Giovanni "Gio" Ponti (born November 18, 1891, Milan, Italy–died September 16, 1979, Milan, Italy) is considered one of the most important and influential Italian architects. He was successful as an architect, industrial designer, furniture designer, artist, and publisher. His influence on modern Italian architecture is incontestable, and he is often referred to as the father of modern Italian design.

He worked in the design profession for over sixty years. During his prolific career, Gio Ponti produced several furniture pieces, decorative artworks, and industrial product designs, extracting old artisan skills while exploring modern production techniques. Additionally, creating critical architectural works in Italy and internationally.

The great designer graduated from Politecnico di Milano in 1921. In 1923, he began working in industrial design, designing ceramics for the Richard Ginori pottery factory near Florence. After two years, he convinced Richard Ginori to participate in the Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (a 1925 Paris exposition), where Ponti's ceramic designs were very successful. During this time, Ponti forged a lasting relationship with the executive and shareholder of Christofle, Tony Bouilhet, who later in life would marry Ponti's niece, and for whom he designed Villa Bouilhet at the Saint-Cloud golf club near Paris, one of Ponti's first housing design projects. During his 15-year association with the Richard Ginori pottery factory, but especially during the early years, Gio Ponti collaborated with craftsmen and artisans to create rich designs with abundant colours, elegant shapes, and skilled craftsmanship, mainly in the neoclassical style. This style was out of favor with the functional and minimal approach of the then-prevalent Italian Rationalism, and it was distinctly present in Ponti's work in the 1930s and 1940s and less and less so in the later years.

In 1928, Ponti delved deep into publishing and began Domus, architecture and design magazine, to energize and assimilate Italian architecture, interior design, and decorative arts. His leadership at Domus would allow him to express his ideas regarding the Novecento artistic movement, a counter-movement to Rationalism, and ensure recognition of top Italian design. He worked at Domus until 1941, when he moved on and founded Stile magazine (Lo Stile–Nella casa e nell'arrendamento), and asked several young architects and critics–among them Lina Bo Bardi, to collaborate with him. However, Ponti closed Lo Stile and returned to Domus in 1947, where he remained involved for the rest of his life.

Many books, magazine articles, and exhibitions have been attributed to exploring the influence and exceptionality of Gio Ponti's work. Throughout his working life, he designed a considerable amount of ceramics, furnishings, and objects. He embarked on many of his designs alone, and some were created in collaboration with other artists and designers of the time. He produced some of the objects himself, while others were made in workshops by expert craftsmen, and some pieces were manufactured by some of the significant furniture manufacturing companies of the time. The diversified production of his work is a clear indicator of his interest in both industrial productions and artisanal production.

In 1923, Ponti made his public debut as a product designer in Italy at the first Biennial Exhibition of the Decorative Arts in Monza, followed by his involvement in organizing the subsequent Triennale exhibitions of Monza and Milan. In 1933, Ponti exposed entrepreneurial spirit and invited Pietro Chiesa to join him and Luigi Fontana to embark on the venture of Fontana Arte, a company that would become a force in Italian furniture design that specialized in manufacturing furniture, lighting, and furnishing accessories.

In the 1940s, Ponti collaborated with Paolo de Poli to produce furniture, decorative panels, and new objects of design and animal motifs in sculptural forms, and in 1946, he started three years of involvement designing Murano glassware for Venini.

During the early 1930s, Gio Ponti and Piero Fornasetti started a long, productive, and somewhat methodic collaboration, as it mainly consisted of Ponti-designed furniture decorated with Fornasetti paintings and engravings. During the 1950s, in line with the other influential Italian designers, such as Nino Zoncada, Gustavo Pulitzer, Paolo de Poli, Pietro Chiesa, and Gino Sarfatti, Ponti designed the interiors, including the furniture for ocean liners. In 1947, Gio Ponti established a long and strong friendship with the Italian architect and designer Ico Parisi and his wife, Luisa Aiani, collaborating in the design studio La Ruota.

In the late 1940s and 1950s, Ponti became a bountiful furniture designer, his chairs and sofas of significant popularity. His work was portrayed with a joyful spirit and a sensitivity to modernism that are persistent. Among his important chair designs are the armchair model no. 811 for Figli di Amedeo Cassina (1950), with an inclined and angular wooden frame and a suspension system for the seat and backrest made out of elastic belts made by Pirelli; the Model 111, also for Figli di Amedeo Cassina (1950); the Diamond sofa, originally made for his house (Cassina,1953); the Mariposa, or butterfly, chair, which was originally designed for the Villa Planchart in Caracas (1955); the successfully omnipresent Superleggera chair, also for Cassina (1957), the crowning achievement of a long and fruitful work relationship designing furniture and objects for Cassina; the Continuum rattan chair for Pierantonio Bonacina (1963); the Dezza armchair for Poltrona Frau in 1966; and the Gabriela chair, or the Sedia di poco sedile, for Pallucco (1971).

