Carlo Urbinati on the magical world of Foscarini

As part of our series on celebrated lighting brand Foscarini, More Space meets Carlo Urbinati to chat about the heritage of Murano glass and breaking with tradition, the late and great designer Rodolfo Dordoni, the story behind making the Aplomb collection and his favourite Milan Design Week launches, and the moment when you think you know what is going to happen with light, and then it surprises you.

Baxter and the alchemist’s lab

Italian brand Baxter is the combination of experience and passion, business know-how and a desire not to follow the rules. Working closely with designers from Piero Lissoni to Paola Navone and Studiopepe, Baxter bridges the tradition and innovation of Italian leather production to make the material the hero of every collection.

Singular vision: The legacy of Maxalto

With a design legacy spanning more than 40 years, Maxalto believes in the power of a single creative mind. The name says it all. Derived from ‘massa alto’, Italian for ‘the highest’, Maxalto is a brand that has always put quality and stylistic longevity first, writes David Harrison.

Honing the detail: Inside the studio of Tobias Partners

Architecture and interiors practice Tobias Partners needs little introduction. Their work is quintessentially Sydney and Sydney is deep within their roots. Houses are defined by the coast, pavilions brush with the bush and engage with views without shouting their presence. While the language of materials comes alive through texture and light, shaping moments where time slows down.

From Slovenia with love, breaking the rules with Nika Zupanc

With her latest chair knitted like a super-sized jumper that challenges the perception of scale and tradition, Ljubljana-based, Slovenian designer, Nika Zupanc, flips the familiar and breaks the rules. With her first book just out, More Space caught up with the designer to discuss the Knitty chair for Moooi, the influences of Yugoslavia's modernist architect Saša Machtig and Slovenia's natural beauty, and the liberating power of identity.

Best of B&B Italia for the outdoors

An extension of life indoors, the B&B Italia Outdoor collection is designed with comfort and beauty in mind. All time favourites include Patricia Urquiola's Canasta, and classics from Mario Bellini’s 1972 Le Bambole sofa collection to the organic Tobi-Ishi table by Barber Osgerby. Behind every timeless piece is the brand’s approach to relaxed elegance, clearly defined by a dynamic selection of materials, textures and colours.

Nestled between Milan's towering palazzos and bohemian past, we go inside Piero Lissoni’s humming design studio

The narrow streets and palazzos, art galleries, libraries and gallieries define Brera, the district known for its artists, designers and architects, its renaissance buildings, frescoes and bohemian roots. It is here along Via Gioto where Piero Lissoni’s Milanese studio, Lissoni Associati, shapes furniture, buildings and master plans for clients around the world. We joined Melbourne architect Iva Foschia and a host of designers, architects and curators from around the world for a tour.

Eternally yours – B&B Italia forever...

Launched in Italy in the 1960s during a time of huge leaps in furniture innovation, B&B Italia rose to cult status collaborating with designers Gaetano Pesce and Joe Colombo, then Antonio Citterio, Patricia Urquiola and Piero Lissoni. The ‘living landscape’ became the catch-phrase for the new interior defined by social connection, comfort and iconic design. We asked creatives in Australia and Singapore what B&B Italia means to them, and the collections that continue to inspire.

From new materials to stellar collaborations, why Kartell continues to evolve

How do you sum up the impact of a brand, particularly one that has remained a darling of Milanese design for six decades. Kartell was one of the first manufacturers to open stores internationally and is now reshaping its direction by embracing new materials and manufacturing everything from lighting and furniture, to rugs and smaller design collectables. Here, More Space talks with Lorenza Luti – marketing head and granddaughter of founders and trailblazers, Giulio Castelli and Anna Castelli Ferrier – about the brand's next big move.

Patricia Urquiola’s ‘micro architectures’ for clay powerhouse Bitossi

Storytelling, rigour and kindness are the words used by Spanish born, Milan-based designer and architect Patricia Urquiola when asked to describe the historic Bitossi Ceramiche, one of Italy’s oldest ceramics producers that first opened their workshop in 1921. This year the internationally recognised ceramic maker released their first pieces designed in collaboration wth Urquiola, a collection of 'micro architectures' inspired by construction details.

Lee Broom and the alchemy of light

Collections inspired by the stars, illusion, infinity, the devine, architecture and myth, Lee Broom’s work is infused by a background in theatre and fashion and a love of experiment, craft and heritage. Here, More Space visits New York Design Festival where Broom’s latest range transforms the designer’s Tribeca loft.

Celebrating the great Gaetano Pesce

With a new show 'Nice to See you' headlining at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan and projects spanning collections for Fish Design and a playful collaboration with sock brand Double Soul, the visionary creative sadly passed away early last month. To celebrate his illustrious career, we are re-publishing our recent story on the multidisciplinary designer, architect and artist whose curiosity would shape six decades of design and elevate our connection with the world around us.

