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Ritupriya BasuWith a website refresh, Studio Vedèt pulls back the curtains on a new phase of its design journey
A few things led Valentina Ciuffi to founding her Milan-based design practice, Studio Vedèt. At first, there was her background as a design journalist, which drew her to the world of architecture and interior design – disciplines that left a deep impression on her career. Journalism, and an interest in semiotics, gently guided her to graphic design. Since then, through Studio Vedèt – which she set up in 2016 – Ciuffi has engaged with a range of clients and companies, widening her creative horizons all while slowly growing her small team.
Her interest and passion for those two creative disciplines that kicked off her career can still be felt in her work. In 2018, along with Joseph Grima, she launched Alcova, a fair that celebrates collectable designs by emerging designers. With its intimate format, it presents an interesting contrast to more commercial fairs such as the Salone del Mobile, which takes over Milan every summer. Along with curating Alcova, Studio Vedèt has shaped the fair’s identity, tweaking it each year, including the refreshed look for its seventh edition next month. Before Ciuffi gets pulled into the pulsating activity that surrounds the fair, we caught up with her to discuss why architecture and interior design have provided an endless stream of inspiration, the studio’s relationship with Milan, and how a video on the homepage of their new website is a fitting analogy for the energy of her team.
RB Hello, Valentina! How are things at Studio Vedèt?
VC It’s all good! We moved the studio a few metres into the same neighbourhood in Milan, and now share our space with a newly born showroom for Alcova – an international platform for independent design, which we launched in 2018 in collaboration with Space Caviar. Also, we recently redesigned our website, providing an opportunity to reflect on past work and approach new projects with renewed enthusiasm.
RB Take us back in time – what led you to launch the studio in 2016?
VC For many years I was a design journalist. I collaborated with several magazines and for almost ten years, I was on the editorial staff of Abitare magazine, which looked at architecture and interior design. This allowed me to get to know so many people in the industry and build an international network of contacts. Trained as a semiologist, from the important school of Umberto Eco, I have always been fascinated by signs and meanings, by the interweaving of form and content of which graphic design is an excellent expression. When I decided to start Vedèt, journalism for me had had its day, I was interested in a different creative way to read things and people. Dealing with graphics and identity for someone or something means first of all to know it thoroughly, the journalistic part is always active and important; to this, you add the will and ability to create an image and a strategy for the person (designer, artist, consultant) or the reality (company, gallery, studio, museum) that you have come to know thoroughly. I am able to do this because of the exceptional team of people I work with.
The varied stimuli of the people I work with are crucial to Vedèt’s success.
RB Has the team and your work evolved since then?
VC I have been working with some of my team members for many years, practically since the beginning. The team has evolved, it has changed over the years, and I think to this day it is at a stage of perfect balance, with different skills intertwining and complementing each other in a beautiful daily atmosphere. The varied stimuli of the people I work with are crucial to Vedèt's success.
RB Congratulations on the new website! I love the tumble of activity in the snappy video on the home page. How does the design reflect the spirit of the studio?
VC As I said, Vedèt is animated by very different personalities and skills. Andrea, Matteo, Asia, Simone, and Carlotta, among the others. People who inspire and support one another, and both personally and creatively complement each other. There is the strength of rigour and precision, there is the colour of distraction and enthusiasm, and there is speed as well as slowness and thoughtfulness. I feel like there is always a lot of collaboration on different projects and everyone’s opinion is always sought. We are a small team, but as a whole, we manage to produce very varied readings and never be the same. Like the video on the homepage, we arrive at coherent and cohesive visions through sudden jumps in image, colour and mood, held together by a great dedication and enthusiasm for what we do regardless of the form in which it manifests.
RB Could you tell us a bit about Alcova and how you conceived it?
VC Alcova was born out of a good chat with Joseph Grima of Space Caviar, which is an architecture and research studio. We knew each other from the days of Domus and Abitare, and one day in 2017, in Eindhoven, we found ourselves talking about what we missed about the first editions of the Salone del Mobile in Milan. We were no longer finding that independent spirit that we had been so passionate about in the early days, the city no longer seemed activated by emerging designers’ projects opening up unknown spaces, but inhabited only by so many commercial projects. We designed a new format that aims to revive the elements we appreciated about the early Fuorisalone.
RB While you’ve launched the festival itself in collaboration with Joseph Grima, Studio Vedèt has led the charge of designing how it’s presented to the world. What inspired the identity – and how it shows up across touchpoints such as the website and the physical venues?
VC We named Alcova after the abandoned building that hosted the first edition of the fair. In fact, it was the former panettone factory. ‘Al’ in Italian is a preposition that suggests “going toward,” but on the other hand, ‘Alcova’ is itself a word that refers to an architectural typology. An alcove is a small, intimate room characterised by a rounded ceiling. We liked to refer to this type of architectural element within spaces that, although giant and roofless, hinted at an idea of warmth and intimacy. The graphics and site also pick up on the alcove element, which is coloured differently with each edition. The vibrant colours contrast with the historic architecture, embodying the event’s modern spirit. The font used is contemporary, but with some vintage references that make it unique and timeless. Each year, we curate photography of the venues that are layered with the graphic elements and colourful alcoves on the homepage of the website for the fair. This dynamic pattern tells the story of the complexity and variety of our diverse activations.
