Tobia Scarpa, an architect and designer, completed his education in 1969 at the University of Venice. In the same year, he achieved the prestigious “Compasso d’Oro” award for his “Soriana” armchair, which he designed for Cassina. Since then, he has received numerous other design awards, and many of his creations are featured in renowned museums worldwide. Notably, his ‘Libertà’ chair is showcased at the Louvre. Scarpa has served as an architect for both public and private clients, with one of his notable projects being the design of the industrial area and production facilities in Castrette di Villorba (Treviso) for the Benetton Group. Even today, these Benetton facilities stand as a pinnacle of aesthetic and functional excellence, representing some of the most captivating industrial architecture in the world.

Afra & Tobia Scarpa

In 1947 that he founded Arredoluce, a premier manufacturer of furniture and lighting, in Monza. During the same year, at the VIII Triennale di Milano, he exhibited the lamp 12128, which became known as the Triennale floor lamp. He became an influential designer in postwar Italy, especially in the field of modern lighting design. During the 1950s, Arredoluce started to collaborate with such designers as Franco Albini, Achille Castiglioni, Gio Ponti, and Ettore Sottsass and also started to experiment with halogen light bulbs for his designs. Out of this experimentation, Lelii increased the use of transformers for his designs and created the recognizable Arredoluce switch.

Angelo Lelii’s lamps and lighting objects stand out for their extremely simple designs that strive for minimal complexity and for their strong sense of unadorned sensitivity. Thanks to Angelo Lelii’s unique approach to design, Arredoluce quickly built a reputation for creating premium quality products based on clean, simple, and functional designs.

Angelo Lelli

In the São Paulo of the 1950s, a group of architects consisting of Roberto Aflalo, Jacob Ruchti, Miguel Forte, Plínio Croce, Carlos Milan and Chen Yhwa got together to create a furniture shop that could cater to their modern and sophisticated view of architecture. In 1952, the young vanguardists embraced Aflalo’s idea and founded Branco & Preto, where they sold modern furniture made of brazilian materials and with impeccable finishing: something completely new at the time. The shop became a reference for architects, who would visit it to become familiar with the trends and discuss the pieces that broke with the traditional, stout lines used until then. Tt remained open until 1965, during which they created pieces of furniture that still inspire Brazilian designers today.

Branco e Preto

Bruno Gatta founded Stilnovo in 1946 in Lainate, a city part of the industrial suburbs of Milano. Stilnovo is lead by a market logic unlike Arredoluce or O’Luce which, despite his small size, adopts an industrial logic from 1952-1955.

From then until the 1980s, Stilnovo produced some of the most imaginative and striking lighting fixtures of its time, revolutionary both in its use of material and in its shapes.

Bruno Gatta

Carlo Scarpa (June 2, 1906 – November 28, 1978) was an influential Italian architect and designer deeply rooted in the rich cultural history of Venice. He began his career as an assistant at the Royal Superior Institute of Architecture of Venice and later served as the Director of the Architectural Institute of Venice University in 1972. Scarpa’s architectural style beautifully balanced tradition and modernity, skillfully integrating new design elements while respecting the historical context. His profound understanding of raw materials and a meticulous selection and combination of materials set him apart. Scarpa’s work, which can be seen as a series of experiments, is a testament to his rejection of architectural habits, with the fragment as the favored embodiment of his design philosophy.

Scarpa’s designs were marked by an extraordinary attention to detail and an emphasis on visual commentary through materials, light, spatial arrangements, and colors. He used elements from nature, such as water and stone, to enhance his designs, creating labyrinthine forms and unique compositions. Scarpa’s approach to “decoration” challenged the prevailing modernist views, emphasizing the value of ornament as an integral part of design. His iconic project, the Brion-Vega Cemetery, is a testament to his commitment to creating enduring works that transcend time and capture the essence of his architectural language. His influence extended to other Italian interior designers and architects, leaving a lasting impact on the field of design. Scarpa’s appreciation for Japanese art and culture, which he developed throughout his life, further enriched his artistic sensibilities. He passed away during a journey to Japan in 1978, leaving behind a legacy of innovative and harmonious architectural and design achievements.

Carlo Scarpa

Eric Astoul is a contemporary French ceramic artist born in 1954. He is moving to the world reknown ceramic center of La Borne in 1982 and starts a research on turned ceramic volumes.

The colors and the texture of the pieces are given through firing them in wood kiln at the very high temperature of 1300°C for 5 to 6 days.

