DimoreStudio in Milan

DimoreStudio like to leave the nicks and scratches when refurbishing furniture, their colours are often faded, and there’s always something slightly messy, lived-in or off-kilter that makes for a welcoming, easy atmosphere. Founded in 2003 by Britt Moran and Emiliano Salci, the Milan-based interior design studio has developed a reputation for its carefully curated mix of contemporary and historical design.

Showing iconoclastic designs alongside some of their own works in a silver cube, DimoreStudio’s MiArt fair stand functioned as a vignette of this design philosophy. Work by Alvaar Alto, Gino Sarfatti, Jean Prouvé, Carlo Scarpa and others introduced a simultaneously modern and nostalgic gravitas to the contemporary lamps, book screens and chairs of DimoreStudio. It is “a contamination of signs, suggestions and quotations”.

‘Dimore’ is Italian for dwelling, but has a nostalgic undertone – the studio did tell Forbes that time is one of their key inspirations. Creating space for pause and escape was their Circolo Reduci e Combattentiinstallation, during both Milan Design Week and MiArt. With multicultural references ranging from Los Vegas to India, the covered pavilion provided an imaginative bubble for DimoreStudio’s Verande outdoor collection. A nautical mood was created with baby blue curtains, walls punctuated with porthole lights, and a ceiling filled with sunset-toned balloons. Big leafy plants, bold bespoke fabrics and powder-coated steel furniture evoked languid days by the water.

Also with a distinctly retro but still post-futurist atmosphere was their Via Solferino exhibition, which used patterns on a linoleum floor to guide visitors through the space. Pure graphics contrasted vintage decorative elements in the duo’s distinctive style. Colour blocked walls and multiple mirrors created modulating spatial effects. Two lived-in 1970s style rooms behind glass displayed their new fabrics with 3D-effects, as well as their Progetto Non Finito range including small wardrobes, mirror top coffee tables, lamps, and a plexiglass and steel desk. Their new handpainted ceramic tiles for Ceramica Bardelli, Corrispondenza, were also installed to demonstrate their kaleidoscopic effect.