Other important Ponti designs for Italian furniture manufacturers include
the series of chairs, lounges, desk chairs, and desks designed in 1950 for the Vembi-Burroughs office in Genoa;
the designs of cabinets and sideboards for Singer & Sons (1951);
the vanity desk or vanity dressing table for Giordano Chiesa (1951);
the side table D 5551 designed initially for his house in Via Dezza in Milan (1954);
the 1960 and 1964 furnishings for the hotels Parco del Principe in Rome and Parco del Principe in Sorrento; and
many furniture pieces he designed in the late 1960s for Tecno, Osvaldo Borsani's furniture manufacturing company.
Gio Ponti participated in the architectural and interior design of two important hotels in Italy: the Hotel Parco Dei Principe in Sorrento (1960) and the Hotel Parco Dei Principe in Roma (1964). The interiors for these two hotels were designed with a unique modern sensuality that evoked sophistication and style. The projects were created in collaboration with Fausto Melotti and Ico Parisi.

In 1966, he invited lighting designer Elio Martinelli to showcase his lamps at the opening of the Eurodomus exhibition, which drove forward Martinelli's career as an innovative light designer.

Among Ponti's architectural masterpieces of the 1930s are the Institute of Mathematics at the University of Rome (1934), the Catholic Press Exhibition in Vatican City (1936), and the first office block of the Montecatini company in Milan (1936). In 1950, Alberto Pirelli, the owner of the Pirelli tire company, selected Gio Ponti to design and develop a building to house his company's offices. Gio Ponti hired architects Pier Luigi Nervi and Arturo Danusso to collaborate with him, and the team began the construction of the Pirelli Tower in 1956. When completed in 1958, the 32-story, 127-meter-high Pirelli Tower, with its unique hexagonal plan, became Italy's first skyscraper and a symbol of the postwar economic recovery of Italy.

Two of his most renowned architectural works, though, were built outside of Italy. One of these works is Villa Planchart, or “El Cerrito” (1955), in Caracas, built for Anala and Armando Planchart at the top of a hill, or cerro, overlooking Caracas. For the Villa Planchart project, Ponti designed the 10,000-square-foot, six-bedroom house, and the furniture and decorative objects. Another of Ponti's most famous works is Villa Nemazee (1957–1964) in Tehran. The Namazee family commissioned this home at the recommendation of Mohsen Foroughi, architect and dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Tehran University. For Villa Namezee, Ponti developed a design based on the traditional Iranian courtyard house. The Iranian regime has since revoked the villa's heritage status, making its future uncertain. Italian artist and ceramicist Fausto Melotti collaborated on the interior design and furnishings of both villas.

In the 1970s towards the end of his career, Ponti was on an intense mission to explore transparency and lightness in his work. During this time, he designed and built facades resembling undulated and perforated sheets of paper with geometric shapes and unique patterns. In 1970, he finished the Taranto Cathedral, a white rectangular building with a huge concrete façade punctured with openings. In 1971, he contributed to the exterior envelope design of the Denver Art Museum in Colorado—the only Gio Ponti building in North America. He also submitted the project design for the future Centre Pompidou in Paris.

In 1934, he was given the title of Commander of the Royal Order of Vasa in Stockholm. He also obtained the Accademia d'Italia Art Prize for his artistic merits, the gold medal from the Académie d'Architecture in Paris, and an honorary doctorate from the London Royal College of Art.

Gio Ponti died in 1979 on Via Nezza in Milan. His many prizes and titles throughout his life signify his importance as a designer. His furniture and design objects continue to be sought after by collectors today, indicating the revolutionary status of his mid-century designs.

Achillina Bo, best know as Lina Bo Bardi, (born December 5, 1914, Rome, Italy—died March 29, 1992, São Paulo, Brazil), was an Italian-born Brazilian Modernist architect, industrial designer, historic preservationist, journalist, and activist whose work broke free from convention. She designed daring, distinctive structures that merged Modernism with populism.

