Gio Pagani: Innovation without borders, even in Wellness
We met Gio Pagani, architect and designer from Parma, who has been working with the most important companies of top-notch Made in Italy design for over 25 years. In 2015, he founded the brand bearing his name, while devoting himself to a journey of research between shape and matter bound to generate iconic and defining items and décor.
So that’s the beginning of a sophisticated, eclectic tale, where each object carries a unique story: the present ferries the past into the future, to recreate a kind of appearance rooted in memory. These perfectly imperfect shapes, resulting from a continuous research on materials, led to a one-of-a-kind artisan craft.
From this vision was born a unique handcrafted production, capable of combining aesthetics and ethics through a virtuous supply chain that enhances the tradition of know-how. At the core of this process lies a network of historic artisan workshops, brought back to prominence through the celebration of craftsmanship.
Gio Pagani’s philosophy reveals a fluid, cross-disciplinary and eclectic taste, harmoniously mixing eras, styles and diverse references. He draws fragments of meaning from each, composing a new vision of the relationship between human and object, space and décor, form and function.
His design process is a tribute to the timeless beauty of natural materials, a fusion of elements from past eras reinterpreted in a modern perspective to meet the sophisticated and refined taste of contemporary design lovers.
His interiors, discreet and refined, subtly evoke the stylistic heritage of masters such as Jean-Michel Frank, Pierre Jeanneret, Carlo Scarpa and Luigi Caccia Dominioni. The sculptural objects inhabit the Milan Gallery in Via San Marco 26, in the heart of Brera: unique pieces where asymmetry and the mark of time emerge as memories of stories, places and emotions.
We at Starpool had the pleasure to take a closer look at Gio Pagani’s work: from this encounter came collaborations and projects of great value, such as the restyling of Raxul, the only cabin in the wellness industry capable of recreating all temperature stages of the ancient Roman Baths.
How would you define yourself and your art?
“I am a wanderer and traveller who loves to mix cultures and play with materials: that’s where my stories begin”.
What makes your work unique and modern?
“Being modern today means having no stylistic barriers, expressing eclectic languages and aesthetics. I design objects that tell me a story. A capsule is a complex narrative experience which, if well told, becomes unique among countless soulless forms”.
What do people look for in their spaces today?
“They want environments that represent them, aesthetically distinctive and evocative. The concept of beauty is increasingly personal: the more a space manages to reflect the soul of those who live in it, the more successful it is”.
What does ‘Glamour’ mean to you?
“Glamour is the adjective that represents the world we desire: strong harmonies between objects, colours and materials, with a modern approach inspired by the memory of the early 20th century. A kind of late déco seeking constant elegance, that saw the emergence of talents such as Jean-Michel Frank, later evolving into the modernism of Mies van der Rohe, Gio Ponti and Carlo Mollino”.