Afra (2021–1937) and Tobia Scarpa (b. 1935) stand among the most seminal figures of 20th-century Italian design. Partners in life and practice, they developed a language rooted in architectural precision, craftsmanship, and human comfort. Graduates of the Università IUAV di Venezia, they worked across furniture, lighting, and architecture, collaborating with Cassina, B&B Italia, Flos, Knoll, and Molteni. Using wood, leather, steel, wool, and foam, they merged material warmth with industrial innovation. Iconic works such as the Soriana (1969), Bastiano (1960), Coronado (1966), and Papillon lamp (1973), embody their vision of proportion and tactile modernism. Their work is represented in the Louvre, MoMA, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Centre Pompidou, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Aline Hazarian is a Lebanese-born architect and designer who studied architecture and art history in Beirut. Her work bridges sculpture, architecture, and memory, exploring displacement, belonging, and cultural identity through material and form. Based between Beirut, Paris, New York, and Gstaad, she creates sculptural furniture and objects cast in bronze in her family’s foundry, combined with wood and leather. Her pieces evoke protection, presence, and emotional resonance, drawing from Art Deco, Art Nouveau, Armenian mythology, and organic modernism. Her limited bronze series and symbolic objects are held in private collections and shown through international collectible design galleries.
Andrea Branzi (2023–1938) was an Italian architect, designer, theorist, and educator who stood at the forefront of Radical Design. In 1966 he co-founded Archizoom Associati in Florence, creators of No-Stop City, a critique of consumerism and modernist planning. Later based in Milan, he co-founded Domus Academy in 1983 and taught at Politecnico di Milano, influencing generations through his writing and teaching. His work linked ecology, anthropology, and symbolism. Working with wood, acrylic, aluminum, and natural fibers, Branzi explored anti-monumentality, domestic rituals, and diffuse modernity through projects like No-Stop City, Animali Domestici, and Trees in Vase. His projects and essays are represented in MoMA, the Centre Pompidou, and the Triennale Milano.
Angelo Lelli (1979–1911) was an Italian designer and founder of Arredoluce, established in Monza in 1947. His work defined post-war Italian lighting through a balance of craftsmanship and industrial clarity. Beginning with the Tris light, first shown in Domus in 1946, he created designs distinguished by precise mechanics, elegant geometry, and materials such as brass, lacquered steel, and opaline glass. The Triennale floor lamp became an icon of modern domestic mobility and refinement. Collaborating with Achille Castiglioni and Gio Ponti, Lelli helped position Italian lighting as a global reference. His designs are represented in the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Triennale Milano, and major international collections.
Badih Ghanem ( b. 1985) is a Lebanese–French architect and designer who established his practice in Paris in 2017, following the completion of his Master›s degree in Urban Planning. His architectural work, spanning interior, housing, and retail design, is defined by a sleek, minimal approach that emphasizes monomaterials and takes inspiration from everyday objects. Ghanem extends this architectural thinking into object and furniture design, notably with his collection Remember Love?, which uses limited-edition stainless steel objects to explore memory and cultural identity through everyday Lebanese elements. His design pieces have been presented internationally at major events including Milano Design Week, Paris Design Week, and Dubai Design Week.
Carlo Hauner (1997–1927) and Martin Eisler (1977–1913) represent a cornerstone of mid-century Brazilian modernism, successfully synthesizing European rationalist design principles with rich, local Brazilian materials. Their partnership, established in São Paulo in the early 1950s through their company Forma S.A., yielded numerous iconic collaborative pieces. They managed to perfectly blend the minimalist elegance of European tubular metal frames with the warmth and sensuality of native Brazilian woods like jacaranda and imbuia. Their combined creativity produced furniture that was both elegant and highly functional, leaving a lasting legacy in the world of collectible design.
Carmen D’Apollonio (b. 1974) is a ceramic artist and designer based between Los Angeles and Switzerland. Her work explores the expressive potential of clay through forms that blur function and sculpture. A former collaborator of Urs Fischer, she shifted from fashion to a clay-based practice defined by hand-built construction, irregular surfaces, and humor. Her lamps, stools, and vessels convey gesture, imperfection, and anthropomorphic character, merging spontaneity with emotional presence. Working in clay with glaze and patina finishes, she positions ceramics within contemporary collectible design while preserving its intimacy. Represented by Friedman Benda, her works appear in design museums and private collections worldwide.