Bo Bardi graduated with an architecture degree in 1939 at the University of Rome, where she had studied under architects such as Marcello Piacentini and Gustavo Giovannoni. Upon graduating, Bo Bardi moved to Milan and began working with the architect Carlo Pagani as a design journalist. She also worked with the famous architect and designer Gio Ponti and collaborated with him on the magazine Lo Stile, while contributing to several other Italian design publications. In 1944 she became deputy director of Domus, the acclaimed design magazine established by Gio Ponti in 1928, and retained the post until 1945. In 1945 Domus commissioned Bo Bardi, Pagani, and photographer Federico Patellani to travel through Italy documenting the destruction of World War II. Later that year, she collaborated with Pagani and art critic Bruno Zevi on the short-lived magazine A – Attualità, Architettura, Abitazione, Arte, which published their judgments and verdicts discussed ideas for restoration of the postwar devastation.

Pietro Maria Bardi, an art gallery director, dealer, and critic, became her husband in 1946. Pietro was soon invited to Brazil by the media tycoon Assis Chateaubriand to help coordinate the Art Museum of São Paulo (Museu de Arte de São Paulo; MASP). The couple, as a result, emigrated across the Atlantic to the modernist hotspot Sao Paulo.

Bo Bardi designed the interior and the museum fittings for the first iteration of MASP, which opened in 1947. She developed an innovative system for suspending paintings away from the wall. (Her design was torn down in the 1990s and replaced with a conventional wall hanging system.) She also designed folding stackable chairs made from Brazilian jacaranda wood and leather intended for use at lectures and museum events. Later in life, she curated an exhibition at the museum on the history of chair design.

In 1950 Bo Bardi founded the magazine Habitat with her husband and worked as the editor until 1953. During that time, it was the most influential architectural magazine in Brazil. She became a citizen of Brazil (1951) and started the country's first industrial design course at the Institute of Contemporary Art (a part of the expanded MASP). She designed for her and her husband, the notorious Modernist Le Corbusier, influenced Casa de Vidro (Glass House) in the Morumbi neighborhood of São Paulo. Constructed on a hill, Casa de Vidro, over time, integrated into the landscape entirely. The front of the house extended out over the slope of the hill, elevated and supported on delicate-looking stilts. In 1951 she also designed her most famous piece of furniture, Bardi's Bowl, a chair in the form of an adjustable hemispherical bowl resting in a steel cradle.

By the mid-1950s, it was clear that MASP had outgrown its original building, with galleries and dedicated spaces for teaching art. By the 1950s, the popularity of MASP overcame the museum's physical capacity. In 1958 Bo Bardi was commissioned to design the new building. The building stands today as her most dominant creation. Located on São Paulo's Paulista Avenue, Bo Bardi's iconic glass-and-concrete building was elevated 8 meters (26.2 feet) above the ground on sizeable red pillars. The space at ground level provides a shaded heaven away from the hot summer sun and a gathering place for concerts, protests, and socializing.

In the late 1950s Bo Bardi began an extended period of living and working in Salvador, a poor city rich in cultural heritage in the northeastern state of Bahia. She gave several lectures at Bahia University's School of Fine Arts in 1958, and in 1959 she was invited to create and run Bahia's Museum of Modern Art (Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia). She chose to house the museum in the Solar do Unhão, a former salt mill and part of a network of historic seaside constructions that she restored in 1963. Bo Bardi added a museum of popular art and an art school to the Museum of Modern Art, all under the roof of Unhão.

However, political unrest forced Bo Bardi to leave Bahia in 1964. Her return to São Paulo marked the beginning of Brazil's lengthy era of oppression under a military dictatorship that lasted until 1985. During that period, Bo Bardi curated exhibitions and worked in theatre, designing sets and costumes for several productions, notably a 1969 production of Im Dickicht der Städte (In the Jungle of Cities), an early play by Bertolt Brecht.

Bo Bardi's time in Bahia altered her political and aesthetic philosophies. The region's language and historic architecture led her to adopt a design process guided by social and ethical responsibility and inspired by allegiance to her adopted country and its native aesthetic traditions. Bo Bardi dedicated herself to creating only Brazilian architecture, projecting simple designs, and sourcing local materials, the style of architecture she called "Arquitetura Povera" ("poor", or, "simple" architecture). Since her initial experience in Salvador, much of her work involved re-designing and developing existing structures and restoring and preserving historic buildings. Throughout the 1980s Bo Bardi led preservation and restoration projects in the historic center of Salvador, including the House of Benin, which houses an art collection, as well as Misericórdia Hill, an extremely steep historic street (both in 1987). Her next major architecture project was the SESC Pompéia (built in stages, 1977–1986), a leisure and cultural center in São Paulo sponsored by the nonprofit Social Service of Commerce (Serviço Social do Comércio). Bo Bardi converted an old steel drum factory into a center for various facilities; sports, theatre, and other leisure activities.

