vudafieri Saverino Partners and Storage Milano, until - in 2010 Federico and 2012 Enrica - we decided to work on our own as freelancers. We didn't always work together; in the beginning, Federico focused more on furniture, creating his collections presented at the Fuori Salone, which led him to work with Nilufar and follow various design companies such as FontanaArte and Baxter. In 2019, I officially joined him for the interior design part. Together we realized various private homes and public spaces, such as Eden Sky House and Amabilia.

Where do you draw inspiration for your projects?

Often inspiration comes from our experience: a place, a detail of a building that struck us, or simply an image that serves as a starting point to build a whole project around it. Regarding a certain project we realized for a boutique, I remember having started from a couple of details we had seen a few months earlier: a lamp and a piece of fabric. We had no idea of which imprint to give to the project, but we wanted those two things in the environment so, as you do with a compass, we focused on these details and closed the circle around them.

​In a hyper-digital world, do you often turn to social media for inspiration? If yes, which the social media platform do you use and why?

Nowadays we would be lying if we said that we don't rely on social media for inspiration. We are part of a generation that grew up doing research through books, so it is still part of our habit to flip through them for inspiration and details, especially for furniture, but at the same time it is undeniably faster and more immediate searching online. Social media, such as Instagram and Pinterest, are essential channels to stay up to date, but at the same time, we have to be careful because the risk of making copies is just around the corner.

What is your favorite project you have worked on and why?

There are several projects we enjoyed working on but I think our latest project, Amabilia, is the one we are most attached to due to a set of fortuitous coincidences. The project alone certainly deserves a place among our favorites because of the opportunity to work in a location with such an exclusive view, although sometimes it is still not enough. If there is also harmony between the people working on it, the result can only be excellent, and so it was. From the client to the company that followed the work and beyond, there was a lot of syntony and professionalism from the very beginning, and this allowed us to work on this project in the best possible way, that’s why we have a pleasant memory of it.

What do you think it’s going to be the next big trend in interior design?

To call it a trend is perhaps an exaggeration, but we believe that interior design is taking a new direction after the various lockdowns. We often discuss this topic with colleagues and we feel compelled to rethink interior design with a "new" lifestyle in mind. Not only houses, but also work and public spaces need to be reimagined. In recent years, houses are getting smaller and smaller and often have no outdoor space. This pandemic has made us reflect on how a home must be a place where everyone has their own space, reshaping it accordingly to both the needs of the family as it grows and the necessity for an outdoor space. For years, we have looked at 1970s houses with horror, because of their questionable style, but at least they were comfortable and spacious. Perhaps we should start looking at that model of dwelling in a modern light. Even if this pandemic ends tomorrow, our mentality has inevitably changed, as well as the way we experience the environment we live in.

​What epoque inspires you the most in terms of aesthetic?

The beginning of the last century certainly represents a great source of inspiration for us. Nowadays an interior by Mackintosh or Adolf Loos may seem "normal" in our contemporary times, but if we think of when they were conceived and realized, we realize how sensational it is. This also applies to the art, design, and architecture of those years. We look back to that time in history with great admiration, especially because of a great attention to details.