Interviews
Brunello Cucinelli: “I was a farmer, I was poor, I was crazy in love with the sky”
Imprenditoria etica: a Napoli, il conferimento honoris causa del dottorato di ricerca per il made in Italy a Brunello Cucinelli – un caso di sostenibilità umana e una domanda sul...
Charlie Porter’s Nova Scotia House: A Raw Portrait of Queer Survival
“A portrait of queer life in 1990s London, exploring the impacts of love and loss, while rejecting nostalgic narratives in favour of survival". An interview with Charlie Porter on his...
Approaching conscious young customers: Bvlgari jewels become an ethical icon
Lucia Silvestri: «I can use my position as Creative Director to share my experience, but I don’t consider myself a role model: my story proves that following real passions is...
Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian: Interstellar Communication as Cultural Resistance
In Piccadilly Un:Plugged, Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian uses noise, public installations and scientific inquiry to explore decolonization, interstellar communication and identity
“I am not a painter”: an Interview with Daniel Buren
“Many painters, few geniouses” says Daniel Buren. His investigation began in the 1960s with the use of vertical stripes, each measuring 8.7 cm: interventions on fabric, glass, wood, flags
Blood, Sweat, and Synths: How Pol Balances Brotherhood, New Wave Music and Fashion
If you discard being raw, it becomes boring. The Pol brothers grew up apart from music but found raw inspiration in the shapes and sounds of runway shows, blending post-punk...
Stefano Baisi on Crafting the World of Luca Guadagnino’s Queer: Making Love Into a Film Set
Luca Guadagnino takes William Lee’s story and does something unexpected — from miniatures, millipedes, and Mexico City, the production designer of Guadagnino’s 2024 film discusses turning William S. Burroughs’ life into a...
Chinese Espresso: how migration from China changed the face of Italian bars
Author and anthropologist Grazia Ting Deng recounts foaming milk, Occidentalist fantasies, and the socio-economic journey that has brought Chinese-run coffee bars to prominence in Italy
Villa La Medusa, toward Frank Lloyd Wright’s organic architecture
Camaiore, Lucca. Villa La Medusa reflects its dual etymology. The root is ancient Greek: μέδω, meaning to care for, to protect, but also to bewitch. Villa La Medusa protects its...
Michael Lockshin: Raw Reminders Between Two Worlds – USA and Russia
Interview with Michael Lockshin starting from his The Master and Margarita – Russians didn’t reconsider their symbols, they didn't take Lenin out of the mausoleum
We Are Wandering Stray Dogs: Eva Ferri and Edizioni E/O
Interview with Eva Ferri, Editorial Director and Heir of Edizioni E/O: Independence in Publishing, the Publishing Situation, the Case and Success of L’Amica Geniale
Growing Roots in an Alien Desert: Chloe Lea’s Journey
Embracing vulnerability and eschewing Hollywood perfection, Chloe Lea’s raw style offers a refreshingly grounded take on the high-stakes battles of Dune: Prophecy
Is it possible to catalogue waves? Tiziano Scarpa has done it
An exploration of how waves reveal the dynamic soul of Venice. Merging aesthetics, fear, and hope in a delicate balance between human intervention and nature’s rhythms – in a conversation...
My name is Viviane Sassen and those scars are not my own scars
On the occasion of a travelling retrospective, Sassen looked into her archives and rediscovered a body of work she made while studying in an MFA program. Folio interrogates the preoccupations...
Yayoi Kusama: Japanese Girl in America, American Girl in Japan
Robert Shore chronicles the art of Yayoi Kusama: «the discovery of her father’s affair left her with a lifelong aversion to male genitalia; the dropping of atomic bombs left a...