Eric Astoul

Ettore Sottsass was an italian architect and designer of the late 20th century. His body of designs included furniture, jewellery, glass, lighting and office machine design.

In 1956, Ettore Sottsass began working as a design consultant for Olivetti, designing office equipment, typewriters, and furniture. There Sottsass made his name as a designer who, through colour, form and styling, managed to bring office equipment into the realm of popular culture. Sottsass, Mario Tchou, and Roberto olivetti won the prestigious 1960 compasso d’oro with the elea 9003, the first italian mainframe computer.

Throughout the 1960s, Sottsass travelled in the US and India and designed more products for Olivetti, culminating in the bright red plastic portable valentine typewriter in 1970, which became a fashion accessory. Sotsass described the valentine as “a brio among typewriters.” compared with the typical drab typewriters of the day, the valentine was more of a design statement item than an office machine.

While continuing to design for Olivetti in the 1960s, Sottsass developed a range of objects which were expressions of his personal experiences traveling in the United States and India. These objects included large altar-like ceramic sculptures and his “superboxes”, radical sculptural gestures presented within a context of consumer product, as conceptual statement. Covered in bold and colorful, simulated custom laminates, they were precursors to memphis, a movement which came more than a decade later. His work from the late 60s to the 70s was defined by experimental collaborations with younger designers such as Superstudio and Archizoom association, and association with the radical movement, culminating in the foundation of Memphis at the turn of the decade.

As an industrial designer, his clients included Fiorucci, esprit, the Italian furniture company Poltronova, Knoll international, Serafino Zani, Alessi and Brondi. As an architect, he designed the Mayer-Schwarz gallery on rodeo drive in Beverly hills, California, with its dramatic doorway made of irregular folds and jagged angles, and the home of David M. Kelley, designer of apple’s first computer mouse, in woodside, California. In the mid-1990s, he designed the sculpture garden and entry gates of the W. Keith and Janet Kellogg gallery at the campus of Cal Poly Pomona. He collaborated with well-known figures in the architecture and design field, including Aldo Cibic, James Irvine, Matteo Thun.

Sottsass had a vast body of work; furniture, jewellery, ceramics, glass, silver work, lighting, office machine design and buildings which inspired generations of architects and designers.

Ettore Sottsass

Federico Munari is a prominent Italian designer who began his career in the early 1950s. He developed a distinctive style that combines design and artistic creativity, setting him apart as a unique talent in the field. A skilled draftsman, he even rivaled his contemporaries such as Ettore Sottsass and Pierre Guariche.

Federico Munari

Frères Cloutier

Elizabeth Garouste (French, born 1949), a former costume designer, and Mattia Bonetti (Swiss, born 1952), a photographer, together used to form a Paris-based design team specializing in furniture that was at once experimental and elegant. Their work was marked by a use of classically tasteful materials, such as terra-cotta and wrought iron, as well as by the prevalence of sleek shapes and lines.

Their partnership began with the interior décor of the famous Parisian nightclub Le Palace and restaurant Le Privilege. Employing a neo-Baroque language, blended with prehistoric and primitive touches, the terracotta masks were labelled “Barbarian design.” The pair set the pace for cutting edge Parisian design, creating a unique and inventive neo-Baroque language that was to become synonymous with themost sophisticated continental contemporary interior and furniture design.

In 1987 Garouste and Bonetti began work with Christian Lacroix on his couture house interior.  Employing cushions and curtains in ochre with rococo swishes of black, French 18th Century chairs were upholstered in electric blue, lilac, orange and raspberry. Hot-red consoles were given branches for legs and stools were designed to look like tree stumps.

The duo separated in the early 2000s, continuing they careers individually.

Garouste & Bonetti

Mohasseb is a Lebanese architect and designer. He studied architecture in Washington D.C., at Ecole Boulle in Paris and Domus Academy in Milan. In 2007, he opened his company "wood&" in Paris, working on projects focused on wood, his favorite material. Since then, he has been experimenting with many other materials, like brass, resin, plaster, to create furniture combining traditions of the Middle East and a totally contemporary design.

His constant search for materiality and immateriality has defined his approach to design. He creates limited numbers of timeless designs, focusing on excellent craftsmanship and a complex expression of materials. Georges creates non-conformist functional art for Studio Manda, bridging diverse creative influences in every bespoke piece, with a common storyline converging nature, materiality and artisanship to evoke conversations.

