Informale

There is no rigid structure, no clear boundary between art and design, between light and substance, between image and perception. As in the Informal Art movement, the works elude singular classification and open themselves up to multiple interpretations, inviting the viewer into a sensory and immersive experience. In this realm of expressive freedom, even the sense of smell plays a central role with Profumo Informale, a fragrance specially created for the project by fragrance designer Nuria du Chêne de Vère. This olfactory journey dissolves traditional labels and invites an intimate, personal interaction with both the space and the works on display. The fragrance is housed in Hōra, a scented vessel designed by Maurizio Bergo chosen by Nuria du Chêne de Vère as a “capsule” for the essence of the project.

VOGHERA 14

Hosting the project is Voghera 14, the studio I co-founded with Valentina Ottone in the vibrant heart of the Tortona district in Milan. This newly opened, multifaceted hub brings together the experience of communication professionals with the creativity of artists, artisans, and designers, fostering bespoke projects and collaborations across furniture, fashion, and lifestyle.

Set within a charming courtyard typical of Milan’s case di ringhiera, the space unfolds across several rooms and opens with a storefront on Via Cerano — encouraging a dialogue between interior and exterior, intimacy and urban vitality.

Within these walls, where I exhibit and narrate my curated furniture proposals, two of the key players in Informale — Azimut Design and Costantino Gucci — have now established their

WORKS ON DISPLAY

Azimut Design presents Eterea, a collection that translates the stillness of light refraction into furnishings of suspended allure. The surfaces are alive, responsive to light and touch, evoking a meditative experience suspended between transparency and solid reflection.

The folding screens rise like delicate pages from a diary of light and shadow — frozen paper cutouts suspended in the air. Their surfaces alternate between glossy and satin finishes, capturing the ambient light and scattering it into subtle glimmers that gently ripple through the space.

The low bench, two meters long, becomes a threshold between the tangible and the intangible: a solid yet ethereal volume that reflects its surroundings while offering a moment of pause and contemplation. The console, slender and refined, unfolds as a functional installation — a surface floating between reflections and transparencies, amplifying the light it receives and diffusing it gracefully into the interior space.

The Eterea furnishings resemble solidified light: they do not occupy space so much as reveal it. They merge into their surroundings, restoring a poetic dimension made of luminous silences and reflections that speak to both mind and soul. The entire collection rests on an evocative structure of metal basins, where water — like a tuning fork — vibrates with each step of the visitor.

Costantino Gucci, with his Portals series, redefines the boundary between reality and illusion. His works in glass and mirror dissolve reflection into a fluid interplay of transitions — like the rippling surface of water — transforming perception into a dynamic, immersive experience.

Portal 0 is a visual gateway, an invitation to immerse oneself in a transformed reality, where the boundary between what is seen and what is reflected dissolves. The reflection appears unstable, suspended in continuous motion, fragmenting and reassembling reality in unpredictable ways. This arched mirror is a call to exploration — a passage toward the unknown that urges the viewer to question what they see and what they imagine.

Portal Lim opens a threshold between perception and reality — a mirror “that does not define, but opens.” Its center, crafted from rippled glass, distorts the image and fragments its clarity, suggesting a new way of seeing the self. The outer ring, a clear mirror, is subtly tinted with sea-green, creating an imperceptible fusion between the two surfaces, blurring the line between clarity and distortion.

Francesco Doria Lamba, artist and designer, delves into the concept of the stain as a tool for fragmenting the image. For him, the stain is a metaphor of perception — a dynamic, ever-evolving process in which the image is not a static or complete entity, but a mosaic of fragments in constant transformation. Here, the stain is not a flaw or distortion, but an opening — revealing the complexity and ambiguity of reality, and inviting the viewer to uncover multiple layers of meaning hidden beneath an apparently uniform surface.

In collaboration with Costantino Gucci, he presents Macchie e Frammenti (Stains and Fragments), a series where the boundary between art and design becomes fluid: art expresses, design functions. But what happens when an object defies this distinction? Mirrors that fracture reflection, carpets too beautiful to tread upon, paintings that break free from their traditional confines to become living, interactive surfaces capable of engaging the viewer. More than objects, these are materialized fragments of thought — inhabiting both physical and mental space.

Supporting the two designers is Sirecom, a company that has stood out since 1976 for its entirely bespoke, tailor-made carpet production.

THE OLFACTORY EXPERIENCE 

Profumo Informale introduces an olfactory distortion that challenges our habitual associations between scent and form. Accustomed as we are to interpreting the world through predefined labels, here we are invited to trust our sense of smell and explore fragrance free from preconceptions — in an intimate, personal way.

The fragrance, conceived by Nuria du Chêne de Vère in direct response to the concepts developed by the designers, reveals itself as a transparent yet enveloping cloud. It adapts to the space and the works on display, subtly evolving over time in harmony with each individual’s perception. It is not a mere decorative element, but rather a catalyst for memory and sensation — amplifying the dialogue between matter and image, between the visible and the invisible.

To give form to this unique experience, the designer chose Hōra, the scented vessel created by Maurizio Bergo, as the capsule for the fragrance. This iconic object, inspired by the observation of primary forms — the cone and the sphere — fuses brushed aluminum and blown glass in a harmonious dialogue between rigor and delicacy, solidity and fragility.

Its minimal geometry allows the fragrance to diffuse gradually into the space, becoming an integral part of the immersive experience — where scent blends with light and matter in an aesthetic and olfactory ritual.