Bo Bardi, although late, has been given her due as one of the most prolific women architects of the 20th century. In the mid-1980s, working alongside the architects André Vainer and Marcelo Carvalho Ferraz, Bo Bardi designed an addition to the Glass House, the Instituto Lina Bo e P.M Bardi (originally the Instituo Quadrante). As well as housing Bo Bardi's archive, The Instituto Lina Bo e P.M Bardi is an exhibition space dedicated to the study of Brazilian art and architecture.

In 2012, the centennial of her birth, Bo Bardi's career was celebrated with the launch of a limited-edition line of her bowl chair, a major traveling retrospective organized by the British Council in London, and the publication of a scholarly monograph discloses her life's work.

Martin Eisler (Vienna, Austria, 1913 - São Paulo, Brazil, 1977) was an architect and furniture designer. He was part of a group of European architects and designers who left Europe during the chaos of the Second World War and went to live and work in Brazil. Eisler stood out amongst this group of creatives. His work was at the forefront of modern furniture design in Brazil, which flourished through the 50s and 60s. Eisler's work in partnership with Carlo Hauner (1927-1996) was of particular significance.

Eisler left Europe in 1938 due to the rise of fascist regimes. He first lived in Argentina, where he was settled and worked as an architect, set designer, and interior designer. Eisler opened up an interior design firm Interieur Forma. In 1940, he married Rosl Wolf, the daughter of German immigrants.

Born in Brescia in 1927, Carlo Hauner studied technical drawing and drawing at the Brera Academy in Milan, Italy. In 1948 he successfully participated in the Venice Biennale, after which he moved to Brazil, where he dedicated himself to the design of textile, ceramics, furniture, and architecture. After purchasing a factory from Lina Bo Bardi and her husband Pietro Bardi, he quickly founded a furniture production company, renaming it Móveis Artesanal.

In 1953 Hauner met Martin Eisler, who was looking for help to produce furniture for the home of his brother-in-law, Ernesto Wolf. Eisler reached out to Hauner, marking the beginning of a flourishing partnership. The two men connected, and with Wolf's financial backing, they opened Galeria Artesanal (a store for their company Móveis Artesanal) on a busy street in São Paulo.

Being highly ambitious and with an eye on the international market and the upcoming office market, Móvies Artesanal later changed into Forma. Along with Oca, Forma became one of the biggest names in Brazilian furniture production. Eisler attracted exclusive license to sell Knoll furniture, bringing big names in international design such as Mies Van Der Rohe, Charles Eames, and Harry Bertoia to the Brazilian furniture market. Hauner and Eisler's designs are characterized by Brazilian woods, thin tubular frames, and range from furniture to ceramics and textiles. Some of their most famous designs are the "rib" lounge chair, the "concha/haia" chair or "reversible" lounge chair, both shown in this exhibition. In 1958 Hauner decided to return to Italy to open Forma di Brescia, which catered to, e.g., the embassy of Brazil in Rome and Vatican City. Eventually, Hauner sold his part of the company, leaving Eisler solely at the helm to paint and make wine on Salina, a little isle just above Sicily. After a fulfilled life, the artist, designer, and serial entrepreneur died in 1997. Forma prospered during the 60's and 70's, until Martin Eisler died in 1977. His original company in Argentina still exists and, at the moment, is the sole heir to Hauner and Eisler's Heritage. Although Hauner and Eisler designed and produced many pieces, the depth and quality of their work outlined is only the beginning of their lasting impact on the design world.

Nebil Zaman (b.1985) is a Kurdish / Norwegian designer living and working in Oslo. After beginning his studies in Art direction and advertising, Zaman took a turn and went to study traditional woodworking and furniture design at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts. Since graduating Zaman has merged furniture making with his fascination and interest in architecture, art and technology. Based on his upbringing and experiences, he explores how our surroundings affect us socially and culturally. His interest in materials, production techniques and visual languages shine through in his work, investigating topics such as function, form, identity and visual culture.

His latest series of laser cut plaster cast MDF furniture forms, place an emphasis on material and texture. Zaman is most intrigued by the materiality of plaster, it provides a sense of freedom, and a loss of control in the final outcome. While there is extreme precision in the digital fabrication techniques to create the armature, the addition of plaster to the process provides an organic element of expression and randomness.

The new collection of works made exclusively for Side Gallery, is a continuation of Nebil Zaman's previous works in plaster, exploring topics such as function, form, identity and visual culture. The scope of his creative process focuses on the combination of digital fabrication and handcraft methods. Zaman digitally draws or searches for 3D models that interest him. Once the designer is satisfied with the model, he sections the design in 2D, then laser cuts or CNC mills the 2D sections to create the parts, afterwards assembling the newly made pieces into a three dimensional object. The structural base then acts as a fixture to build up thin layers of regular plaster and wood glue, leaving the finished object with a smooth industrial finish.

