In a celebration of modern and contemporary Italian design, Forma & Estetica at Carpenters Workshop Gallery, New York, brings together leading figures in the field, exploring how beauty and function intersect in a world shaped by industry, urbanisation and cultural tradition.  

The exhibition features contemporary artists Vincenzo De Cotiis and Giacomo Ravagli alongside iconic 20th-century designers such as Gio Ponti, Gabriella Crespi, Emilio Lancia, Cesare Leonardi, Franca Stagi, Mario Gottardi, Studio BBPR, and Ico and Luisa Parisi. 

Milan-based Vincenzo De Cotiis creates sculptural pieces that blur the lines between art and architecture. His DC1909A Chandelier is inspired by Japanese chochin lanterns, reinterpreting their traditional form with Murano glass and brass, while DC2101 Coffee Table uses hand-finished patinas and antique bronze surfaces to reflect on history and materiality. 

Giacomo Ravagli, known for his bold use of marble and stone, crafts angular forms that play with perspective. His Barometro Floor Lamp 3.3 Giallo Siena features a sharply faceted marble base and brass shade, recalling Renaissance ideals of proportion while embracing contemporary abstraction. 

These contemporary voices sit alongside mid-century pioneers, including Gio Ponti, whose legacy defined Italian design for decades. His Vetrocoke Offices Desk from 1939 balances Vitrex glass and wood in a sleek, functional form, while his collaboration with Emilio Lancia, Lounge Set, Sofa, reflects a meeting point between Italian rationalism and modernist sensibilities. 

Gabriella Crespi, another key figure, brought a sculptural, eclectic approach to furniture and lighting. Her Kaleidoscope lighting piece, with its faceted brass shade, evokes cosmic influences and Crespi’s distinctive fusion of functionality and spiritual expression. 

Together, these works offer a snapshot of Italy’s enduring influence on design, from early 20th-century innovation to its contemporary evolution. De Cotiis and Ravagli, in particular, reflect the ongoing reinvention of Italian design, bridging heritage and future visions. 

The exhibition space, designed by Jean de Piépape, complements the works with a pastel palette inspired by Palazzo Venezia, creating the ambience of a refined, design-led Italian home. 

The narrative force of De Cotiis’ designs is genuinely unique. By working the materials and surfaces with the sensitivity of a sculptor, Vincenzo De Cotiis’ organic processes exalt the beauty of a patina developed over time, turning imperfections and signs of age into precious details. Raw materials meet the elegance of asymmetrical forms, creating pure and minimal objects holding a narrative force.

The richness and subtlety of De Cotiis’ imperfect designs strive against conformism and unfold the purity of teh artist’s expression. Crafted by hand, the effect of the contrasting weighted volumes is almost pictorial. A chiaruscuro dense and present. Imperceptible colors and deep resinous grays, painted glass, ceramic accents, reclaimed textures, resin and ebony stones express an art that merges gesture and life.

As a result, De Cotiis creates unique, contemporary and highly aesthetic pieces that simultaneously work as design pieces as well as sculptural art. As the designer and artist himself explains ‘I re-propose anti-design in my work. I have a continuing desire to distance function and fight dictatorship of symmetry. With this work, I wanted to investigate tribal art as an initial expression, confronting the certainty of contemporaneity, the exasperated search for the unique, through naturalism and evocative symbolism.’

CARPENTERS WORKSHOP GALLERY
FORMA & ESTETICA
Mai – August 2025
NEW YORK, USA
https://carpentersworkshopgallery.com

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