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ZANELLATO/BORTOTTO
by CulturedMag
GIORGIA ZANELLATO AND DANIELE BORTOTTO founded their eponymous studio in Treviso, Italy, 10 years ago. Since then, the pair has dabbled in product design, art direction, and interior design, and collaborated with storied brands, including Tod’s and Pierre Frey. For their third Objets Nomades partnership with Louis Vuitton, the studio created Basket Table, drawing on the French house’s research on woven materials.
WHERE DO YOU FIND INSPIRATION? Venice is very dear to us, and, because of its thousand years of history, it has so many stories to tell. It is our pleasure to express them through our projects.
HOW IS ZANELLATO/BORTOTTO’S ETHOS REFLECTED IN THESE NEW OBJETS NOMADES? Collaboration, dialogue, and exchange are fundamental principles for good design. During the development of our new Objets Nomades, we collaborated with Louis Vuitton’s design team to obtain the best possible result. Internally in our studio, the exchange of ideas is key—it leads to all of our choices.
WHAT’S A DESIGN FRONTIER THAT YOU’RE EXCITED TO EXPLORE? We would like to experiment with interior design. It is interesting to contextualize our design objects in spaces and mix them together with what we like.
ATELIER OÏ was founded in 1991 by Aurel Aebi, Armand Louis, and Patrick Reymond, and has been an Objets Nomades partner since the collection’s inaugural edition 11 years ago. This year, the Swiss studio—whose offices overlook the serene Lac de Bienne in La Neuveville—presented four new objects, including Quetzal, a bird-like mobile, and Chandelier, a 1.2-meter high leather- and light-filled sculpture.
WHERE DO YOU FIND INSPIRATION? In the Moïtel [our headquarters], there are spaces dedicated to projects that are either in progress or already completed. Our designers draw on the “living archive” of previous projects to inform and inspire new creations in the context of each new challenge. It is like the yeast in breadmaking: Something taken from one project is used to enrich and elevate the next.
HOW IS ATELIER OÏ’S ETHOS REFLECTED IN THESE NEW OBJETS NOMADES? “It is said that some think, others act! But the true condition of human beings is to think with their hands.” –Denis de Rougemont, [Penser avec les mains, 1972]. Our creative process begins by interacting with the material. We become familiar with it, and identify its characteristics, limits, possibilities, and phenomena. It is through our hands that we come into contact with it and that is why we express ourselves mainly through them—thinking with our hands.
WHAT’S A DESIGN FRONTIER THAT YOU’RE EXCITED TO EXPLORE? We are fortunate to be able to tackle projects of all sizes, from pens to residences. It’s exciting to see how our projects transform and scale—an object can be transformed into an installation that fills an entire space—or how our own techniques can inspire new creations.
RAW EDGES’S BINDA SOFA FOR LOUIS VUITTON’S OBJETS NOMADES 2023. PHOTOGRAPHY BY PHILIPPE LACOMBE.