The work is mainly inspired by forces of nature that can shape natural elements. The presence of wood is always prominent in many of Georges’ designs, due to its connectivity, liveliness, and texture.

His creations have been displayed and selected for several international institutions and exhibitions, including Nomad Venice 2019 with Carwan gallery; with Galerie Gabriel & Guillaume in NYC for Salon 2019; with Galerie Gosserez, PAD, Paris, 2019; Collect, House of Fly, London, 2019; Carwan Gallery at Nomad, Monaco and St Moritz, 2017; House of Today, Beirut, 2016; London Biennale, 2016; and PAD, Paris, London, 2013 and 2014.

Georges Mohasseb

Geraldo de Barros was a Brazilian painter and photographer who also worked in engraving, graphic arts, and industrial design. He was a leader of the Concrete Art movement in Brazil, co-founding Grupo Ruptura, and was known for his trailblazing work in experimental abstract photography and modernism. According to The Guardian, de Barros was “one of the most influential Brazilian artists of the 20th century.” From 1954 until the 1960s, he was at the head of Unilabor, a company he founded to produce his inventive minimalist furniture.

Geraldo de Barros

Gilbert Valentin

One of the most influential designers of the mid-20th century,  Gio Ponti (1891-1979) helped to establish Italy as a global design center through a diverse career that spanned architecture, industrial design, art, and even publishing.

Born and raised in Milan, Ponti began his career via a partnership with architects Emilio Lancia and Mino Fiocchi in 1923.  During this time his accomplishments included the house on Via Randaccio in Milan (1925) and the Bouilhet villa in Garches, Paris (1926). After 1927 he partnered only with Lancia at Studio Ponti e Lancia PL. It was an arrangement that worked for the next seven years, during which time Ponti was heavily influenced by the neo-classical Novecento Italiano artistic movement.

During this time, in 1928, Ponti also established the Domus magazine. The publication Ponti dedicated to architecture, art, and design became one of the world’s leading magazines of its type, and is still being published to this day.

In addition to his work in architecture, Ponti also worked for the porcelain manufacturer Richard-Ginori in Milan. Ponti served as the artistic director of this centuries-old company and was responsible for renovating their entire production output. These early jobs in the industrial design sector served as a springboard for further work in the field throughout Ponti’s career. Other design projects Ponti later pursued included ceramic objects and beautiful glass bottles such as those he designed for Venini.

He also designed a series of chairs which were considered highly innovative for their time. Among his famous chair designs were the Superleggera and Distex. Ponti also created a variety of lamps for companies like Artemide, Venini, and Fontana Arte.

Between the years 1933 and 1945, Ponti saw a shift in his career when he moved on from his partnership with Lancia and began working with a couple of engineers, Eugenio Soncini and Antonio Fornaroli. During this time the trio was involved in the creation of Fiat’s offices as well as the headquarters for Montecatini, an Italian chemical company. Together they also secured projects with universities, one of which was the Palazzo del Liviano at the University of Padua. The Palazzo became a particularly personal project as it was decorated with frescos painted by Ponti himself.

In 1941 Ponti also returned to the publishing world, helping to create Stile magazine where he continued as editor for the next six years.

At the height of Ponti’s career, along with Pier Luigi Nervi and Arturo Danusso, he earned the commission to design the Pirelli Tower in Milan. Construction began on the 32-story tower, the second skyscraper built in Milan, in 1956. Also during this time Ponti was involved in the design of many other important Italian landmarks, such as the Hotel della Citta et de la Ville and the Centro Studi Fondazione Livio e Maria Garzanti. As the Perelli Tower was completed, Ponti’s grand achievement was lauded internationally. At the height of his career he was invited to collaborate on projects all over the world, such as the Villa Planchart in Caracas, Venezuala and the Denver Art Museum in the United States. Other projects were completed in Hong Kong, Baghdad, Eindhoven, and San Francisco. Clearly, Ponti had achieved international fame for his innovative and eclectic modern designs.

To this day, Ponti’s influence is still evident throughout the design and architecture fields to which he dedicated his life. Ponti’s career was so diversified that he left his mark on the world not only through buildings which are still standing, but also within the art community, the industrial design sector, and even publishing houses. He was involved in the design of structures in 13 different countries, collaborating with over 100 different companies. Ponti’s international influence did not end with his building projects, as he lectured in 24 different countries during his academic career. He also contributed to 560 issues between the two publications with which was involved, not only establishing and editing the magazines but writing for them as well. He even spent his spare time creatively, indulging in painting and writing poetry.

