MASSIMO CASTAGNA

Graduated in architecture in 1984 at the Polytechnic of Milan, he began his professional activity in 1986 founding the AD architecture firm dealing with architecture and interior design. From 1991 he started the activity in the furnishing sector with planning and consulting for the formation and restructuring of furniture sales points and collaborations with companies in the sector. Among the main customers: Minotti, armchairs and sofas (exibition design and product), Rossana RB cucine (art direction, design and products exhibition), Roda Interior Garden design (art direction, exhibition design), Ceccotti Collections (art direction, design and product exhibition), Acerbis International (product). Since 2000 he has lectured at the Master “Interior Manager” organized by Federmobile at Polidesign in Milan. Numerous achievements in the field of architecture and interior design including residential houses, hotels, tourism facilities, and shops and commercial buildings.

STUDIO DRIFT

Both graduates from the Design Academy Eindhoven, Ralph Nauta and Lonneke Gordijn founded Studio DRIFT together with the vision of creating design that reacts to and questions human behavior in 2006. Nauta’s expertise in crafts, materials and production techniques, and Gordijn’s sense for shapes and strong concepts compliment one another. Their designs amalgamate nature and technology, ideology and reality. Their aim is to make original and passionate designs, using the best materials and the latest production technologies. Studio DRIFT’s work includes the Flylight, Fragile Future 3 (FF3), Shylight, Dandelight and the Ghost collection. Their most widely know work FF3 is made with real dandelion seeds that are attached to the light by hand, one by one. Since 2006 their work has been exhibited at leading museums and fairs worldwide, including the Victoria & Albert Museum London, Salone del Mobile Milan, World Expo Shanghai, Design/ Miami, Boijmans van Beuningen museum, Design Week Tokyo, Design Act Moscow, Museum of Arts & Design New York and The Israel Museum. DRIFT has been awarded several times for their designs, including – 2008 ‘Light of the Future’ from the German Design Council for Fragile Future. – 2010 Nauta and Gordijn’s Fragile Future Concrete Chandelier won ‘The Moet Hennessy – Pavillion of Art and Design London Prize’ and was acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. – Most recently, Fragile Future 3.5 won the 1st prize (audience award) at the ZomerExpo, Gemeentemuseum The Hague. DRIFT’s Fragile Future series is developed in collaboration with the Carpenters Workshop Gallery in London and Paris. The GHOST collection is represented by Patrick Brillet Fine Art Gallery.

VINCENZO DE COTIIS

Vincenzo De Cotiis was born in Gonzaga in 1958. He studied architecture at the Polytechnic of Milan and, in 1997, he founded his studio and the gallery of the same name. The beauty of the patina generated by time is the leitmotiv that is reflected both in its architectural projects and in the interiors for private homes and commercial spaces throughout the world. A research based on the contemporary appropriation of recycled materials, often marked by time and wear, reinterpreted through integration with new and more precious ones. The creative process is the result of a continuous intellectual and artistic stratification, fed by a precise artisan sap. An aesthetic imbued with a “perfect imperfection”, obtained through the s-composition first and then recomposition, passing from the use of new materials and their expressive potential, generating works that recall nature in its most abstract sense. Vincenzo De Cotiis is considered one of the protagonists on the international contemporary design scene. His works, unique collector’s pieces, are exhibited in his gallery in Milan and in important international design fairs, such as Design Miami / Basel, PAD London, Design Dubai, TEFAF and Art Paris.

Francesco Maria Andrenelli Francesco Maria Andrenelli lives and works in Italy. He designs and builds in a traditional way in his studio near Florence. He graduated from the ISIA in Florence in 1989. Another important work is “South” or “South”, a love for pure simplicity, a range of furniture built with simple structures, inspired by seats and beds from the south of the world. Turned wood and sculpted legs reminiscent of giant skittles, gym clubs, exotic chess pieces that make up the basic structures. Over the years Francesco has participated in several group exhibitions, but devotes most of his time to design and create unique pieces for his clients.

Native New Yorker Todd Bracher, founder of Todd Bracher Studio LLC, is a Designer and Strategist currently based in New York City after a decade working in Copenhagen, Milan, Paris and London. Todd has collaborated with some of the most prestigious brands around the world from Furniture and Object Design to Interiors and Architecture. Todd has been pinned as America’s next great Designer as well as received nominations for International Designer of the year in 2008 and 2009. His experiences range from working independently, heading Tom Dixon’s Design studio, acting Professor of Design at l’ESAD in Reims France, to having been appointed Creative Director of the Scandinavian luxury brand Georg Jensen.