Choi Byung-Hoon (b. 1952) is a leading figure in contemporary Korean design, merging craft traditions, Zen philosophy, and monumental form. Based in Seoul and Tongyeong, he works with basalt, granite, wood, and bronze to create benches and tables that serve as meditative anchors rather than functional furniture. His pieces evoke eroded landscapes and ancient monuments, balancing stillness and tension while treating nature as both subject and collaborator. Through raw surfaces and precise voids, he redefines material and scale. His Stone Furniture Series and monolithic works are held by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Korea) and international collections.
Dominique Zimbacca (2011-1928) was a prominent French architect and designer celebrated for his pioneering work in organic architecture and as a creator of sculptural, Brutalist furniture. Throughout his career, often in collaboration with Hervé Baley, he rejected the rigid modern functionalism of the era. Instead, Zimbacca aimed to design living spaces and objects that fostered harmony between people and nature, integrating buildings seamlessly into their surrounding landscape. His signature furniture pieces, which include hand-carved chairs, tables, and lighting fixtures, are known for their raw, powerful aesthetic and are highly valued as unique works of art in the design markets today.
Edoardo Cozzani (b. 1993) is an Italian artist whose work spans photography, sculpture, and installation, exploring perception, memory, and the instability of images. Born in Rome and based in New York, he transitioned from legal studies to the visual arts, developing a multi- media practice grounded in material and spatial awareness. His installations use reflective surfaces, fragmented frames, and spatial interventions that turn the gallery into part of the image-making process. While not a furniture designer, Cozzani’s focus on objecthood, display, and spatial choreography resonates deeply with design audiences, positioning him within the dialogue between art and design.
For British designer Faye Toogood, “whether you are a fashion designer, a furniture designer, or an interior designer, the materials you can get your hands on are essential, because you are always looking for a new way to interpret your designs and to explain your story.” This also pertains to her recent venture from designing signature interior spaces and environments for clients such as Comme des Garçons, Alexander McQueen, and Tom Dixon, among others, to furniture design. Her products, designed with “honesty to the rawness and irregularity of the chosen material,” are sculptural in form and range from cups, tables, and chairs to art objects. Like her interior spaces, her furniture is considerate of both the two-dimensional design as well as three-dimensional space.
Georges Mohasseb is a Lebanese architect and designer who established the multidisciplinary Studio Manda in Beirut in 2015, known for its focus on collectible design pieces that merge high-quality craftsmanship with advanced techniques. He studied architecture at The Catholic University of America, followed by design courses at École Boulle and Domus Academy, and has taught at various academic institutions globally. Mohasseb›s design philosophy is rooted in material experimentation with wood, brass, resin, and marble, and his work, which has been exhibited internationally and featured in publications like AD magazine, often draws inspiration from natural and organic forms to create limited numbers of unique, timeless, and functional art pieces.
Geraldo de Barros (1998–1923) was a Brazilian artist and designer who bridged Concrete Art, photography, and socially minded industrial design. Born in Chavantes and based in São Paulo, he co-founded Grupo Ruptura (1952) and later Unilabor (1954), a cooperative creating modern furniture through collective production. His Fotoforma series redefined abstraction through experimental photography, a structural approach he carried into modular furniture for Unilabor and later Hobjeto (1964). De Barros saw design as a social project, uniting geometry, craft, and community within a humanist modernity. His work is represented in MoMA, MASP, and MAM-SP, and remains a cornerstone of Brazilian design.
Hamrei is an Anglo-Brazilian artist and designer based in Lisbon, Portugal, whose multidisciplinary practice spans collectible furniture, lighting, objects and art. Founded in 2022, his studio creates sculptural works that reflect his dual heritage, balancing raw materiality with refined craftsmanship. Working closely with master craftsmen across Europe, Hamrei employs carefully selected materials chosen for their longevity, character and tactile quality. Recognized by collectors and galleries internationally, his work explores a philosophy of enduring beauty and timeless design, where craftsmanship and longevity become a refined form of sustainability.