Clearly, Gio Ponti was not simply a man who worked in design, but a true artist whose talent and passion emanated from his core. It is through this legacy that Ponti continues to inspire new generations of artists and designers well into the twenty-first century.

Gio Ponti

Robert Guillerme studied design and architecture at the Boulle School in France, graduating at the top of his class in 1934. Jacques Chambron, on the other hand, graduated from the School of Applied Arts in Reims, France. Sharing a profound passion for interior design, it was only natural that these two men would form a deep friendship during the tragic events of World War II. Jacques Chambron quickly resigned from his job as a painter and decorator in Paris in 1948 to join the Guillerme family in northern France.

In 1949, Guillerme and Chambron crossed paths with Émile Dariosecq, a master cabinetmaker. Not only was Emile Dariosecq a skilled cabinetmaker, but he also had a workshop in their region. It was from this encounter that they decided to establish the company “Votre Maison.” By combining functionality and design, Guillerme and Chambron would create their global reputation while leaving a lasting mark on the world of design.

In the 1970s, Hervé Chambron, the son of Jacques Chambron and a design graduate, joined “Votre Maison” and took over the business in 1983.

Guillerme et Chambron

Hala Matta was born in Beirut in 1970. After 20 fruitful years in the corporate world, she decides to pursue a career as a ceramicist. Trained in the studio of ceramicists Nathalie Khayat, Nevilsalha and Samar Mogharbel, Hala opened her own studio in 2015. She attended several advanced workshops in Europe. She is a firm believer in developing local craftsmanship and vernacular artistic productions. The studio founded by Hala Matta “Namika Atelier “ is a collaborative platform defending craftsmanship and ceramics as a mainstream artistic medium. Her work has been showcased in collective exhibitions in Beirut, Paris and Brussels. She lives and works in Beirut, Lebanon.

Hala Matta

Referred to as “one of the most audacious, free-spirited decorators of the twentieth century,” Jean Royère was historically supported by an alluring international clientele, and continues to be sought after by the most prestigious collections. World traveler, polyglot and avant-garde visionary Jean Royère is one of the biggest names in French mid-century design. He was fascinated by different materials, such as raffia and zebrawood, and aesthetics from around the world, from Scandinavian modernism to the traditions of the Middle East. Owing to this venturesome spirit, Royère produced an eclectic body of work that truly doesn’t fit a singular style.

The French designer turned his playful creations into a serious business, winning admirers who have ranged from Middle Eastern royalty to American celebrities. “In the 1950s, Jean Royère designed pieces that embodied both his own emerging style and the joie de vivre of the post-war period — ”

Born in Paris, Royère studied classics at Cambridge University and then worked for an import-export company. In 1931, he switched gears to design, studying cabinet making in the workshops of Faubourg Saint-Antoine and furniture making under the tutelage of Pierre Gouffé. He made his debut in interior design in 1934 when he won a design contest for the brasserie in the Hotel Carlton on the Champs-Élysées.

During the 1950s, Jean Royère, benefiting from an international reputation, developed his activity in the Maghreb as well as in the Middle East. In 1946, he opened an office in Cairo, Egypt, and the following year, an agency in Beirut, Lebanon, which enabled him to extend his influence to the farthest reaches of the Middle East: from Syria to Jordan, Saudi Arabia to Iran. Private and public commissions by royalty and celebrities alike, followed one after another.

Jean Royère

Joaquim Tenreiro was among the leading furniture designers and visual artists in mid-20th century Brazil.

Tenreiro was born in Portugal into a family of woodworkers and carpenters. In the late 1920s, he emigrated to Rio de Janeiro and began working for the firm of Laubisch Hirth.

In the early 1940s, Tenreiro was among the first designers in the Brazilian furniture industry to adopt a European modernist vernacular. His initial efforts, including the 1942 “Poltrona Leve,” met with considerable success, and in 1943 he established his own firm with factories in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. One of his main clients was Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, for whose houses a number of pieces were originally commissioned.

Taking advantage of indigenous Brazilian hardwoods and designing with the Brazilian climate in mind by keeping pieces light, and often using wicker or cane, Tenreiro evolved a distinctive style suited to local conditions. His 1947 “Cadeira de Embalo” (Rocking Chair) is still in production. An example of his iconic “three-legged chair” sold at auction in 2008 for over $90,000 USD.

