CONTEMPORARY TEMPO
Blending heritage and modernity with a touch of irony, since 2010, interior architect and designer Cristina Celestino has partnered big multi-brand companies such as Fendi, Fornace Brioni and Sergio Rossi. With her agency, Attico Design, the Milanese designer sets out to create "emotional visions".
Special Jury Prize at the Salone del Mobile Milano in 2016, ELLE DECO International Design Awards in 2017 and 2019, Designer of the Year at the 2022 Maison&Objet fair... Cristina Celestino has left a strong imprint on the world of interior design. With a very conceptual analysis of her work, she shares with us the principles that guide all of her architectural ensembles and her designs.
How would you describe your style as a designer of objects and interior architect?
Cristina Celestino: My aim is to create "emotional visions" by studying traditional materials and their qualities, then adding a contemporary esthetic and creating new typologies of design. I generally mix features from our heritage, our shared memory, with contemporary esthetics from architecture, design and fashion. Or forms and colors inspired by nature.
All of these references work together and the end result is a synthesis, that is often unexpected and ironic.
Giving a hybrid role to objects and spaces is a principle that is found throughout your career. Why is that?
C. C.: A cross-disciplinary approach in both life and work produces unexpected results. I do it intuitively, sometimes mixing different skills. My view of the world, and society within it, leads me to stratify content and esthetics.
You seem to draw part of your inspiration from the past...
C. C.: The emotional memory of objects results from meanings which belong to different periods in our lives and which are stored in a stratified way inside our subconscious. I believe that everything I create is the result of this magma, and that it does not require clear or directly conscious references. If I think back to everything that I have created over the past ten years, I observe my great freedom to draw transversally from the past by putting my output in touch with the sensitivities born of new encounters.
You are a passionate collector. How do you integrate vintage into your decoration?
C. C.: I became passionate about design through reading. Then I began buying design pieces, and they grew in large numbers over time – especially lamps. It is very useful for my work to be able to see and feel the creations of renowned designers. They are a source of inspiration that every designer should have access to in order to consciously create with a contemporary vision.
What place do humor and surprise have in your work?
C. C.: In my works, I mix things that go together to produce an end result which is often unexpected and ironic. I experiment with forms, with geometry and with colors through variations of scale and small inventions. My objects are often able to put across new messages and different meanings.
What are your ongoing projects?
C. C.: A beautiful interior project in the Parioli district in Rome. At the same time, I continue to partner with the brands Fornace Brioni and Billiani as creative director. And it's very stimulating.
Photo credits : Cristina Celestino, Anne Emmanuelle Thion, Mattia Balsamini, Pianca
