The Visit by Studiopepe inside Brera Design Apartment in Milan.

I’m sure you are well aware of my undying love and profound admiration for Arianna Lelli Mami and Chiara Di Pinto of Studiopepe. Not only are they the loveliest chicks you could ever hope to meet, the legit hard-working duo have carved their own path towards design superstardom over the recent years, and it is wonderful to witness their continued success and the blossoming of their practice. There are only a handful of designers and practices who are guaranteed to nail it every time (in my humble opinion), and whilst this pressure and/ or expectation is never fair on anyone, Studiopepe simply deliver. Every. Single. Time. This is due to the fact their thinking and their process is as strong as their super sharp aesthetic, not to mention that one can literally feel their hearts at the centre of everything they do. So much love, thought and care goes into their work – I almost feel like I can have a conversation with them without them actually being there, because everything they do not only looks amazing – it also has a meaning, a hidden message. This is precisely how I felt when visiting this project during Milan Design Week 2017.

Created by Arianna and Chiara, in collaboration with Matteo Artemisi and Sonia Pravato, Studiopepe’s The Visit took place within Brera Design Apartment which sits on the 3rd floor of an early 1800’s building in the heart of Milan. The space features a succession of individual rooms blessed with high ceilings, large windows, stucco walls, and herringbone parquetry. “Although we respected the original floorplan, we did not want to be overly limited by it,” said Studiopepe. Several spaces were redesigned via the use of curtains placed between spaces. The doors and windows were incorporated into the overall design of a wall drawing, one of the strong visual characteristics of the project. These wall drawings echo the ateliers of artists such as Mondrian, referencing the Bauhaus movement, becoming an outer skin of sorts – “a pulsating upholstery that composes the fabric that permeates every setting.” The furnishing elements, from the most important down to each individual object, coexist in a mutual dialogue with the colourful backgrounds that surround them.

“When we decided to present a project of our own creation for the Fuorisalone 2017, we felt we wanted tell the tale of not just a place but also a gesture, a ritual, more specifically, The Visit,” share Arianna and Chiara. “Visiting is an act that implies a physical location as well as people who host and are received there. We started out with the intimate setting of an apartment, home to the people who inhabit the city. We believe that a home is the physical transposition of our inner world. We envision it on a human scale, full of the things that make us content, frequented by people we like, a dynamic world that evolves with us, with fluid barriers and nomadic furnishings whose function can be transformed over time.”

The Visit was specifically designed for it’s location – a space that was once inhabited, with real dimensions, intimate, with lingering memories. “It’s located in an urban context that is tightly interwoven with the art world while moving progressively towards the world of design. However, it is becoming increasingly irrelevant to create distinctions between the disciplines connected to visual creative expression: design, art, and fashion. Creativity has many facets and we would like to share our vision that encompasses all of these worlds. Life itself is a free-flow of experiences.”

Living as an experience is the basis of The Visit – the experience of entering a space that tells the story of the people living there, not so much through fictitious signs of a life lived, but through the careful, meticulous stratification of signs, codes, and visions. For the design studio, this is precisely what communicated the idea of “home” in the deeper sense of the word, whether it be a private home or a boutique hotel, or any place related to the concept of welcoming and storytelling.

The rooms interconnect in a continuous play of chromatic and patterned echoes. The designers’ objective was to create an experience of all that is beautiful, through the use of stylistic clues that tell stories, speak of research, recount a particular Milanese atmosphere that is both creative and sophisticated. The masters of the past actively converse with design research. The companies selected as partners are numerous, and each represents excellence.

The furnishings were supplied by big names such as Gio Ponti as revised by Molteni&C, Vittoriano Vigano with Astep, Jean Prouvé with Vitra, Angelo Mangiarotti with Agape Casa, and Ettore Sottsass with Bitossi. “These are masters who, above and beyond any definition, have worked with the concept of necessity, an almost visceral necessity to create projects, both useful and beautiful. These pieces continue to be contemporary and convey a sense of purpose.”

The design team also fell in love with the artisanal tradition as revisited by Pietro Russo, the neo-bourgeois spirit of Spotti Edizioni, the modernism at Atelier de Troupe, Lambert & Fils and Leftover, the cutting-edge solutions of Bulthaup for the kitchen, the visionary creativity behind the textiles by Bonotto, the quality of the velvets by L’Opificio, the handmade designs by cc-tapis, the interpretation of the contemporary bathroom by Agape, and the wild delicacy of the flowers by Green Wise. The selected decorative elements incorporate the rigorous poetry behind Sfera, the contemporary elegance of Aytm, the beautiful colours of Bitossi Home, the comfortable softness of Shuj, as well as the freshness of Valverde.

Last but not least, the materials: a nearly infinite alphabet of colours from Sikkens, joined with the floor and wall coverings by Cedit and Florim, were cut to reflect Studiopepe’s design of the wall murals, combined with soft-touch laminates by FENIX NTM® that became sculptures that pay homage to the Memphis movement.

The Visit is a project that continues beyond the days of the Salone del Mobile and Milan Design Week 2017, and will continue to be animated by talks, dinners, encounters, experiences. For more information, head to this website.