Kitchen of the Week: A Tale of Two Kitchens by Formafantasma in Milan
When Italian designers Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin—the duo behind Formafantasma—returned to Italy in 2022 after more than a decade in the Netherlands, they set about renovating not one but two kitchens in Milan. The couple, who founded the studio in 2009 after meeting at the Design Academy Eindhoven, now divide their practice between Milan and Rotterdam; their Milan base comprises both a reworked studio and a nearby apartment, each with its own distinct kitchen.
The first is located within their studio on Via Assab, a former industrial complex the designers renovated to include workspaces along with a living area, bedroom, and kitchen. Furnished with modules from Very Simple: Kitchen, the room pairs pale yellow cabinetry with a countertop using tiles from the ExCinere collection the designers developed for Dzek—a quiet interplay of surface and tone. Soon after completing the space, the pair turned their attention to their home: a third-floor apartment in a 1930s building near Stazione Centrale. In a 1970s-inflected dining room furnished with a Marcel Breuer chairs, a stainless-steel kitchen by Very Simple: Kitchen anchors the space—another study in restraint, but with a different edge. Join us for a look at the two spaces.
Photography by Chiara Quadri from Very Simple: Kitchen.
Apartment
Above: Farresin and Trimarchi sit in their apartment renovated in a spectrum of yellow. The duo is flanked by lighting from Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni (left) and Isamu Noguchi (right).
Above: Tile from the ExCinere collection is implemented as flooring and dining table. Marcel Breuer Cesca Chairs surround the table. Overhead is the Noguchi Akari 15A Pendant.
Above: At home, the designers integrated the stainless-steel model of Very Simple: Kitchen in addition to custom cabinetry in cherry and yellow-painted wood. On the counter are containers from Bordallo Pinheiro.
Studio
Above: Installed in the Formafantasma studio is a kitchen module in pale yellow-painted metal. Trimarchi and Farresin worked with the ExCinere tile as countertop material and integrated on wall-mounted cabinets.
Above: A Franke faucet and stainless-steel sink.
Above: A closer look at the volcanic ash-glazed tiles.
Above: A wider view of the galley kitchen. The kitchen is lit by a Taccia Lamp designed by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni on the countertop and a Jasper Morrison Glo-Ball Wall Lamp.
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