The Artisans

Corsi Design started off as a simple idea that grew into an international, visionary project. Gaetano Pesce and Andrea Corsi started collaborating in 2003, combining their business acumen and artistry to launch their first project, Fish Design, at the Milan Salone del Mobile in 2004. Officially renamed Corsi Design in 2010, the atelier started new collaborations with internationally renowned designers such as Enzo Mari, Paola Navone, and Alessandro Mendini. Each collection is made by master craftsmen who explore novel ways of interpreting resin.

Servomuto is a lighting design brand based in Milan. Since 2010 it has been pursuing an ambitious goal: to revisit a classic object such as the lampshade with a contemporary and sophisticated twist. The study and research behind each creation are visible in the continuous stylistic references to the world of architecture and distant places. Prestigious materials and fabrics are skillfully combined, experimenting with unusual colors and textures. The “Haute Couture” production deliberately contrasts with the mechanization of large-scale manufacturing processes. The playful and dreamy gaze with which Servomuto has always looked at light embraces the sartorial precision.

Since the 19th century, in Florence, the Mangani family has been sculpting and passing down their knowledge from father to son. In 1958, Alfiero Mangani opened a workshop where he restored porcelain, along with his sons. The small workshop attracted the interest of Tiffany, whose buyers noticed the exquisite quality of a porcelain demi-cup made by Ivan. They started a collaboration that lasted decades and lead to the creation of superb objects and lamps. Now, the new generation continues the family tradition of creating unique pieces of timeless allure and great quality.

Dale Italia, in the province of Verona, harmoniously mixes artisanal tradition, industrial experimentation, and customization to create furniture that features a great variety of woods such as walnut, oak, and alder along with steel, glass, marble, leather, and fabric. These modern pieces reinterpret traditional styles to create an interior décor designed to be touched, where objects blend in with pure matter.

Created in 1966 in the Veneto region, MM Lampadari has grown to be one of the most important interior lighting companies in the world. Its timeless pieces feature different materials such as Murano glass, all crafted using traditional methods, of which the most characteristic is iron, still hand-worked by expert artisans. Classic forms and modern allure coexist in these lamps that are unique and elegant works of art.

Mario Milana was born in Milan. After graduating from the European Institute of Design, he moved to New York City where he worked with Karim Rashid for eight years, collaborating with prestigious brands. In 2014 he founded his own eponymous studio based in New York and Milan. His collections of furniture are all handmade in and around Milan by expert craftsmen who hand-weld the steel and iron structures. The fine leather upholsteries are hand-stitched by a family of artisans. Artisanal methods, functionality, and simplicity are the staples of Milana’s sophisticated pieces.

Isabella Costantini, interior designer, has been designing high-end residential and hospitality spaces for the last 20 years. Over time, she has also specialized in furniture design, product development, styling and creative consultation. The years spent traveling throughout Europe to study the art and design, give various styles to her furniture pieces: not only she extracts the very best of it, but she brings a personal new perspective, inspired by the timeless designs of the 20th century.

CreArt was created in 1968 in Empoli, Tuscany, a city near Florence known for its artistic traditions and its production of glassworks since the 14th century. At CreArt, expert glass and crystal merchants, master craftsmen of metal casting and glass engravers come together, constantly researching and developing techniques for creating and embellishing their internationally sold artifacts. They gather from ancient Italian, French, and English palaces. High-quality materials, elegance, craftsmanship and superb customer service are what set CreArt apart.

For more than two decades, Valentina has been creating limited edition pieces of furniture and home décor entirely by hand with artisanal methods in her workshop in Sarzana. Her fascinating creations, with their unique point of view on lifestyle and design, combine the use of the finest fabrics with brass, iron, crystals, metal sheets, and fiberglass to evoke a distinct and alluring world.

This workshop opened in 1981 in Samugheo, Sardinia, and since then has been creating textiles with striking patterns, many passed down for generations. Each piece is manufactured using long-established techniques, including some that were almost forgotten. While rediscovering tradition, the brand constantly focuses on reinventing the ancient art of making fabric with an innovative and modern approach.

