Assisi, Italy
A year ago, a dialogue began.
A bridge between the academic world and the world of business, between theoretical design and the tangible reality of materials. Thanks to the collaboration with the Product Design Laboratory of the University of Perugia, three students, selected from more than 150 in the course, had the opportunity to experience a curricular internship within our company.
It was a meeting of perspectives and languages: on one side, the curiosity of academic research; on the other, the depth of artisanal experience.
The students did not simply design. They touched, observed, made mistakes, and tried again. They breathed in the slowness of making, the kind that asks for listening, care, and respect for the material.
Our production is based on a dialogue between materials: wood, metal, leather, rattan, and the intelligence of skilled hands. The three students not only understood this approach, but made it their own, ultimately translating it into their thesis projects, works that express different identities and sensibilities, yet are united by the same principle: giving form to objects that speak.
\Pinocchio Collection by Elisa Lattaioli and Livia Griselli
The Pinocchio collection is born from a simple yet powerful idea: objects can tell a story. Just as Pinocchio comes to life through Geppetto’s hands, each piece in the collection is the result of a conscious artisanal gesture, where wood, iron, and leather are guided toward a form that carries meaning, not just function.
Each piece of furniture engages in dialogue with a character from the fairy tale, evoking its spirit through design details. The armchair, representing the Fox, reflects the character’s cunning elegance: buckles, stitching, and armrests recall well-worn garments, suggesting a subtle seduction and an invitation to pause. Beside it, the stool, the Cat, echoes its structure and materials: it can serve as a seat or a footrest, much like the inseparable companion who follows without imposing.
The chest bench, with its Vienna straw that reveals glimpses of the interior, evokes the cage that imprisons Pinocchio: to contain, yet without concealing. The screen-curtain recalls a theatrical stage; it divides spaces while allowing light and connection to pass through, like a threshold between one chapter and the next.
The Geppetto side table references a carpenter’s workbench and introduces the theme of play as learning, while the Talking Cricket lantern becomes a portable light, a small guide through choices and spaces.
Pinocchio does not draw formal inspiration from the fairy tale, but uses it as a lens to explore material: each object has its own character and function. Rather than representing the story, the collection lives it.
\Radura Collection by Simone Carabetta
Radura is a return to essentials: an invitation to experience objects through gesture, touch, and movement. Like a clearing in the woods, it is a space that allows one to breathe.
The Lounge Chair welcomes the body naturally: scratched Pepe Nero wood, raw metal, cognac leather, and exposed screws reveal the honesty of the materials. Nothing is hidden. A small handle on the backrest suggests that the object can follow us, not hold us back.
The low table works in layers: rattan, brass, and glass enter into dialogue with one another. The metal sheet placed beneath the glass prevents sun refraction and creates a visual effect that changes with the light.
The lamp is a small domestic totem: portable light, ashtray, and convivial object in one. It is designed to accompany those who live with it, transforming the atmosphere with a simple gesture.
Radura does not ask to be looked at it asks to be lived.
It is an invitation to touch, move, and feel.
For us, this collaboration was not only a learning experience for three students, but a mutual enrichment. We witnessed the design perspective merge with the depth of practice, theory becoming making first, and object later. Above all, we supported young designers in discovering a simple truth within material: a piece of furniture is not just a product, it is a story taking shape.