Moooi Carpets: Where art meets design

Moooi’s signature carpets are created by renowned names in the world of interiors, fashion, visual arts, design, textiles, illustration and photography. From artist Jae Yong Kim, to designers Marcel Wanders and Front, each carpet represents the artist’s imagination and pushes the traditions of rug making to shape daring and exquisite art pieces designed to be collected.

A light-filled jewel announces Space Singapore's flagship renewal by WOHA

Space Asia Hub’s Singapore flagship has received a major renovation by the award-winning team at WOHA architects that further enhances the building’s dynamic interiors, and, as Space’s CEO Leighton Clarke remarks, develops the richly layered spatial experiences allowing pieces by designers from Piero Lissoni to Patricia Urquiola to sing.

Summer reading – From science fiction to social dynamics, how the 70s shaped the sofa

It was 1972 when the Museum of Modern Art in New York opened the exhibition, ‘Italy: The New Domestic Landscape,’ headlined by designers including Mario Bellini, Cini Boeri and Tito Agnoli. Radical in both concept and ambition, it pinpointed design’s shifting landscape and the invention of the modular sofa system, a design that 50 years later continues to shape how we connect.

Colour forward at Gebrüder Thonet Vienna

First presented in Milan 2023, the softly rounded Luftballon collection designed by Vatler Cagna for Gebrüder Thonet Vienna is inspired by the voluminous contours of a balloon. Carefully balanced in size and proportion, the armchair and sofa are quirky and full of personality, with sinuous lines and soft curves distinguished by large sculptural cushions. The range highlights the company’s ancestral know-how, its punchy colours adding a contemporary layer to the traditional blonde or dark-stained wood.

Creating Space: Inspired by...

In the final of More Space's Creating Space series, we look at Space's focus on sharing interiors that inspire. Launching A Life Individual almost 10 years ago, the film and print campaign would explore the evolving spaces we live in and the uniquely creative ways we shape our homes. Featuring stylist Megan Morton and artist Andrea Sullivan, along with creative directors, designers, doctors, and the playwright Joanna Murray-Smith, each interior revealed how the objects chosen provided joy and beauty.

Creating Space: The designers...

As More Space takes a look at the early days of Space, we revisit the design festivals, award programs, talks, workshops and Space+Design Residency that have shaped Space’s modus operandi. Opening the doors to designers from Milan, Paris, São Paulo, London, Amsterdam and New York to share background stories behind design collections, and take part in curated local events, has added an important cultural layer and fostered a broader understanding of how design shapes our lives.

Creating Space: The early days...

To help celebrate Space’s 30th birthday, More Space is taking a design ride back to the early days in a three-part series. From the launch of Space’s architecturally designed showrooms in Sydney and Melbourne in 1993, to the bold SPACE identity and cache of campaigns, the design festivals, installations and international design guests, architects, designers and clients who have embraced design icons for their projects and homes, we explore Space’s design journey across South East Asia, and talk to some of the people instrumental in shaping who Space is today.

Whipbird, a house in balance with nature

When Space Atelier began a collaboration with Jayden Zernich and his award winning firm, Zerni, the approach to a new house on the Sunshine Coast by architects Minnow Studio, would take shape around soaring volumes, natural light, raw materials, fine details and timeless furniture, and create connection with the interior, the site’s natural landscape and views over the region's famous hinterland.

Foscarini, beginning with light

Founded in 1981 on the Venetian Island of Murano, the Italian lighting brand Foscarini is known for their collaborations with Patricia Urquiola and Rodolfo Dordoni, the iconic design collections Caboche, Buds and Twiggy, and an innovative approach to materials and manufacturing. In a two-part series, More Space dives into Foscarini’s distinctive vision and creativity hub, that now includes the evocative lighting group Ingo Maurer, and their deep interest in our emotive responses to light. 

Milanese maestras: Bernhardt-Vella, Chiara Andreatti and Patricia Urquiola

In the final of our series that celebrates International Women’s Day through the work of world-renowned designers, More Space explores the design catalogues of four design studios based in Milan: Ellen Bernhardt and Paola Vella of Bernhardt-Vella, Chiara Andreatti and Patricia Urquiola’s Studio Urquiola.

Eileen Gray, taming the avant-garde

A contemporary of Le Corbusier, Eileen Gray was a painter, photographer, designer and self-taught architect who moved to Paris in 1917 and became known for an avant-garde approach to furniture and architecture, and a thoroughly modern view that design should lead to ‘a complete harmonious, and logical life’.

Cini Boeri, design trailblazer

The remarkable career of designer and architect the late Cini Boeri, who was affectionately known as the "lady of Italian design”, is an important legacy. One of the first women to graduate in architecture, then working with Gio Ponti and Marco Zanuso before setting up her own studio, Boeri was at the forefront of the groundbreaking ideas coming out of Italy in the 1960s and 70s.