Jane Yang D’Haene is a Korean-born ceramic artist based in New York whose work bridges tradition, craft, and contemporary experimentation. She moved to the US in 1984 and studied architecture at the Cooper Union (1992-1988). Around 2016 she began working with clay, reimagining the Korean moon-jar form through texture, glaze, and irregularity to explore memory, identity, and material presence. Her pieces are held in private and institutional collections and have been exhibited in the US and Europe. Her vessels fuse heritage with innovation, using earthenware and painterly glazes to treat ceramics as expressive terrain rather than purely functional objects.
Joaquim Tenreiro (1992–1906) was a pioneer of modern Brazilian furniture design, known for blending European craftsmanship with tropical modernism. Born in Portugal and based in Rio de Janeiro, he brought artisanal precision to Brazil’s modernist movement, shaping an aesthetic of lightness, proportion, and restraint. Rejecting colonial heaviness, he used jacaranda, cane, and wicker to create elegant, functional forms. His Three-Legged Chair and woven cane works embody clarity and grace, defining a new national design language. Tenreiro’s studio trained key Brazilian designers, and his legacy endures in MoMA, MAM Rio, and major design collections.
Jonathan Trayte (b. 1980) is an artist and designer based in London whose work blurs the boundary between functional object and surreal organism. A graduate of the Royal Academy Schools, he explores consumer culture, appetite, and nature through sculptural furniture and installations. Using resin, bronze, painted wood, and powder-coated steel, he creates biomorphic forms that evoke food, flora, and commercial display. His playful yet uncanny pieces merge advertising color logic with organic fantasy, inviting reflection on desire and material excess. Exhibited internationally at galleries including Carl Freedman and Friedman Benda, Trayte’s work bridges art, design, and sensory imagination.
Jorge Zalszupin (2020–1922) was a Polish-Brazilian architect and designer who brought European modernist rigor to Brazil’s mid-century movement. Born in Warsaw and based in São Paulo, he founded L’Atelier in the 1950s, creating furniture that fused architectural precision with tropical warmth and sensual form. Working with jacaranda, leather, metal, and fiberglass, he produced sculptural yet functional designs such as the Presidencial armchair, Jerônimo table, and Petalas table. His work defined the visual language of modern Brazilian interiors through fluid curves, technical refinement, and humanist elegance. Celebrated today for its sophistication and material beauty, Zalszupin’s legacy endures in MASP, MoMA, and major Brazilian collections.
José Zanine Caldas (2001–1919) was a self-taught Brazilian designer, architect, and sculptor who united vernacular craft, modernism, and environmental awareness. Born in Bahia, he began as a model-maker for Lucio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer before founding Móveis Artísticos Z, creating modern plywood furniture for Brazil’s middle class. In the 1960s, he returned to Bahia to produce monumental furniture from reclaimed wood, blending indigenous knowledge, organic architecture, and ecological ethics. Long before sustainability became mainstream, Zanine treated wood as living memory, replanting what he used. His raw, poetic designs remain landmarks of Brazilian vernacular modernism and are celebrated in major collections.
Juliana Vasconcellos is a Brazilian architect and designer based in Rio de Janeiro whose work bridges architecture, interior design, and collectible furniture. Her practice is rooted in material sensuality and structural clarity, drawing from Brazil’s natural palette of marble, onyx, hardwoods, and bronze. Collaborating with artisans and metalworkers, she explores the sculptural potential of stone and metal, creating pieces that balance solidity with organic tactility. Each work reflects a dialogue between landscape and form, translating geological presence into contemporary design. Through her architectural projects and furniture collections, Vasconcellos connects Brazilian craftsmanship with a global language of refined minimalism and grounded luxury.
Kameh is a Dubai-based, anonymous designer whose brand, also named Kameh, was launched in 2022. The name «Kameh» is derived from a Slavic word for stone. Their work is often described as brutalism-inspired and sculptural, blurring the lines between art and functional objects. The collections are handmade, often in collaboration with local artisans in the UAE, and utilize a variety of materials like cement-covered Styrofoam, sand, and metal. The designer’s core mission is to create timeless, functional art that allows the focus to remain on the pieces themselves, free from the scrutiny or bias that can come with a known identity.
Max Ingrand (1908–1969) was a French designer, glassworker, and decorator who was known earlier in his career for his studio glass and stained glass window designs. He later became artistic director of light and furniture maker Fontana Arte, where he designed numerous premium light and furniture designs popular among European elites.
