From 16 - 21 April, Catawiki will present at Masterly during Milan Design Week. The presentation, curated by Masterly’s founder Nicole Uniquole, brings together a series of both established and emerging creators who were tasked by Uniquole and Catawiki to respond to iconic designs.
The creators will bring newly designed, limited edition pieces that are exclusive to Catawiki and form the backbone of the presentation where both icon and response will be featured together. The presentation will be mirrored in an online auction titled “Homage”, enabling the contemporary interpretations of iconic pieces to reach Catawiki’s millions of global users who share a deep love for forward-thinking design.
Aleksandra Gaca (Netherlands)
Textile designer Aleksandra Gaca designs innovative, woven textiles at the intersection of art, design and architecture. A leading designer of three-dimensional textiles, Gaca blends the rich legacy of the weaving craft with cutting-edge technology. This results in high-performance fabrics that inspire and bring a unique perspective to interiors worldwide – from her award-winning “3D Architextiles” collection to woven constructions on an architectural scale.
Gaca creates textiles that fully engage the senses, enhancing well-being by evoking emotions through the visual, tactile and acoustic qualities of their designs. On the occasion of the Catawiki and Masterly collaboration for Milan Design Week 2024, Gaca has created a special limited edition set of her signature “Bloko” cushions. Inspired by the shape of Zaha Hadid’s vases, a refined diagonal colour gradient flows across the bold, iconic “Bloko” graphic. The cushions are exclusively available via Catawiki.
Antonio Barone (Italy)
Antonio Barone studied Industrial Design at Politecnico di Milano and has worked in Italy and the Netherlands. He likes to think of objects as a system of reversible companions, carrying a degree of flexibility that would allow us to shift our everyday experience through ordinary materials.
This project, inspired by the “Freeform” sofa by Isamu Noguchi, is e result of the juxtaposition of a series of organic, moldable cushions laid over a grid platform. A sort of reinterpretation of the rational tabula-rasa, in search of comfort.
Aptum (Netherlands)
Aptum brings wonder, excitement and magic to the room, creating lighting with an expression that can vary from colourful and chaotic to sober and geometric. These are realised in unlimited configurations for any living and working environment.
Tineke Beunders (1982) and Nathan Wierink (1979) specialise in custom lighting installations, with over 10 years’ experience in product design. Their home base is a protected building in the centre of Eindhoven. From here they play and experiment with colour and shape, direct and indirect light, reflection and contrast.
Discover Aptum's latest design, crafted as a homage to the Mackintosh “Hill” house chair. By positioning the lamp in the corner of a room and cleverly coating colour on both the front and back of the grid, Aptum creates an intriguing effect with reflection of colour and depth.
Atelier Ferraro (Italy)
After studying architecture in Italy and Greece, Emanuele Ferraro moved to Germany to work with a series of renowned architecture offices and opened his own design studio in 2019. Magazine AD Italia listed Atelier Ferraro among the new talents of Italian design. His work has been published in several international journals, was awarded at the Salone Satellite during Milan Design Week, and is currently on display in the exhibition “Italy: A New Collective Landscape“ at the Hong Kong Design Institute, curated by the ADI Design Museum Milan.
The approach utilised by Atelier Ferraro for the series “ephemeral décor” seeks to reinterpret the celebrated work of Master Émile Gallé. Colours, floral elements and the cameo technique undergo a transformative process of abstraction and reduction. Real flowers are used to execute delicate patterns, imprinting their essence onto the glass. This imparts a distinctive quality to each piece, emphasising its uniqueness through the ephemeral nature and symbolic abstraction of the floral imprints. The deliberate minimisation of colour serves to amplify the captivating interplay of light and shadow through the glass. Each vase is a unique creation executed with utmost precision and outstanding craftsmanship.
Bhulls (Italy)
Bhulls is an independent Italian design studio that specialises in creating collectable designs. Partners in both life and work, Ricardo Parmiciano Borgström and Giorgia Farina design unconventional objects that blur the lines between art and design. With an experimental approach to design practice, the Italian duo explores the field of aesthetics and function to create sculptural-functional collectable objects. Bhulls' design is focused on simplicity, from material selection to production. Each object is crafted using a direct and conscious approach, prioritising uniqueness and quality over quantity.
A contemporary re-interpretation of the iconic design of Sapper's Plico folding trolley. “Replico” is a sculptural low table that emphasises the slender form of the open trolley, freezing it in time. This object combines both the aesthetic tension and functionality of the cantilevered tabletops that Sapper used in Plico, but presents them in a fixed design.
Made entirely of aluminium, it consists of three sheets of metal that are folded and joined together with four pins. The black colour adds a sense of sobriety and elegance to the design and, combined with the red painted joint details, becomes a clear reference to Sapper's signature style. The design focuses on simple, open and zero-waste principles.
