Formafantasma | ScandinavianDesign.com

Formafantasma is a research-based design studio founded in 2009 by the Italian designers Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin. The studio investigates the ecological, historical, political and social forces shaping design today, and applies the same rigour to commissions for clients as to its own self-initiated projects.

Background

Formafantasma began as an office focused on material investigations and gradually deepened its research into the ecological consequences of design. Its work has been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide, and the major exhibition Cambio, commissioned by the Serpentine Galleries in London in 2020, examined how wood products are extracted, produced and distributed. Today the studio is based in Milan.

Design approach

The studio treats design as an agent for social and environmental change. Rather than starting with the object, Trimarchi and Farresin look at where materials come from and how they are processed, and use that knowledge to inform more thoughtful design choices. As Trimarchi puts it, if we talk about wood, we need to talk about forests. The analytical method translates into meticulous visual outcomes, products and strategies.

Collaboration with Artek

After Cambio, Artek invited Formafantasma to study the changing Finnish forest through the lens of its own supply chain. The result was wild birch, a wider wood selection that embraces knots, insect trails and colour variations instead of discarding them. The first product was Stool 60 Villi, launched in 2023 for the 90th anniversary of Alvar Aalto‘s stool. It was followed by the Forest Collection, which applies wild birch to classic pieces such as Chair 66 and the Aalto tables, previewed in Stockholm in early 2024.

In the Nordic region

Formafantasma was Guest of Honour at the Stockholm Furniture Fair 2024, the studio’s first exhibition in Sweden. Its installation Reading Room in the entrance hall offered books on ecology and forests rather than products. The studio also designed the touring exhibition Garden Futures: Design that grows, shown at Vandalorum in Värnamo in 2024.

By Editorial Team, ScandinavianDesign.com