Shape Shifters

They might be the pale mint color of a macaroon, a beige the texture and shade of face powder, or a tactile coral as delicate and fuzzy as the skin of a peach. There will be esoteric collections, decorative things that are there to delight the eye; a ceramic bull’s head, a barnacle encrusted vessel, a group of rocks grouped together to establish a mood. Who lives here? An archaeologist from the future? Shapes beget other shapes, so a rug is no mere rectangle but an amorphous, textural island; mirrors drip with fringe, a classical pediment holds a stone fragment or a giant shell.

It’s no surprise to discover that the female design duo behind such deftly layered beauty, partners, Arianna Lelli Mami and Chiara Di Pinto foster preoccupations other than design which they employ to evoke the ‘genius loci’, the spiritual vibration of their interiors.

Although they both attended the Polytechnic of Milan at the same time, they didn’t get to know each other until later, meeting accidentally on a beach in Mexico when Arianna spotted Chiara’s red hair from a distance. Before joining forces in 2006, they worked as interiors stylists and journalists on magazines, experience which gave them the chance to experiment with different materials, creating or embellishing temporary environments. Nowadays they use their editorial brains to establish narratives for their projects, inventing names and back stories the objects they conceive. Arianna credits Milan with being the ideal place to create given its manufacturing resources but the studio takes on projects for clients all over the world from Turkey to Thailand. ‘We try to interpret the client’s sensibility with our vision and add our own ideas’ says Arianna.

The Studio’s signature style always involves contrasting and clashing materials, unexpected combinations of elemental ingredients like stone or concrete teamed with buttery leather, silks and velvets. Even floors are exploited as a canvas for color, often carpeted in smooth swathes of pastel that echo the shades of the walls.

Every kind of design project from product and exhibition design to residential interiors has landed in their laps but they would love to create hotel from top to bottom.