I ntentional, minimal, serene. The Milan home of Japanese designer Tsukasa Goto and Italian architect Elena Naldi is a perfect reflection of the owners themselves.

Built in the early 1970s on the northern edge of Milan’s centre, the Brutalist high-rise building was designed by Gabriele D’Alì and Giacomo Scarpini and sits atop a villa that had originally been conceived by Scarpini for his parents. In their original project, Scarpini and D’Alì brought friends together to create living spaces that acted as empty ‘containers’ to be filled with the energy of their distinct private lives, while also catalysing close-knit relationships between the inhabitants through the building’s layout and structure. Then, as now, the ‘villa with overlapping tower’, as it came to be known by locals, was D’Alì and Scarpini’s answer to increasingly fragmented, frenetic and isolated big-city life.

Inside Goto and Naldi’s home today, natural light streams in through floor-to-ceiling windows, enveloping the space with a luminous calm. The space had been left standing open for years, and new life was breathed into it when the couple moved in seven years ago. ‘When we first walked into the apartment, I was immediately struck by how much natural light there was. We connected almost instantly with the space because of its light,’ Naldi recalls. ’And now that we live in it, light is a constant throughout our day, from morning until night. It’s almost as though it fuels the light of our family, glowing from the inside out like a paper lantern.’

Goto and Naldi chose to maintain the original layout, which places the spacious living room at the centre of the house. Some of the features that were conceived when the apartment was built, such as beds shaped out of concrete and a doorless main bedroom, were maintained, while elements of Japanese design were integrated into each room, not least the myriad pieces designed by Goto himself.
The home overlooks the treetops in the park that surrounds the building, so nature can be seen from most areas. Parquet flooring and a quiet, neutral colour palette background the items designed and produced by Goto as well as other carefully selected pieces that work with the minimal aesthetic. ‘Each product I designed was created based on the materials and the product’s function, reflecting our desire to only have things that are essential to our lives,’ he says. It’s a philosophy that is evident in everything from the pared-down kitchen stools by Alvar Aalto to the table centrepiece Goto made from discarded pieces of marble.
Above all, the couple think of their home as a nest from which their two young daughters, Agata and Anita, can always see nature. The space embodies the values they seek to impart to their offspring and celebrates the rich heritage of their Japanese and Italian roots. Respectful of the building’s past and of its architects’ intentions, the home is a haven that invites repose, reflection and a respect for what is and will be.

Manufactured by NAGOMI Mitsuboshi Cutlery cp.Ltd.

Collection by GreenWise Italy

The bottles were born to be used continuously to contain and transport liquids.

Nowadays they are often used as disposable objects and thrown when they are emptied.

In their simple essence they retain their original, extraordinary beauty.

The intent with this work is to restore a lasting, endless life to these everyday objects, working on their surface, removing the gloss of everyday use and covering them with a timeless patina.

From craftsmanship work emerges a new material of glass, as surfaces of stones just split into quarry. Each object becomes a unique element through the sensitivity of manual work.

Textured surfaces define blurry contours, details of their use are blunted and minimized and objects appear in their uniqueness as design pieces for a single collection.

This title comes from the image that is created of these bottles in a bright environment, in which these compositions of objects become metaphysical paintings in which the colors are whitened and the objects lose their defined contours.

Someone said that these objects belong to the landscapes of Giorgio Morandi of the “still life”.

 Images by  Alberto Strada ( 1 ), Alberto Prise ( 2 ), Tsukasa Goto ( 3,4 )

Stool 60_Carbon black

I chose to buy a 1960′s stool when the University of Urbino, Italy, decided to dismantle many of Alvar Aalto’s furnishings that had been chosen in the original setting by Giancarlo De Carlo.

On the back of the stool I found a love phrase written by a student in an unknown time (“Alessandra ti amo”); I decided to keep the memory of the object together with its memories.

Many special collaborations have been made using sttol 60, but most of them worked using applied graphics.

This time I chose to work directly on the material of the object.

When I thought of working directly on wood, I wanted to essay with the “yakisugi” technique.

I wanted to use the color of the material, so I thought: black.

The black color of coal.

At first I worked with the original plywood seat. The surface layer peeled off and was not acceptable, so I tried a cedar wood surface.

changing seat top cedar wood surface

Transit Collection: Water bottles, Glasses set

 The Litta Variations / Opus 4

Palazzo Litta

Corso Magenta 24,Milan

Hands on Design + Ercole Moretti

Fusione Collection: Small glass plate

Hands on Design Shop

Via Rossini 3, 20122 Milano

A simple shape and a minimum of industrial processing. The correct use of this ” Spaghetti measuring tool ” is allowed by the weight of the marble, which unlike other products on the market, is used positioned on a horizontal plane.

The three gaps from the different shapes express the three different quantities of 100g, 80g, 60g and give the product a sensitivity, through which it becomes easy te it ando us becomes easy to avoid wastage.

Collaborated with Marco Guazzini 

Photo: Alberto Strada

https://vimeo.com/332999912

Video: Giulio Boem

Manufactured by Hiroaki Usui ( Kuroda kobo )

Photo by Sohei Oya (Nacasa & Partners)

Materials: Cement & natural materials (Chamelaucium, Genisteae, Gypsophila, Hydrangea, Limonium sinuate, mimosa, Ranunculus, Taraxacum, Tulip, Cynara scolymus )

Exhibition with EXPERIMENTAL CREATIONS

photo: Alberto Strada

Observed the physical changes of wood, paper, flower, seeds and outer skin after being mixed into the cement prior to the curing process. By adding a selection of natural materials in the grey universe of cement, the designer aims to eliminate the dull aspects of consturction material such as architectural glass or marble.
There is something poetic about seeing flower petals and plants melt into the cement and waiting for an imaginary sprout to appear. Such fantasy may be what we lack in this modern age. In the end, the designer hopes to introduce a new perception generated by development of innovative material mix.

朽ちるセメント、たまに再生する

セメントを固めるときに木、紙、花、種子、皮などを混ぜ、それが経年によって形状の変化を見せる。セメントのグレーの世界に他の自然素材を混ぜることで、現代の建築に多用されているコンクリートやガラス、大理石のように四角く無機質な建築的概念を取り払う新たなアプローチ。バラの花びらや植物の一部が溶け込むことで、そこから花芽が出てくるのではないかというファンタジーとポエティックな想像をする。そんな現実から外れた想像が今、私たちには必要なのではないだろうか。素材が交じり合うことで生まれる新しい＜見る、感じる＞感覚を変える素材を提案したい。

Client: Experimental Creations #002

Special sale at La Rinascente  Milano, Italy

Agricultural (center table), Geographical (fruit bowl)

Made by UP GROUP

9 ottobre – 25 dicembre 2014

La Rinascente

Born.

Location, age, environment, time.

In spite of all different,still i met you.

生まれる。

場所、時代、環境、時間。

すべてが違うあなたと私はこうして出会いました。

Manufactured by Elements Optimal Denmark

photo: Alberto Strada

Exhibited Salone Sattelite 2014

photo: Alberto Strada

glimpse the shadow of trees and drops like a painting almost white.

I brought this giant world in a minute one, like ants world.
when a strawberry produces the fruits stretches an arm on the ground. insects and damp ruin the fruit. is a feeling of sadness.
I have developed a canopy-to support the fruit. without plant becomes bowls, trivets …

Exhibited Salone Sattelite 2014

Photo: Matteo Baldini

Exhibited Salone Sattelite 2014

Photo: Alberto Strada

Exhibited Salone Sattelite 2014

photo: Alberto Strada