Michela Cattai is an Italian artist working between Milan and Venice, whose practice explores the sculptural and expressive potential of glass. She graduated in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice and later specialized in Glass Design, earning a Master’s degree from Bocconi University in Milan. Working at the intersection of painting and sculpture, Cattai employs glass to construct visual structures in which color, depth, and transparency generate spatial and perceptual tension. Through processes of layering and chromatic density, her works investigate the transformation of matter, giving rise to forms that appear suspended between solidity and dissolution. In this context, glass becomes a medium through which memory, abstraction, and visual rhythm take shape. In 1991, she founded the Galleria ART+DESIGN in Milan’s Brera district, anticipating a dialogue between contemporary art and design that continues to inform her artistic vision. Her work has been presented internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Italian Chamber of Deputies in Rome, the Italian Cultural Institute in Tokyo, and the National Archaeological Museum of Venice. Represented by leading international galleries, her practices have been presented at major platforms including Design Miami/Paris, PAD London, Salon Art+Design New York, Nomad St. Moritz/Abu Dhabi, Tokyo Gendai, and Design Miami. Her works are held in prominent permanent collections, including the Stiftung Museum Kunst Palast in Düsseldorf, the Murano Glass Museum, and the Italian Embassy in Tokyo. In 2019 she was appointed Art Director of Venini. Since 2023, she has devoted herself entirely to her independent artistic research, further strengthening her international presence.
Founded in 1913 in Rio Negrinho, Santa Catarina, Móveis Cimo (Companhia Industrial de Móveis) became a cornerstone of industrial furniture in Brazil. It evolved from a small wood-box workshop into a national manufacturer that brought modern design into schools, offices, and homes across the country. Combining industrial precision with Brazilian material culture, Cimo standardized parts, finishes, and modular systems that reflected both efficiency and optimism. Its furniture, including school chairs, work desks, and modular cabinets, embodied clarity, durability, and democratic access to modernism. Today, Cimo’s production is valued for its craftsmanship and for shaping Brazil’s industrial design identity.
Nini Tchanturia is a Georgian architect and designer with over a decade of experience in architecture and interior design. Her practice explores the relationship between design, space, and everyday life, with a distinctive approach rooted in materiality, individuality, and sculptural form. Her journey into collectible design emerged naturally through her architectural practice, where experimentation with furniture and objects became an extension of her work. Over time, this evolved into a distinctive design language shaped by a sensitivity to materials, form, and the relationship between objects and the spaces they inhabit. Influenced by memory, emotion, and her surroundings, Tchanturia approaches each piece as both a functional object and a sculptural presence. Every creation carries a story, conceived not only to serve a purpose but also to bring meaning and character to its environment. Her work has been presented internationally through exhibitions and design showcases, including Milan Design Week, Collectible Design Fair New York, and London Design Festival.
Born in Paris, France in 1995, Paul du Pré de Saint Maur has been shaped by his international education in the United Kingdom and Italy, and global practices in France and the United States. Such experiences honed his ability to distill sophisticated design into the finest level of detail. De Saint Maur’s attentive eye to detail and his passion for craftsmanship and tradition have coupled to define his unique language in design to find vernacularity in each project. He seamlessly intertwines traditional and contemporary elements to create timeless atmospheres that evolve with the lives of his clients. He embraces the unpredictable of the daily, welcoming mishaps as opportunities to weave whimsical, unimagined stories to his interiors.
Philippe Starck (b. 1949) is a French designer whose work spans industrial products, interiors, architecture, and transportation. Based in Paris, he rose to prominence in the 1980s after designing apartments at the Élysée Palace and went on to redefine everyday design through objects that combine humor, innovation, and sculptural clarity. His Juicy Salif citrus squeezer for Alessi (1990) and Louis Ghost chair for Kartell (2002) became icons of accessible, “democratic” design. From the Royalton and Delano hotels to lighting for Flos and yachts for private clients, Starck’s creations blur the line between high design and mass culture. His work is represented in MoMA, the Centre Pompidou, and the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Pierre Bonnefille (b. 1958) is a Paris-based artist and designer whose work merges fine art, decorative craft, and architecture. Educated at École Boulle and ENSAD, he creates tactile environments using mineral pigments, metal powders, and organic binders that react to light and movement. His “Bronze Paintings” and wall reliefs link ancient pigment traditions to contemporary spatial poetics, transforming matter into atmosphere. Named Maître d’Art by the French Ministry of Culture in 2010, Bonnefille has realized major commissions including Café Marly at the Louvre and a solo exhibition at the Musée Guimet. His works are held in international private and museum collections.