Zaman explores forms and different typologies of furniture, as well as imagining and creating new ones. Certain pieces have clear and specific functions, while others are more ambiguous and open to another possible purpose. The formal language and aesthetics of Zaman’s designs stem from a fascination with ancient civilizations, archaeological encounters, science fiction and futuristic visions. The Norwegian designer won the ‘DOGA Award for Newcomers’ in 2017, and his project ‘Personal Space’ was acquired by Norway’s National Museum in 2019. In 2022 the designer presented work at London Craft as well as being selected for the group show “Matter” Norwegian Presence durning Salone di Mobile.

Francisco Jaramillo (b. Medellin) is an award-winning Colombian designer who turns to local materials for his furniture, resulting in pieces that are uniquely Colombian. In collaborating with local artisans and imparting his knowledge of process and material through teaching, he has helped shape a design culture that does not derive its methods solely from Western or international influences.

Growing up in Medellín, Jaramillo was always looking to the sky to derive shapes from cloud forms, and today, his design continues to be inspired by his surroundings, turning to local materials rooted in place. After finishing his university studies, the designer traveled to Barcelona to specialize in furniture design at ELISAVA, working with designers who influenced his work with local materials. Upon returning home to Colombia, he launched Fango, which explores the relationship between man, context, and object, combining technology with artisanship to craft collectible furniture driven by a clear narrative.

As a result of his close work with artisans, Jaramillo began studying local materials, developing the Ibuju collection, which rethinks the design and manufacturing of native wooden pieces using a natural, renewable fiber called “Yaré”. The Ibuju stool earned Jaramillo a 2023 Wallpaper* Design Award in the “Best New Weaves” category. The designer has also participated in design weeks around the world, including Dutch Design Week, Wanted Design, Abierto Mexicano de Diseño, and Medellin Design Week.

Xavier Mañosa founded Apparatu in 2010 and, in that short space of time, he has become one of the most up and coming ceramicists of his generation. When he took that step, he was living in Berlin. Perhaps that distance helped him to finally dedicate himself to what he had seen his parents doing during his childhood and which he had rejected, as an act of defiance, during his training as an industrial designer. In his case, the most fascinating part is probably that it is a combination of the two – his perspective from a distance and his eagerness to experiment linked to his knowledge of his trade, drawn from his home background.

Until 2009, Mañosa had his creative base in Berlin, from where he returned to the family workshop, located in an old industrial estate in Barcelona, where ceramic products for the building industry used to be produced. Nowadays, it is actually a focal point for antiques, which gives it a most inspiring atmosphere.

What fundamentally distinguishes Mañosa as a modern-day ceramicist is his boldness when it comes to combining different materials and to exploring new forms of expression. Another question by whichXavier Mañosa has always set great store, from the outset, is the way in which his work is presented, which is obviously a reflection of his training as a designer and the fact that he belongs to the ‘digital generation’. On the one hand, his work stands out as a brand and, on the other, he raises its prominence through his Web site and by participating in numerous exhibitions and promotional events both inside Spain and elsewhere.

Pieces by Xavier Mañosa have been exhibited at contemporary design fairs and festivals inLondon, Frankfurt, Saint- Étienne, Tokyo, New York, México and Stockholm, as well as in Madrid and Barcelona.

Elissa Lacoste (b. 1994, France) is an experimental designer who lives and works in Burgundy, France. She studied at Ecole Supérieure d’Art et Design Saint-Etienne and Latvian Art Academy in Riga. She obtained her MA at Design Academy Eindhoven in 2018 in the Netherlands.

Hands-on and instinctive, her work stems from her quest for the wild, the inexplicable and the sensorial within contemporary boundaries. Unconventionally textured and vibrant, her sculptural pieces linger between the real and the surreal while maintaining a hint of functionality. In her work, she evokes an otherness to reflect upon our relationship to our physical environment, be it anthropogenic or natural.

Her organic forms often provoke a cognitive dissonance like her monolithic stone-like silicone pieces.
Fascinated by material abilities and not bounded to a specific material, she looks into various techniques but prefers to experiment intuitively, without resorting to traditional craft knowledge as a first step.

In this way she favors serendipity and encounters surprising results that she develops into her own techniques and methods of shaping matter and creating objects.

Charlotte Kingsnorth makes work that welds functionality with sculpture. There are no limitations in terms of scale, material or process, instead her work embraces a marriage of industrial and artisan techniques, often weaving in pre-existing objects. She is interested in anthropomorphic forms and carves personality into the materials she uses.

