Substance in a cushion at JSG

EB: How are you doing and where are you right now?

VCS: I’m currently in Paris. I've been here for a few days and have been going to some museums like the Yves Saint Laurent Museum as well as seeing an amazing show about botanical influences in art and jewelry at the Beaux Arts. I really like Applied Art and I think that Paris is always good for this because they don’t divide design and decoration, which is what tends to happen in Italy.

I’m Italian and I studied design in Italy. I come from a place where we have our masters of Italian design that focus on this idea of ‘perfect design’, which can be very industrial and very precise. It’s absolutely great, but it doesn't indulge in something that’s always been very important to me, which is the surface of the object and decoration, something that is a bit more vernacular. In French culture, decoration is more considered and they embrace it quite a lot. I'm not saying I don't like Italian design, I love it! I’ve just always been interested in this language of ornamentation that comes more from France or Austria. It has a specific energy that I like.

EB: In your own words, what do you do?

VCS: Commercially, I work as an art director and set designer. I've also been developing my own personal research about objects and their representation. I work with artisans and suppliers to create objects with different kinds of techniques and materials. Then I always photograph them because for me, it’s not just important to create an object, but to also realize a visual world around it. For the gallery I’ve made a collection of glassware. There are drinking pieces, jewelry containers and some incense holders. I enjoyed this because I like to work with, transform and expand on a practice of decoration.

EB: I appreciate what you're saying about how an integral piece to the story of these objects is how they live a different, but complementary life with their photographic representation.

VCS: When it comes to photographing these pieces it's interesting for me to approach them as props. It doesn't mean that the objects aren’t real, but more to imagine them as a part of a bigger picture, a frozen moment in time. I hope these images evoke an event, a place, or a person. I’ve always been inspired by production design in movies. I love watching the details and objects of a scene. It’s also a mix of influences, a balance between something retro to evoke the feeling of old commercials and at the same time, something contemporary. I’m always trying to find this balance.

EB: Are there any other influences or inspirations throughout various design histories?

VCS: Art Nouveau and the Austrian Wiener Werkstätte movements are big influences. The pieces I make are not necessarily similar to them, but I love the spirit of work from that time. I also like 70s objects like jewelry. I’m also inspired by ancient Roman objects and their sense of proportion. I’ve always been interested in altering proportion and also never make tiny objects. They’re always a bit bigger than normal. I don't know if it's about being generous or if it just results from the process, but I always make things a bit too big.

One designer that I really love from the Wiener Werkstätte is Dagobert Peche. He made one piece that I took a lot of inspiration from for my work for the gallery. It’s a box that has quite an animated movement to it and has a feeling of unrealness, which feels a bit Disney-esque to me. I love the rose from Beauty and the Beast, even if it's a bit cliche. I also like a lot of old drawings and printed material from the beginning of the last century, which would have all kinds of ornamentation.

EB: How do the new vessels for the gallery celebrate a multi-sensory engagement?

VCS: When Jacqueline and I first spoke, she mentioned the idea of a vessel’s ability to hold perfume. So we thought about creating objects for oil and wine. I made a decanter and a carafe and this other object, which is called a ladro in Spanish or Italian. It's used when tasting wine and has a special shape to pipe out a small volume from the barrel.


EB: What feels particularly important to you as a designer and human right now?

VCS: As a designer, when everything slowed due to COVID, I let go of having anxiety about constantly doing things. Now I’m less anxious, which is helping me work in a way that’s more daring, challenging, and deep. I would also like to be able to create something that takes even more time, but we will see if that relates to an object or a larger space.

As a person, I would be happy if we could try to overcome our anxieties. It feels like we all suffer a bit from this because of the things that are going on. I hope we can find a little peace as humans. And if the anxiety is inescapable, then I hope we can be aware of it and engage with it in a positive way.