Tenreiro gave up the furniture business in the late 1960s to concentrate on his painting and sculpture, in which he had been engaged privately for many decades. He died in Itapira, Brazil, aged 86.

Joaquim Tenreiro

Jorge Zalszupin was born in Warsaw, Poland, and studied architecture in Bucharest before moving to Paris to work as an architect, and then to Brazil in the late 40s.

In 1959, Zalszupin started the furniture firm L’Atelier. Emphasizing a high level of craftsmanship, L’Atelier saw near-immediate success and eventually had two factories producing his designs.

Zalszupin was heavily inspired by Danish design and while he was known for his refined work in jacaranda and other Brazilian woods. L’Atelier thrived in Brazil, having ten shops at the height of Zalszupin’s career. His furniture also won numerous commissions, including in Brasilia.

Jorge Zalszupin is considered one of Brazil’s most important designers of the twentieth century.

Jorge Zalszupin

Hoffmann emerged as a leading advocate of the Gesamtkunstwerk, or the concept of a “total work of art,” in Vienna. Profoundly skilled and remarkably prolific, he ventured into diverse design realms, encompassing architecture, furniture, household items, attire, book coverings, posters, fabrics, and wallpaper. Hoffmann firmly believed in the societal and spiritual advantages of creating harmonious living spaces under the guidance of a singular creative intellect.

His design philosophy bore the imprint of influential figures such as John Ruskin, William Morris, Charles Robert Ashbee, and Otto Wagner. Each of these visionaries shared a common goal: to elevate the status of craftsmanship to the level of fine art. Hoffmann, at the tender age of twenty-nine, imparted their wisdom as a professor at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School for Arts and Crafts). In 1903, he joined forces with fellow Vienna Secession member Koloman Moser to establish the Wiener Werkstätte.

The primary objectives of the Wiener Werkstätte were to rekindle the highest standards of craftsmanship and kindle widespread interest in sophisticated and unique designs. In the early 1900s, Hoffmann honed his signature style characterized by geometric precision and unity, which manifested in designs for various mediums, including silverware, furniture, carpets, textiles, lamps, and architectural elements.

His remarkable talent for crafting beautiful and enduring forms ensured that his career in architectural design and decor spanned several decades, stretching into the 1950s, leaving a lasting legacy in both Europe and the United States.

Josef Hoffmann

Born in Bahia, in the North of Brazil, the self-taught designer, artist and architect moved to Rio and started an architectural scale model workshop where he worked with modernist pioneers such as Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer.

Working with plywood for his models, he realised how the innovative material lent itself to furniture that he started designing in the 1940s.

A pioneer in the respect of his environment, he later experimented with more organic designs and vigorously protected Brazilian forests.

Zanine’s work has been exhibited in the Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris and throughout the US and Europe.

Jose Zanine Caldas

The Lyceum of Arts and Crafts was founded in 1872 by craftsmen and artists to offer professional training to ex-slaves and their children, educating through art. Today, it is a non- profit, self-sustained social enterprise that aims to educate youths through work.

LAO (Lyceum of Arts and Crafts)

Livia Gorka, a Hungarian potter, took a certificate as master potter in 1947.

The source of her art is nature from which she typically crafts large asymmetrical vessels, idols, fish, birds, stones. She adopted the pre-wheel archaic technique of working in clay to create unique artefacts, generally in series and groups of objects.

Her techniques are unusual: she makes high-fired items of her own clay bodies, often stoneware and uses oxide-glaze.

Livia Gorka

Marguerite Le Maire is a French Illustrator and textile designer. This double vocation allows her to conceive audacious and tailor-made rugs and carpets. Each design is a unique creation that instantly gives singularity to the room that it inhabits.

Marguerite le Maire

MARIAGROUP is a design studio led by the brother and sister duo Georges and Michèle Maria.

Based in Beirut, the architecture practice undertakes works of all scales, spanning from small interior projects to large urban plans, in 12 different countries. MARIAGROUP begins all projects from a standpoint that is decidedly architectural, interested in responding to each brief through thinking about space.

The design of space, crafted through light, material, texture, and form, informs the projects from the smallest to the largest scale, and delineates a common language through which new questions are addressed. Deeply committed to the understanding that architecture is shaped by a collaborative confluence of design ideals, materialknowledge, and craftsmanship, the studio seeks to create for each project a unique world of real physical experiences.