Kingsnorth is a graduate of the Royal College of Art's design products programme and runs a London-based practice, working with private clients, galleries, brands and global institutions, including The Bill Gates Foundation, Fendi, ByFar, SHOWstudio, Saatchi, Christies, The Crafts Council, The V&A, Holon Design Museum in Israel, the Triennale Design Museum in Milan. She has shown in design fairs at Nomad in Monaco, St. Moritz and Capri, Design Miami, New York, London, Paris and Milan, and has works in the permanent collection at Turkey's Odunpazari Modern Museum.

The essence of materials is constantly sought in the work of the German designer Carsten in der Elst (b. 1992 Düsseldorf). Based in Cologne, he finished his Design studies in 2020 and immediately started his studio practice by continuing his graduation project Heavy Duty. His work focuses on making materials hybrid using industrial by products. Through physical labor and obsessive attention to detail, he connects with the material, transforming the discarded pieces into unique and beautiul shapes, allowing the materials to behave differently. The material dictates the design.

For his first project, Heavy Duty, the designer recalled how the squander of energy and natural materials dedicated to industrial processes mostly serve to end up producing waste matter. Through traditional craftsmanship and his zero-waste approach, he approached materials such as forged steel and shotcrete and returned them to their own universe. Soft Works was a continuation of his first project, using the same concept but different elements, such as cork, silicone and leftover mattresses. In der Elst is dedicated to finding the locations and origins of materials, in order to tame them whilst preserving their essence and natural processes.

His work reminds us that there is beauty in components that have been considered less worthy and condemned to decay, beliving they deserve investigation. A essentail part of in der Elst’s practice is the documentation of the creative process, or his communication and findings with the materials. For the designer, the material guides the making process, instead of being subservient to an idea, he considers himself a servant of the materials. His constant question: does this design decision do justice to the nature of the material, or does it become torture?

Both projects have been exhibited at the 3 Days of Design festival in Copenhagen. Now, the designer is focusing on his Graywacke Offcut project, for which he has recovered the rubble from a quarry, creating a series in which each piece is embodied with the same Graywacke stone, but finds its own personality, through form and structure.

Finnish-born designer Jonas Lutz creates objects of bold simplicity and elegant solutions, often with a tacit playfulness. His objects instantly reveal a continuous search for the novel and undiscovered. Simplicity of form is well balanced with a gentleness that invites a desire to touch. Lutz’s furniture has always been of modest form, projecting a deep comprehension of his materials, and an elevation of their qualities.
The designer finds inspiration in Nordic furniture traditions as well as in the lively design culture of his adopted country of the Netherlands. Fuelled by an upbringing in a creative milieu his instinct and sensibility to materials intimates that of a sculptor’s act. This act is much replicated in the way he gives himself design briefs triggering investigations of materials and concepts, often inspired by objects of use in his home.
Lutz works with manufacturers E15, Form & Refine, La Chance and fashion label Isabel Marant. His studio is located in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and he studied at the Carl Malmsten furniture school in Stockholm, Sweden, and has a bachelor in design from the Design Academy in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

Vince Palacios (b.1961) is an American ceramic artist born in Flint, Michigan. He received his Masters in Ceramic Art from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 1994, and prior to that, in 1992, his BFA in ceramics at California State University at Long Beach. He has been working in the field of ceramic art since 1988.

Palacios has gathered extensive experience as a professor at different academic institutions, such as California State University of Long Beach and Western Illinois University, among others. He is now working as a lecturer in the Ceramics Department at El Camino College in Torrance, California.

His work has been exhibited worldwide and is included in a number of important private collections such as Alfred University Art Museum in New York as well as in the collections of remarkable museums, including the Long Beach Museum of Art, Long beach, California, and The AMOCA Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, California.

The development of Palacios' works is derived from unique approach points. Firstly, in the context of materiality, Palacio’s has a complex crafting process through the use of raw glass and ceramic materials. As a result of his multiplex material process, combined with the exploration of geological processes of pyroclastic interactions, heat and chemical reactions, the American ceramicist creates intricate and playful narratives.

Youngmin Kang (born 1969 in Seoul, South Korea) studied painting (BFA/MFA) at Seoul National University and studio art (MFA) at the University of Texas at Austin. He has shown his work in solo shows at Gana Contemporary, Space CAN, Youngeun Museum of Contemporary Art, Project Space Sarubia, all South Korea and O’Kane Gallery, Houston. Group exhibitions include National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul Museum of Art, Reverscape, Jeju Museum of Art, Seoul International Photography Festival, and Gyeonggido Museum of Art, all South Korea.