Grace of Glaze (Netherlands)
Simone Doesburg (1993) is a Dutch ceramicist and designer based in Utrecht, the Netherlands. With her porcelain tableware brand, Grace of Glaze, she redefines the ordinary, transforming everyday moments into extraordinary displays of beauty and wonder. Simone's distinctive play with colour and material infuses each piece with life, resulting in intense and vivid hues. The subtlety of the gradient glaze is a testament to the small-scale, handmade production process, yielding tableware that emanates elegance and sophistication.
Keep an eye out for the custom-coloured dinnerware set, crafted in homage of the Emile Gallé vase, at the upcoming auction. Drawing inspiration from the vase's deep winter blues and warm summer heat hues, this collection promises a harmonious fusion of both seasons. The handmade dinner plates, deep plates and bowls are poised to offer a truly unique and enchanting dining experience for those who appreciate artistic finesse.
Laurene Guarneri (France)
A graduate of the Beaux Arts de Paris-Cergy, Laurène Guarneri is an artisan designer based in Paris. She works with glass and mirror to transcribe poetic moments arising from moments of meditation. Her pieces are inspired by fleeting moments in everyday life, advocating a return to the sensitive.
The “Double Jaune” mirror is inspired by the warm colour and repeated shapes of Pierre Paulin's “Orange Slice” armchair. In a dynamic interplay of reflections and transparencies, the “Double Jaune” mirror plays with contrasts and variations in the light of a solar hue. The superimposition of the two staggered shapes adds a dimension of depth and movement to the mirror, giving the impression that the shapes merge and separate.
Stefan Scholten (Netherlands)
Stefan Scholten has become one of the defining voices of Dutch Design, since graduating from the Design Academy Eindhoven in 1995. He is known for his reductionist design style, combined with a unique use of colour. His designs are functional and applicable, but always expressive. Scholten’s approach is also known as the “atelier-method-of-working”. During the design process, he thinks with his hands as much as possible. He will keep on sketching, drawing and mixing colours until an original and new design emerges.
“LA chaise longue”
Following Catawiki’s commission to reimagine Charles and Ray Eames’ Lounge chair, Studio Stefan Scholten researched every part of the iconic design, seeking its essence. This reductionist approach led to merging the chair and the ottoman in one piece, creating a sculptural piece with the original ergonomic silhouette and carefully-studied proportions. Wood becomes the central part of this reinterpretation, stripping the chair of upholstery and metal parts, for a true Californian look.
Simone Post (Netherlands)
Simone Post is a multidisciplinary maker with roots in textiles, based in Rotterdam. Growing up, she was surrounded by sewing machines, as her mother conducted sewing classes at home. She graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven with honours in 2015. Simone’s atelier serves as a sanctuary for experimentation and creation, with textiles as her ultimate muse. Post’s work delves deep into colour, texture and print. Her works breathe colour and optimism, but at the same time are always asking substantive questions. Her work is a testament to the potential of materials, demonstrating that with dedication, craftsmanship and a sense of wonder, it’s possible to turn seemingly ordinary materials into something extraordinary.
“As a child, we had the Alessi whistling kettle at home. From childhood, I always considered this a wondrous object. I am in the process of creating a new variation of a teapot and two cups, where I want to bring out this wondrous and alienating, but also playful aspect. I started with a basic model made of marshmallows. This gave the whole thing a very chunky and playful character. With my design, I want to not only pay homage to the Alessi whistling kettle, but also create an invitation to push the boundaries of the everyday and play with shape, material and colour.” Simone Post
Studio Joachim-Morineau (France/Netherlands)
Studio Joachim-Morineau is a design studio founded by Carla Joachim (FR) and Jordan Morineau (FR), based in Eindhoven (NL). Carla and Jordan intend to produce a modern language, at the edge of collectable design and functional objects. They often take inspiration from aesthetics of the past and combine them with industrial techniques.
“Reflective Midnight” is a family of wall pieces handmade by Studio Joachim-Morineau at the EKWC (European Ceramic Work Center in the Netherlands). The collection is made in stoneware in three firings, with a mirror platinum finish. This set pays tribute to the materiality of the Christofle “Talisman” service. The designers extracted the essence of its shape, colour and reflections into four unique tableaux.
Vonn Jansen (Netherlands)
Vonn Jansen is a young, upcoming design brand run by Nick and Sophie Jansen. The Dutch brother and sister took over the family company and created their high-end furniture brand using the beautiful craftsmanship from their past to create new, modern designs. With Nick leading the sales team and Sophie acting as the designer of the brand, they are a perfect combination as owners of the company.
For this special project with Catawiki, Sophie took inspiration from the Gianfranco Frattini side tables and one of their signature designs; the “Trinity Dining Table”, part of the brand's launch in 2021. Featuring amazing veneers in beautiful patterns, the square shapes are uplifted and turned into a high-end version of the design it's based on.
“Homage”, the first of four in a series of exclusive Catawiki x Masterly auctions, runs from Monday 15 April, until Sunday 28 April. The pieces can be seen at the Catawiki presentation at Masterly in the Palazzo Giureconsulti (second floor, room 21) during Masterly opening hours from Tuesday 16 - Sunday 21 April. Read the latest release from Catawiki here and download high-res images here.