MARIAGROUP’s work stems from this desire: to translate need into built form and create a sense of excitement; to craft a story of everyday life into a poetic and unexpected gesture.

MARIAGROUP

Maria Pergay was born in Moldavie in 1930 and emigrated to Paris in 1937. In 1947, she studied at L’Idhec as well as the atelier of Zadkine. Pgay began her career in the late 1950s by making forged iron pieces studded with semi-precious stones and seashells for window display for fashion houses including Claude Tabet and Hugonet.

Her success quickly grew and, within a few years, she began to create a unique collection of contemporary silver objects. In 1968, Pergay exhibited a collection of stainless steel furniture at Galerie Maison et Jardin. She was one of the first to work in this material and her pieces were known for their jewelry-like refinement and sculptural qualities.

Maria Pergay

Hauner & Eisler were the primary designers for the iconic Brazilian furniture company Forma – their work counts as one of the best examples of the mastery of Designers in Brazil in the 1950s and 60s.

Born in Brescia, Italy, Hauner studied design in Milan and immigrated to Brazil in the late 40s.

Martin Eisler was born in Vienna, Austria, where he studied architecture. In 1938 he moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he began exhibiting his furniture designs.

After meeting Hauner in Brazil, he started traveling there frequently to collaborate on designs and, with E. J. Wolf, who became the company’s director, they founded Forma to sell their own designs as well as pieces licensed from Knoll International.

Martin Eisler & Carlo Hauner

Martin Szekely is the son of ceramist Véra Székely and sculptor Pierre Székely. His work comes to prominence with his design of the « Pi » long chair in 1982.

Szekely both works with exclusive design editors like Neotu Gallery, Kreo Gallery or Domeau & Pérès, and industrials like Perrier, Heineken, or JC Decaux.

Some of his objects have reached a very large audience like the Perrier glass which was produced in 20 million units. His limited edition items have become highly sought after by power design collectors like Azzedine Alaïa.

His designs are among the collections of many important museums like Paris’ musée des Arts Décoratifs, MOMA or Mudam.

In 2011, Paris’ Pompidou Center offered him a solo show entitled « Ne pas dessiner » .

Martin Szekely

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, a pioneering architect, was a central figure in shaping the International Style of modern architecture, alongside renowned contemporaries like Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius. His iconic status in 20th-century architecture and design is underscored by his famous mottos, including ‘less is more’ and ‘God is in the details.’ Mies’ architectural masterpieces, such as the Barcelona Pavilion, the Seagram Building, and the Farnsworth House, are celebrated landmarks of the 20th century.

Born as Maria Ludwig Michael Mies in Germany, his early passion for architecture was influenced by his stonemason father. Without formal architectural training, he gained practical experience through various apprenticeships in Berlin after completing secondary school. His career advanced when he worked with furniture designer Bruno Paul and secured his first independent house design commission. Mies’ exceptional talent led him to architect Peter Behrens’ studio, where he collaborated with future luminaries like Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius. Although the Weimar Republic fostered creativity after World War I, Mies’ significant works from this period remained on paper.

Driven by a quest for a new architectural vision aligned with modernity, Mies developed avant-garde ideas that revolutionized the built environment. His style emphasized simplicity, industrial materials like steel and glass, and unadorned interiors. In the 1920s and early 1930s, Mies’ reputation soared, and he briefly served as the director of the Bauhaus, an avant-garde art school. In 1937, he relocated to Chicago, where he continued to design, build, and educate. He played a pivotal role as the head of the College of Architecture at the Armour Institute in Chicago, shaping both the curriculum and the campus.

After the upheaval of World War II, Mies received numerous commissions, enabling him to create large-scale projects, particularly pioneering steel-and-glass skyscrapers. Notable works include the Lake Shore Drive Apartments in Chicago and the Seagram Building in New York City. In the 1960s, he continued to design public centers, urban-renewal projects, libraries, and offices across the Americas, Mexico, and Europe. Despite his esteemed reputation, Mies lived alone in his spacious Chicago apartment by Lake Michigan until his passing in 1969.

Mies Van der Rohe

Architect, artist and designer, Patrick Naggar received his diploma in Architecture (DPLG) from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and a Master degree in Urban Studies from the University of Paris VIII.

