Artefacts of Tomorrow - Filippo Carandini Objects That Ripen With Time.
Filippo Carandini
Founder of Filippo Carandini Studio
Words by Aliecia Cindy
Interview conducted by Melody Chan
At Eclectic Scape, our Eclectic Encounters series continues to spotlight the innovative designers who are shaping today’s creative landscape. This edition features Filippo Carandini, a Florence-born, Milan-based designer whose work uniquely blends his background in fine arts with a passion for collectible furniture.
In the quiet corners of Milan’s design scene, Filippo Carandini’s work hums with an energy that bridges ancient and contemporary worlds, a dialogue between form, material, and memory. Born in Florence and shaped by decades in the global design sphere, Carandini came to furniture design unexpectedly. “I never thought about doing furniture up until five years ago,” he reflects. What began as an extension of his passions soon became a defining chapter of his creative journey, anchored in self-produced collectible pieces and collaborations with Milan’s Nilufar Gallery
At the core of Carandini’s philosophy is a deeply personal ethos: “What I do is what I would have at home.” He approaches each piece without rigid briefs, allowing the design process to unfold organically. Often, a sketch starts without a clear purpose , the final form, whether lamp, table, or cabinet, emerges through an intuitive dialogue with the drawing itself. He follows “a shape or a pattern or a vibration,” letting intuition and visual rhythm guide his creations.
Kerià
“Kerià (candles in Greek) is a collection of lamps realized in hand-made Murano glass sticks. The light filters through the fascinating imperfection of the artisanal element, saturated with its color. Each stick is manually hanged to the internal structure, forming an horizontal layer that partially overlaps the layer below, with a skirt-like motif, typical of textiles. The bottom of the lamp is closed with a neutral-colored glass element that renders the light diffused downwards slightly warm.”
Materiality holds a central place in Carandini’s work, embodying the soul of each object. He chooses materials that age gracefully, parchment, marble, wood, and bronze — favoring their ability to evolve and gain character over time rather than fade or deteriorate. “The material is what’s supposed to make the object look even better in 50 years,” he explains. This reverence for time and patina is vividly expressed in his Mensa table for Nilufar Gallery, an oval or rectangular wooden piece hand-painted with bold acrylic brushstrokes in greens, blues, and pinks, then sealed in high-gloss lacquer. Inspired by the faded frescoes of Pompeii, the table feels like a contemporary artifact, where history and abstraction converge.
Mensa table
Wooden dining table with oval top. w 230 x d 125 x h 71
“Mensa is part of a 6 pieces collection called New Pompeii where the furniture is entirely hand-painted with acrylic colors by me through a multiple layering process. A variety of tones of the same color are applied onto each other creating countless chromatic variations and revealing previous phases of the process. Different drying stages of the acrylic paint are visible through sudden interruptions and smoother blending.
The pieces are later coated with a high-gloss polyester finish that deepens the palette and protects the handcrafted surfaces.”
Color, a legacy of Carandini’s fine arts background, is a constant thread in his furniture. His pieces become canvases where pigment, reflection, texture, and surface engage in dynamic interplay. Reflection, he notes, “makes the object interact more with the surroundings by reflecting something,” allowing his work to converse actively with its environment. Currently exploring new opportunities in Hong Kong and the broader Asian market, Carandini welcomes the prospect of fresh collaborations and cultural exchanges to shape his evolving practice. “I’m very much looking forward to expanding my inspiration in this part of the world,” he shares, with new sketches and prototypes already underway.