Poul Kjærholm (1980–1929) was a Danish designer who brought architectural precision and poetic restraint to modern furniture. Trained as a cabinetmaker, he broke from Denmark’s wood tradition, elevating steel as a noble material in dialogue with leather, cane, and stone. A professor at the Royal Danish Academy, he shaped a generation of makers devoted to structural clarity and proportion. His PK22, PK24, and PK80 exemplify balance between strength and sensual tactility. Awarded the Lunning Prize and two Milan Triennale Grand Prix, Kjærholm’s work is held in MoMA, the V&A, the National Museum of Art in Oslo, and the Danish Design Museum.
Roche & Frères is a Paris-based design studio founded in 2022 by twin brothers Alexandre and Maxence Roche. Trained in interior architecture and theatrical set design, their practice explores the relationship between furniture, the body, space, and time. Inspired by the volcanic landscapes of their native Haute-Loire, they work primarily with steel, shaping it into layered and fractured forms that evoke snow, ice, and geological formations. Guided by the belief that furniture is a jewel, their pieces combine personal memory with sculptural expression and contemporary function. Their debut collection, Mémoire de glace (2024), was presented at Paris Design Week and Art Paris at the Grand Palais.
Rogan Gregory (b. 1972) is an American artist and designer whose work explores primordial form, geological time, and biological evolution. Based between New York, Los Angeles, and Montauk, he moves between sculpture, furniture, and lighting, creating forms that appear both ancient and extraterrestrial. Working in carved stone, cast bronze, plaster, and composite materials, Gregory shapes surfaces that suggest erosion, cellular growth, and mutation. His Fertility Forms and Sentient Space series reflect on conception, evolution, and ecological fragility, blending the organic and the speculative. His work is held in major private and institutional collections.
Roham Shamekh is a Dubai-based, Iranian-born designer whose work bridges street culture, calligraphic gesture, and luxury craft. Working across furniture, mirrors, lighting, and installations, he transforms industrial and graphic motifs into refined collectible objects. Using polished metal, stone, and mirrored surfaces, his pieces fuse urban immediacy with artisanal precision. Active within Dubai’s growing creative scene, Shamekh collaborates with musicians, fashion designers, and brands to produce limited-edition works and immersive environments. His practice reflects a contemporary Middle Eastern sensibility that reinterprets visual culture through material richness and sculptural clarity.
Ron Arad (b. 1951) is a London-based designer, sculptor, and architect known for merging industrial experimentation with sculptural form. Trained at the Architectural Association, he rose to prominence in the early 1980s with welded-steel pieces such as the Rover Chair (1981) and Concrete Stereo (1983), which embodied a raw, postmodern energy. Later collaborations with Kartell, Vitra, and Moroso brought his bold, curved constructions to industrial production. Working in steel, aluminum, and polycarbonate, Arad explores form, elasticity, and material tension through digital and handcrafted methods. His work is represented in MoMA, the Centre Pompidou, the Design Museum London, and the V&A.
Samuel Ross (b. 1991) is a British designer, artist, and creative director whose work spans fashion, industrial design, and cultural research. After collaborating with Virgil Abloh, he founded A-COLD-WALL in 2015 and later SR_A, a studio dedicated to furniture, objects, and spatial design. His cast-metal seating, concrete tables, and experimental lighting express a language of industrial monumentality and civic materiality. Focused on process, tooling, and material politics, Ross connects urban infrastructure to collectible design. Exhibited by Friedman Benda and featured in institutional projects worldwide, he represents a new generation exploring design as both aesthetic and social inquiry.