Naggar considers architecture as a central knowledge, encompassing interior design, furniture and product design, a catalyst of ideas, forms, plastic and artistic research, in order to create spaces and objects for our environment. Bringing myth and science, ancient and modern cultures, the functional and the symbolic closer together, mixing noble and poor materials, his designs all tell us a story. Patrick Naggar has been showing in France since the mid-eighties, designing collections for Ecart International, Neotu, Tectona, Veronese and Artelano in France. He has created numerous architectural and design projects in Europe and the US : prestigious private residences, apartments for art collector, art galleries or restaurants. He is also present in the collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, les Amis du Musée National d’Art Moderne (Pompidou), le Mobilier National in France , the Brooklyn Museum in the US and has been published by numerous European and American magazines including House & Garden, Elle-Decor, Vogue, Maison Française, Beaux-Arts, ProgressiveArchitecture, Intramuros, NY magazine.

Dialogue between Art and Science, blending of cultures and a strong poetic dimension are combined in his work to form an elegant modern language.

Naggar was awarded in 2008 the Prix Special du Jury by the Centre du Luxe et de la Creation.

Patrick Naggar

Philippe Starck, (born 1949 in Paris), is French designer known for his wide range of designs, including everything from interior design to household objects to boats to watches. He has also worked as an architect.

Starck studied at the École Nissim de Camondo, Paris, and in 1968 set up his first company, which produced inflatable objects. Always interested in design as a total concept, in the 1970s he made a reputation for himself by creating interiors for clients such as the Paris nightclubs La Main Bleue (1976) and Les Bains-Douches (1978).

Starck first gained international attention when he was commissioned to refurbish the private apartments in the Élysée Palace (1983–84) in Paris for French President François Mitterrand. He went on to design restaurant interiors for the Café Costes (1984) in Paris, Manin (1985) in Tokyo, Theatron (1985) in Mexico City, and Teatriz (1990) in Madrid, among others. Starck was also responsible for the interior design of the Royalton and Paramount hotels (1988 and 1990) in New York City, work that subsequently inspired hotels throughout the world to seek his services. Over the course of these varied commissions, he did not develop one distinct aesthetic or a preference for certain materials. Rather, he addressed the needs of an individual client, whether it was the somewhat conservative character of state apartments or the more flamboyant tone needed for a trendy nightclub. Some constants did develop in Starck’s work, however, such as a preference for fluid, organic forms and the inclusion of subtle, playful details.

Philippe Starck

Philolaos Tloupas, artist name Philolaos was a Greek sculptor. He was known for his architecturally influenced sculpture, which he combined with a strongly natural and organic tendency.

Philolaos Tloupas

After graduating from the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decorative in Paris, Pierre Guariche began an internship with Marcel Gascoin, an important designer of the postwar period. His career began to take off as a designer in 1950 after his first light was produced, the “Rotaflex” lamp. Pierre Guariche then went on to show many objects in the “Salon des Arts Menagers” and in the “Salon des Artistes Decorateurs.” In 1951, he collaborated with a number of different companies, producing furniture and design objects, such as the Mai Gallery, the Airborne Company, or the lighting manufacturer, Pierre Disderot. Disderot is considered one of the greatest lighting companies of the ‘50s.

Throughout his career, Pierre Guariche was fascinated by and explored the idea of space, playing with different volumes, colors, and materials. He was a member of the UAM (Union of Artists Modern) organization, which influenced the industrial aesthetic of the postwar period.

Pierre Guariche

Niko Koronis is an architect with master degrees in both architecture and product design. In addition, he is also a recipient of a PhD in architecture from the Architectural Association in London.

He has been a fellow at Central Saint Sartin’s in London and a researcher at the Alvar Aalto Foundation in Helsinki. He has taught, lectured, and undertaken research in architecture, product, and urban design in several universities throughout the world. In addition to his academic career, he has exhibited his work in several group and solo shows, amongst which the Venice Biennale and the Triennale di Milano.

Ranya Sarakbi is a self-taught painter and sculptor. Her work, over the years, has resulted in the build-up of different collections of paintings, objects, wearable ornaments, and sculptures. Ranya Sarakbi read sociology and anthropology at the American University in Beirut. Ranya currently lives and works in Milan.

Ranya Sarakbi & Niko Koronis

Roger Capron, a versatile ceramic artist who made a mark in the 1960s and 1980s, is celebrated as one of the leading ceramicists of his time. In 1946, Capron relocated to Vallauris, France, a renowned pottery town, and established his studio. His journey in Vallauris included interactions with none other than Picasso, who joined the community a year later to explore his own ceramic endeavors. Capron was a pioneer of the “formes libres” movement during the 1940s, and his work was characterized by playful undulating forms, vibrant colors, and lighthearted touches.