Youngmin Kang transforms images and objects captured from digital media, architecture or cultural phenomenon into different contexts by expanding the limits of a particular media through changing the format of the information contained within. When modified into a different space, dimension, scale, and media, his provides a moment of clarity about the original medium and references. Specific meaning in each work emerges through the detailed process of manipulation and can be associated with cultural, socio-political, and identity issues.

The designer uses his designs to demonstrate how the garbage we generate can be turned into something of great value. He is writing his legacy by pushing the limits of design and giving objects a new life. As a member of the Seoul-based collective 1S1T, Kang is changing our view of what we think is just trash. In his opinion, he not only creates objects full of beauty, but also things that are representative of his generation.

Côme Clérino (1990, Paris) lives in Paris and works in Pantin, France. He graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris in 2016. He developed a multidisciplinary practice, challenging the academic definition of painting and combining photography, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, and installation. In 2017, he presented his first solo exhibition, "Voir au verso", at Les Gens Heureux gallery in Copenhagen. In 2018, after a new solo exhibition, "Emulsilfy(ing)", at the Castellana 22 gallery in Madrid, he was nominated for the International Painting Prize of Vitry-sur-Seine.

In 2019, he presented his first solo show in France, "Et si on passait les meubles par la fenêtre?", at the Double V Gallery in Marseille, in the spring, as well as his first solo show in Paris, "Que Devons Nous Y Faire", at Galerie Chloe Salgado, Paris in the autumn. In 2020, Clérino notably participated in the 69th edition of Jeune Création at the Fiminco Foundation, in Recyclage/Surcyclage, at the Villa Datris Foundation, and in Wearables, at Etage Projects, Copenhagen. He founded and curated "Dix-sept murs et une fenêtre", the first online show of On / Off Gallery, a digital artist-run space.

Willem van Hooff (b. 1992, Holland) sees himself as a modern craftsman. After graduating from the Design Academy in Eindhoven in 2018, he opened a design studio in Eindhoven. He achieves a raw style by availing of primitive techniques. He often works with traditional machinery, methods, and existing products. His work breaths a new, exciting life into traditional materials.

Van Hoof's ethos maintains that modern production lacks soul, something which Van Hoof is passionate about. The craftsman believes that the coronavirus pandemic has uncovered people's appreciation of the smaller things in life.

The creative duo of Frederik Nystrup-Larsen (b.1992 Copenhagen) and Oliver Sundqvist (b.1991 Copenhagen) has proven to be a partnership that continuously questions the current state of contemporary art. The pair have reinterpreted the processes of consumerism, illustrating critique on overconsumption and poor manufacturing through working in the field of art and design.

Intellectually and physically dependent on regular variation and change, 'Mater' (meaning mother in Latin), the first collective project between Oliver and Frederik, was a vase created as a Christmas present for their mother. Norma, a Copenhagen restaurant that is often referred to as the best restaurant in the world, used the vase. Since 'Mater,' the duo have continued focusing on creating unique and collectible objects, with a central focus on longevity. The pair seek to ignite a feeling of responsibility in people through the creations of thoughtful and sustainable pieces. A lot of their work questions the surrounding world. Inspired by characters who challenge established understandings of and structures within this world, the duo look towards multiple disciplines to fuel their creativity.

Their process is as equally important as the final product. Inspired by beauty and decay, Oliver and Frederik's creative process is split into phases - initially, they spend a lot of time reflecting, not stressing about it, and being slow, taking actions that do not relate to the project or practice. The following phase, the physical execution of the idea, is built on intuition and (often an unhealthy) tempo. The duo thrives off the flow of stress, allowing their brains to work on autopilot while creating.

The designers split their time between Copenhagen and London and have exhibited at Art Basel and at two solo shows before they had even finished school.

Lukas Saint-Joigny is an experimental designer based in Paris. He graduated with a MA in Contextual Design at the Design Academy Eindhoven in 2018. He has an experimental way of making objects based on an exploration of shapes and materials.

His hands-on process enables him to deal with color and texture to create intriguing objects that communicate with the user and push him to reflect on the world surrounding us. Greatly inspired by science fiction, comics, and sciences such as geology and biology, he doesn't follow the archetypes of objects but tries to stimulate the imagination. He intends to focus on the research of a new aesthetic based on the unexpected and the strange.

Since graduating, he has produced his Ore Collection, a series of domestic objects that evoke ore minerals. Through experimental organic shapes and vibrant colors, his objects look alive. The collection reflects his cosmic influences, creating a dynamic aspect portrayed through the forms and their texture, taking the viewer into a fantasy, forcing the imagination. Side Gallery first showed the collection at the Collectible Design fair and then in the gallery's summer exhibition space Casavells.