Sayar & Garibeh is a Beirut-based design studio shaping a poetic and playful language of contemporary Lebanese design. Working across furniture, lighting, and sculptural objects, the studio transforms everyday forms into expressive companions that balance humor, tenderness, and surreal gesture. Rooted in Beirut’s dynamic creative scene, Sayar & Garibeh combines artisanal craft with material experimentation in wood, ceramics, metal, and textile. Their work preserves local making traditions while reimagining them for a modern, symbolic context. Exhibited internationally at Milan Design Week, Maison & Objet, and major collectible design platforms, the studio represents a voice of resilience, intimacy, and imagination within Middle Eastern design.
Scarlett Rouge is an American-born, Fontainebleau-based artist whose interdisciplinary practice bridges sculpture, performance, video, painting, and installation. Guided by mythology, Jungian psychology, and ritual symbolism, she reconstructs archetypes to explore spirituality, femininity, and the psyche’s transformation. Her works employ ceramic, textile, pigment, and gesture to connect spirit and matter, creating therapeutic and mythic narratives that address contemporary life. Rouge’s performances extend from early collaborations in The Visiting Kids to her ongoing project LAVASCAR with Michele Lamy and Nico Vascellari. Exhibited internationally in Paris, Milan, Los Angeles, and Copenhagen, her work reimagines art as a living rite and a space for emotional and spiritual renewal.
Sergio Rodrigues (2014–1927) was a Brazilian architect and designer known for shaping a distinctly modern national identity in furniture. Born in Rio de Janeiro, he founded Oca in 1955 to create designs that reflected Brazil’s lifestyle and climate. Using wood, leather, and straw, Rodrigues developed a language of structural simplicity and relaxed comfort. His Mole armchair (1957) won first prize at the Concorso Internazionale del Mobile in 1961, becoming a symbol of Brazilian modernism. He also created furniture for Brasília’s new civic buildings, including the National Congress and Itamaraty Palace. Over five decades, Rodrigues remained devoted to craftsmanship and cultural authenticity, positioning himself among Brazil’s most influential modern designers.
Victor Guedy is a French sculptor whose work merges classical stone craft with philosophical reflection. Trained through Les Compagnons du Devoir, he spent eight years refining his mastery of form, weight, and proportion before developing a contemporary sculptural language rooted in discipline and transformation. Working in stone, marble, and bronze, Guedy explores the tension between austerity and sensuality, treating matter as a medium of spiritual inquiry. His experience casting alongside artisans from Rodin’s foundry deepened his devotion to material precision. Based between Paris and the United States, Guedy collaborates with figures such as Joseph Dirand and Jacques Grange, shaping a practice defined by transcendence, craft, and quiet power.
Vincent Dubourg (b. 1977) is a French artist and designer celebrated for creating sculptural furniture that blurs the boundaries between art, architecture, and functional design. Known for a surreal aesthetic and «composed chaos,» Dubourg masterfully deconstructs familiar objects, reimagining them through the lens of nature and the elements. He fuses traditional craftsmanship, such as expert metalwork and cabinetmaking, utilizing materials like bronze, wood, steel, and glass to produce pieces that appear distorted or in metamorphosis. His globally exhibited work is inspired by both urban environments and the rural isolation of his French studio.
Wendell Castle (2018–1932) was an American designer and sculptor who transformed furniture into art. Based in Rochester, New York, he pioneered the stack-lamination technique, carving continuous organic forms that merged sculpture and function. His practice evolved from biomorphic wood pieces in the 1960s to vibrant fiberglass works and, later, digitally carved hybrids that combined CNC technology with handcraft. Over five decades, Castle embodied the essence of the American Studio Furniture movement through expressive form, material mastery, and constant reinvention. His work is held in MoMA, The Met, the Smithsonian, and the Art Institute of Chicago, marking him as a defining figure of 20th-century design.
Zaha Hadid (2016–1950) was an Iraqi-British architect and designer who revolutionized spatial design through fluid geometry and radical form. Trained at the Architectural Association in London, she founded Zaha Hadid Architects in 1979 and became the first woman to win the Pritzker Prize in 2004. Her work, from the Vitra Fire Station to MAXXI in Rome and the Guangzhou Opera House, transformed architectural language into continuous movement and dynamic structure. Extending her vision to furniture and objects like the Liquid Glacial tables, Hadid united art, technology, and imagination. Her studio continues to advance her legacy of innovation and sculptural precision.