As the years progressed, Capron’s style evolved towards mid-century modernism, drawing inspiration from Scandinavian design from the 1950s and 1960s. He crafted colorful tiled tables in sleek, simple, and functional forms.

Although Capron initially had a passion for drawing and attended the École des Arts Appliqués in Paris, his journey took a fascinating turn when he discovered ceramics. He established the “Callis” ceramic workshop in 1946, embracing the motto of his mentor René Gabriel: “to make the beautiful within the reach of all.” In doing so, Capron significantly contributed to the revival of ceramics in Vallauris, rubbing shoulders with other notable artists like Picasso. In 1952, he took a significant step by founding the “Atelier Capron,” a small factory that employed around fifty skilled artisans.

Capron’s distinctive style often incorporated earthenware and enameled lava tiles, traditionally reserved for decorative panels. This unique use of ceramics for furniture and objects became his signature. Notably, Capron was a trailblazer in leveraging his ceramic expertise for semi-industrial production, transforming his workshop into a small factory with an international reputation.

To this day, the remarkable creations of Roger Capron find a place of honor in renowned institutions like the Musée National de la Céramique in Sèvres and the Musée Magnelli in Vallauris.

Roger Capron

Vince Palacios has been working in the field of ceramic art since 1988. Palacios received his Masters of Ceramic Art from Alfred University and his BFA in ceramics at California State University at Long Beach. He now serves as Professor of the Ceramics Department at El Camino College in Torrance California. He came to El Camino College in 2011 after teaching for six years at Western Illinois University and ten years before that at California State University, Long Beach. He has shown his work nationally and internationally and is included in several important private collections as well as prominent museum collections. Palacios continues to exhibit his work and has developed a unique approach to the use of raw glass and ceramic materials as a means of crafting intricate narratives addressing geological process, pyroclastic interaction, and heat/chemical reactions

“As I worked on this series, humor and awkwardness emerged in the completed forms. My process is like that of a comedian or performer preparing for a routine: there are set ideas, techniques and expectations. However, each time you create or perform, something new emerges in response to external stimulus, or circumstance. I love improvisational work! Of course, there are things that I’m able to do with forethought and skill, but I’m most interested in those things that emerge in the moment. Unexpected, surprising, mostly uncontrolled. I am employing the wheel and hand building methods that leave many marks on the surface of the work.

There’s nothing new about the intimacy of touching clay and leaving your mark in earthen materials. Humans have been doing this from the very beginning; leaving a record or evidence of their existence, expression, and belief in any given material that they handle. It is a form of self- importance; a belief that what you’re saying is worth preserving. In this recent work, there is an almost haptic quality. it’s a language not composed of words, rather a composition of marks and bumps and stretching and pressing. In the end a story is being told, a form emerges; a truth is expressed.

I call the lumps or bulbous forms ‘potatoes’ on my work, but it doesn’t matter if you call them lumps, or bumps, or clumps, or tumors or potatoes, or whatever; these forms have always found their way into my work and have continued to show that humor has always played a significant role in my work from the very beginning. There is a clumsy sense of being out of place, of protruding or protrusion that creates a feeling of awkwardness. My goal is not to cause viewers to feel awkward, rather, to personally reflect on the sense of being out of place and finding a way of fitting in.”

Vince Palacios

Based in Beirut, Zein Daouk is a multidisciplinary architect with a passion for ceramics and an obsession for creating.

Her journey into clay begins in 1999, but it is only in 2020 that it becomes her voice and she devotes herself to ceramics professionally. Her work embraces the dialogue that links disciplines and highlights the fluid narrative between functional art and sculptural design. She explores form by working with the four elements; water stretches shapes into earth, air commits them to form and fire becomes the founding act that brings them to life.

A harmonious combination of biomorphic forms emerges and pushes the sculptural vocabulary to uncover a mysterious new species of functional art objects.

At the essence of her craft lies an insatiable curiosity to learn. “It takes a mind quiet enough to appreciate silent beauty, courage not to fear spontaneity, willingness to accept things as they are: graceful in their delicate asymmetry. It hinges upon the ability to slow down, to shift the balance from doing to being, to grasp the subtly graceful, the quietly sculptural… In the walls of clay forms, secrets unfold: nothing is finished and nothing is perfect; all is revealed as the clay peacefully flows and the muted words softly take form.”