The Bitossi family, heirs to a centuries-old tradition, has been producing ceramics for generations, in the area of Montelupo Fiorentino, a place of ancient ceramic tradition since the 15th century. The company, founded by Guido Bitossi in 1921, found a new stylistic modernity in the 1950s under the artistic direction of Aldo Londi. In 1955 the company began a collaboration with architect Ettore Sottsass and other designers who, attracted by the historicity of the brand, would continue to create collections of high aesthetic and conceptual value. The company today, led by Ginevra Bitossi, the fourth generation of the family, through investigations in the Bitossi Museum Archive, offers design collections, with evocative references to the history of the product.

Daniela Forti was born in Rome, where she studied architecture and interior design. When she moved to Tuscany and opened her workshop there, she started collaborating with glassmakers and researching the dualism between light and glass. She hand-manufactures each piece using the “vetrofusione” technique: by melting glass, this artist creates whimsical, strikingly original worlds where this material acquires vivid colors and malleable shapes, and light gains a new, metaphysical essence

Following a passion he had since his teenage years, Stefano Raffa became a photographer and collaborated with international magazines. When in 2006 he moved his studio into an old furnace in Milan, he was introduced to a stimulating environment of artists that encouraged him to explore another passion of his: manufacturing. Now he uses refined materials such as ebony and horn to create by hand exquisite, one-of-a-kind objects with a rigorous attention to detail and the absence of toxic products and solvents.

Royal Trunk’s masters craft limited edition luggage, storage, and home décor customizable pieces inspired by Italy’s sophisticated lifestyle and the timeless allure of vintage traveling trunks. Each patch of leather used is handpicked and the wooden structure of each item can take up to five days to shape, sand, and lacquer. The artisans could work up to 250 hours to hand-craft one single piece, which then passes through a very strict series of quality tests to guarantee its perfection.

Since 1965, in the heart of Rome, the artisans of D’Oro Collection print and bind books entirely by hand using the finest leather, paper, silk, and handcrafting bas-relief covers finished with gold leaf. Manufactured using ancient artisanal methods, these books become jewels made to preserve history, tradition, and excellence for future generations.

Durame is a company born in Cantù, the heart of Brianza, one of the most important district for the manufacturing of furniture and pieces of interior design. Durame combines the passion for artisanal woodworking, passed from generation to generation, with the desire to make modern pieces of furniture and original home décor. In these unique objects hand made by expert artisans, a spirit of innovation harmoniously coexist with the finest tradition of Italian design and craftsmanship.

Giordano Viganò has been working wood for more than 50 years. Thank to his passion for his craft, through the years he has created custom-made, award-winning pieces of furniture to adorn private residences, as well as many prototypes that have become iconic, such as the Shiro Kuramata collection for Cappellini of 1986. The high quality of the materials, a manufacturing process that carefully follows every detail of production, and the combination of modern technology with traditional craftsmanship make these objects precious, unique, and timeless.

OC’s artistic director Lapo Ciatti represents the third generation of the Ciatti family. He has being following the guidelines of Bruno Rainaldi, who retired in 2011 after creating various exquisite collections, among them Ptolomeo for which he had received the prestigious design award “Compasso d’oro” in 2004. Lapo Ciatti’s passion for design applied to everyday furniture makes every OC object a masterpiece meant to last forever.

Ghidini Bosco has been creating custom-made brass objects for more than 60 years, in a factory where each stage of production is meticulously developed. In 2016, the company started the new brand “Ghidini 1961” which collaborates with international designers to create innovative, timeless pieces in stainless steel and brass, chiseled with all the care for every detail that is distinctive of Ghidini’s fine craftsmanship.

Alberto and Paolo Sala with Federico Ferrari created Edizioni Design in Milano out of a common passion for design and architecture. Their objects are minimalist, with shapes strongly linked to their functions, while the technology used is deliberately “lo-fi” and employs stones and metals with different and precious finishes. The result is something that they call “naked design”: sleek pieces that are also evocative and full of emotions.