IN CONVERSATION WITH PIETRO FRANCESCHINI (PRINCIPAL DESIGNER AT PIETRO FRANCESCHINI STUDIO) (FLORENCE - NEW YORK)

PIETRO FRANCESCHINI, is the founder & principal designer at Pietro Fanceschini Studio based in Florence and New York. He applies a contemporary design vocabulary to a classical Italian sensibility. Irreverent and Emotionally impactful, Franceschini's fumiture reflects his desire to combine playful energy within sophisticated, timeless elements. DE Editor-in-chief Anirudh Datta had a detailed interaction with the designer for the DE Spotlight interview series in our DE Products segment, where Pietro talks about his design journey and shares with DE INDIA his latest sculptural furniture collection - IRANIA.

- Anirudh Datta

Pietro Franceschini, an architect and designer based in New York and Florence, founded his studio, an interior and furniture design practice in 2020. He applies a contemporary design vocabulary to a classical italian sensibility. Irreverent and emotionally impactful, franceschini's furniture reflects his desire to combine playful energy within sophisticated, timeless elements.

A resolutely twenty-first-century designer, he imbues his work with questions about reality, functionality, and digital illusion.

After receiving architecture degrees from università degli studi di Firenze and from Pratt institute, Franceschini has collaborated with Leeser architecture in Brooklyn, Claudio Nardi in Florence, Laisné Roussel in Paris and Carlo Ratti associati in New York.

AD: WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO PURSUE A CAREER IN DESIGN? 

PIETRO: Curiosity about life, maybe a desire of freedom. I like that moment when you sit at your desk with your mind packed with ideas and references but it still potentially can be everything. You feel alone with the Gods and it is so empowering.

I started my career as an architect but what has always fascinated me very much about Design compared to Architecture is the pace of the creative process and the high control over the final result. Design is the media through which I can more effectively express my creativity.

AD: WHO WERE YOUR EARLY HEROES AND ROLE DESIGN MODELS?

PIETRO: I always had many references, from the Renaissance Masters - including Leon Battista Alberti - to Adolf Loos and the Viennese Secession, Mendelson and Bruno Taut among the modernists. Rick Owens, Destroyers Builders, and Pedro Reyes among contemporaries.