Vedèt curates unobtrusive and effective way-finding, far from the standard fair language.
RB How did you ensure that Alcova’s design helps to set the festival apart from the other, perhaps more popular fairs, such as Salone del Mobile?
VC Alcova was created to ensure a space for experimental and emerging design, held during the world’s best-known design fair. Very naturally, it differs from Salone del Mobile or other such fairs. On the other hand, it takes place as part of a citywide event called Fuorisalone, which has existed since the 1980s and began as an ‘OFF’ event, peripheral to the main fair in Rho.
Another aspect that we care a lot about and that distinguishes us is maintaining a noncommercial mood that is different from the more classic fairs; there are no logos on the walls or ones that are hanging in sight; however, each exhibitor is presented with discrete graphic materials so as not to create a clash between very different visual identities. Vedèt curates unobtrusive and effective way-finding, far from the standard fair language. Alcova is a fair, yes, but it feels like an exhibition, and that is precisely why it is popular with everyone. It appears that more and more fair events are breaking away from traditional standards and ‘white-cubish’ language, following our direction.
RB You’ve worked a lot within the world of contemporary, collectable product design, with projects like Alcova, and your annual collaboration with Nilufar. Would you say your interest in product design seeps into your graphic design practice and vice versa?
VC As I mentioned, I come from a design journalism background which then evolved into design curating (especially collectible design). For Nilufar, I curated a program called FAR – which is a curatorial program that lives within the spaces of the famed gallery – and for each exhibition, we created ad hoc graphics. Certainly, these two worlds have so many tangent points and feed and inspire each other.
Beyond FAR/Nilufar, many of our clients belong to the world of product and collectable design, which we know intimately and are able to interpret well. With our visual identities, we have narrated the stories of the iridescent objects of Audrey Large; the timeless classics of Lina Bo Bardi; the furniture of SEM, with a more serial character; and the sophisticated and contemporary collectable design seen in an exclusive fair like Nomad. Each time, our work echoes the aesthetics of the objects, but also seeks the best strategy with respect to the specific design field to which the project belongs.
Milan is a city that has helped us weave more and more relationships with foreign clients.
RB Does the energy of Milan filter into Studio Vedèt’s work?
VC Definitely. Milan has been central to the birth and growth of the studio. Alcova as well as Nilufar are based in Milan, but Bar Basso – for which we have designated a hyper-dynamic site that includes a series of online exhibitions – is also one of the city’s iconic places. The city is a hub of product design, a discipline so often intertwined with our work. And Milan is also a springboard, a city that is becoming increasingly international and has helped us weave more and more relationships with foreign clients.
RB If you were to highlight two projects from your portfolio that capture the DNA of the studio, which would those be?
VC It is very difficult to choose – all of our projects excite us, give back something to us, and in some way inform our DNA. If we had to choose two examples, one might be the collaboration with Older, a company that specialises in creating uniforms. Our work for them has ranged from curating an exhibition to designing a book, from restyling the identity to creating the website. Surely, this is in our DNA to develop projects with people we like, and who often end up becoming friends – as in the case of Older – or were already friends – as in the case of Nicolas Lecompte, co-founder of Nomad, a fair whose identity we have been curating since its inception.
Another strand that interests us very much is that of research, and in particular the possibility of interweaving our work with crucial contemporary themes. In this sense, we can mention our collaboration with UNLESS. UNLESS is an agency for change devoted to interdisciplinary research on extreme environments threatened by the planetary crisis. We created their identity and website, but also the challenging campaign #SpeakUpForAntarcticaNow – a call to action conceived to engage planetary citizens to give a voice to Antarctica, our only continent with no indigenous population, and defend intergenerational justice.
RB Over the years, you’ve worked on scores of projects across industries. What keeps you going?
VC What we like is exactly the variety of what we do – meeting new clients always means meeting new worlds and new people (also from the human point of view). Sure, it can get tough and tiring, but that’s part of the game. We love challenges because they push us to achieve more.
RB What’s next for Studio Vedèt?
VC We are approaching the Salone del Mobile in Milan, one of the hottest moments for our Studio. Vedèt will, as always, accompany Alcova. Alcova’s refreshed identity with contemporary graphics in acid colours seem to work particularly well in contrast with the two historic residences where the event will be held this year, Villa Bagatti Valsecchi and Villa Borsani. In Alcova, we will also curate a new (physical) version of Alcova Design Shop, together with Space Caviar.
During the Salone week, we will also launch new identities and websites of innovative companies in the sector – among this, Paper Factor deals with a new sustainable material coming from paper; and emerging design studios such as Studio Don Cameron, just born in Australia and ready to exhibit in Milan. We will also work in tandem with Objects of Common Interest on the graphics and wayfinding for an exhibition for the German Design Council, and we will launch the new website of a major hospitality player in the city of Milan.
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