Sabine Marcelis (b.1985 New Zealand) is a designer living and working in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Raised in New Zealand, she was recognized from a young age for her design abilities, being awarded the New Zealand Young Designer of the Year. Marcelis studied industrial design for two years at Victoria University in Wellington, and continued her studies at the Design Academy Eindhoven, where she graduated in 2011. When graduating the designer was nominated for a fleet of prestigious design grants, such as the ‘Unge Talenter Designpriser’ by the Norsk Designråd, the René Smeets Award, and the Keep an Eye Grant.

Since graduating, she has been operating Studio Sabine Marcelis, working within the fields of product, installation and spatial design with a strong focus on materiality. Her work is characterized by pure forms and natural elements such as the reflections of light and water, which she believes highlight material properties. Growing up in New Zealand Sabine was surrounded by dramatic landscapes, always sensitive to the light of the sky, the ocean and the snow on the mountains, the artist was inspired by the communication of the natural elements. Her work captures these beautiful moments in nature on a smaller scale, as objects or installations.

Over the last decade, the award-winning designer has become known for her work with resin and glass. Her receptiveness for these two materials is due to their manipulability; sharp angular shapes as well as spineless curves can be protracted giving the artist endless scope for form. Moreover, the translucency of the both materials can be adjusted from sheer transparency to milky or solid opaque finishes. Working in collaboration with industry specialists, Marcelis intervenes in the manufacturing processes using material research and experimentation to achieve new and surprising visual effects, applying a strong aesthetic point of you to the material development processes. The series Candy Cubes is an example of the designer’s complex material investigation; a polyester resin mold is used to cast the piece, followed by an intensive polishing process. The cast resin is light sensitive, as sun rays shine down onto the solid blocks, the light illuminates the edges, sugar coating the sides, making the aptly named “marshmallow” colored candy cube appear edible.

As well as playing with natural light, Marcelis also experiments with artificial lighting in her work. The introduction of neon light to her material combinations expresses the relationship between light, color and transparency in a more constant context. In 2015 Marcelis produced the series Dawn Light whereby the introduction of a white neon tube to a series of different geometric resin objects was used to reflect a unique moment in nature; when the sun, clouds and sky all join together, creating a momentary riot of hues. The series was on show at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Holland. Since then Marcelis has continued to work with neon and resin developing complex colour recipes and finishes, resulting in her Totem Series commissioned and sold exclusively by Side Gallery in 2019. The collection is composed of four different sized lighting elements, two table and two standing lamps. The Totems are built with several stacked translucent resin volumes which are slightly rotated on a central axis. The carved-out void where the neon light is inserted allows for a multifaceted play between the twisted planes of polished resin and light reflections. Every angle of the lights is a unique visual experience.

As well as designing object pieces, the Dutch designer has a series of impressive installation projects associated with her profile including, the Aesop Vedovelle Fountain, the Dutch Pavilion at Cannes Film festival 2017, a Light installation at Biennale Interieur 2018, The Solo Sun Dial project 2018, Burberry x OC in 2018 and De/Coding ‘Alcantara in the tapestry Rooms’ in 2019. Perhaps her most famous installation was her Shapes of Water or Fendi Fountains installation, first exhibited at Design Miami 2018. The ten water sculptures designed from cast resin were a continuation of Marcelis experience and experimentation in material practices, projecting her own vision her elegant avant-garde creativity corresponded directly with the Fendi philosophy.

The designers most prestigious exhibition yet, was her museum show “NO FEAR OF GLASS” in December 2019. The intervention commissioned by Side Gallery in collaboration with the Mies Van de Rohe Foundation, consisted of five original works by the Dutch designer, meticulously placed within the Pavilion. The five pieces were designed to extrude from the architecture itself; two large chaise lounges were pulled up from the ground by extending the travertine floor to form a base, they were sliced with a singular sheet of curved glass which was seemingly pulled from the walls. The two materials met and became sculptural yet functional furniture pieces. Eight chrome columns provide the structural support for the roof of the pavilion. Marcelis introduced a ninth mirrored-glass column which functioned as a light and was placed in line with the structural columns, blending in seamlessly with the architecture, both in form and materiality. In the water pond outside the pavilion, a curved glass fountain could be seen bending the water upwards from the ground, and letting it spill over and back down.

Marcelis won the 2020 Wallpaper Designer of Year Award, her material exploration continues to create surprising applications as her reputations reaches all corners of the world. The designer continues to be represented by Side Gallery where a number of her pieces can be seen, including the series, Voie Lights, Seeing Glass, Filter lights, Totem Lights, Candy Cubes and others.