Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 35
Occupation: Founder and creative director of Bloc Studios.
Instagram: @blocstudios
Hometown: Viareggio, Italy.
Studio location: Carrara, Italy.
Describe what you make: Marble collectible objects and furniture.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: We see ourself more as editor than designer. Usually our work consists of giving a brief to the selected creative and starting a dialogue with them in order to highlight the materials used. Sometimes, when an idea pops up, we also like to design—who doesn’t like that? We design both for commission projects or objects for our collections.
Describe the problem your work solves: We are a very small team of two, so for this reason my work needs to solve all kinds of problems, starting from creative decisions to production issues and general papers.
Describe the project you are working on now: We have been working on two main projects for this year’s Milan Design Week. The first one is a collaborative project with SUNNEI. We are good friends but also we have a mutual esteem. The collection metamorphoses all the typical objects of a dining room into one-of-a-kind marble pieces.
Bloc Studios + NM3 is a collaborative project that brings to light the importance of the Pietra Selva, a “forgotten stone,” by re-proposing and presenting it with a series of elegant, rigorous, schematic furniture that emphasize the hybrid and multiple aspects of materiality, technology, and form.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: A new collection of tables that will be part of our permanent collection, launching at next year’s Milan Design Week.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: Music, water, internet.
What you do when you’re not working: I love to spend time with my family, with my husband, and my three kids.
Sources of creative envy: From Italian rationalist masters like Franco Albini and Giuseppe Terragni to Carlo Scarpa and Michele de Lucchi.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Social media. Sometimes it really feels like we need a break from it. It’s nice to be so connected but at the same time it really changes how we live our relationships.
Concrete or marble? Concrete. I know it’s a paradox, but I’ve found myself a fan of concrete as I’m approaching the renovation of our house.
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse.
Remember or forget? Remember.
Aliens or ghosts? Aliens.
Dark or light? Light.