Ella Wiznia: creating a thread to connect the upcycling
When eco-friendliness meets body-positivity: Ella Wiznia of The Series New York’s drive to upend traditional body conceptions and produce upcycled garments
CAL deconstructs his latex boots for Rick Owens – Amongst the glue, metal rods, and pins
From his live-work studio in London, designer CAL talks FKA twigs, those air-filled boots, and his (now-masked) life with latex
I don’t use barriers: Théo Mercier’s Rituals
No fences, glass, or don’t touch signs. The work is accessible. It’s vulnerable. You can break it, push it, or even steal it if you want
Rough Culture: Luciano Baldessari was a Rationalist Rebel
Frank Lloyd Wright claimed that Luciano Baldessari was the only Italian architect whose work he knew – matter and spirit, monumental gestures and the fluidity of theatre
The Raw Marks by Sigve Knutson
The best results come from using tools and materials they were not originally intended for – Oslo based experimental designer Sigve Knutson share his creative process and personal vision on...
Selma Selman: my Dad’s Mercedes
I asked my family how much money they needed so that they wouldn't marry me off: 11,000 euros – I sold some of my artwork and even my hair. I...
Dario Cecchini: I am not mad at vegetarians
When Dario Cecchini was a child, he wanted to become a vet – the death of his father changed his plans and he went from hating his job to becoming...
Silvia Venturini Fendi: simplicity is the most complex design
The Peekaboo becomes a book. Fendi releases a volume tributing the bag designed by Silvia Venturini Fendi in 2008. Three ladies talking about irony, family and the meaning of legacy
Deconstructing Uniforms: The Language of Olly Shinder
From London’s queer nightclubs to Fashion East, Olly Shinder redefines military aesthetics and utility through thoughtful design and community-driven experimentation – for Lampoon 30, the Raw Issue
The Paul Smith Archive: Sugar Cubes and Hundreds of Rabbits
A visit to Paul Smith's studio and a train trip to Nottingham the next day: for the first time, the complete archive in its catalog is presented to the public
Telling the story of Columbia from past to present: a glass-making project
‘Suelo Orfebre’. An analysis of the local identity through material choice, working with craftsmen and connecting with communities in the mining community of Marmato by Simón Ballen Botero
Lampoon / Transition – Patrick Procktor, a British artist in the 60s, is still leading the way
Post-war, post-austerity, and post-conscription: the oil paintings, watercolors and photographs of Patrick Procktor testifying societal change in 1960s Britain
Lykke Li: Why Raw means Honest
A conversation with Lykke Li: Exploring non-linear time, psychedelics, the connection with her inner child, and how her artistry transcends the indie sleaze revival
Martino Gamper: Rough, Rocks and Corners
I prefer removing material over adding. Martino Gamper’s design process transforms raw materials into narratives – embracing limits as creative tools, he combines cutting, refining, and collaboration to reveal hidden...
Michèle Lamy: I wake up not knowing what story I am in
Foucault once said that the 21st century would be Deleuzian. Now, living in the 21st century, it feels like almost dystopian – nterview with Michèle Lamy on chaos, creativity, Los...
It’s a good time to be Moses Sumney
We caught up to discuss his emerging creative ventures, how he marries his career as a musician with that of an actor, and how he hopes people respond to his...
Bonacina 1889: rattan manufacturing and design icons
Elia Bonacina, fourth generation of Bonacina 1889: pieces for the Agnelli family, Mondadori, Rothschilds, and inspirations for Mongiardino – rewriting the history of design backwards
Can Vegans Be Photographers?
“Commercial photography is not vegan-friendly, but, there is a movement among artists seeking sustainable alternatives in photographic processes,” – interview with writer, filmmaker and curator Boaz Levin
Ilenia Durazzi: a quest for rawness
A new headquarters and an anti-glossy aesthetic for Durazzi Milano – interview with founder Ilenia Durazzi: «France taught me savoir-faire and what it means to combine tailoring and creativity»
Cassi Namoda – «I feel pregnant with work: all these ideas want to have a birth»
«Galleries should have no expectations. Every artist has overworked or underworked something. I will be the only one to know if it's finished». Cassi Namoda on her approach to work...
Transcending the darkness: Desire Marea on spirituality, transparency and life as a performer
Johannesburg's queer community, the musical success and the recovery of the shaman tradition in the latest project Gwazamambuka. Desire Marea tells about the many identities that inhabit them
Maccapani: technical jersey defies fashion conventions
The idea was inspired by M Missoni jersey lurex fabric, twenty-five thousand meters four times a year. Maccapani, seen through the eyes of the founder Margherita Maccapani Missoni
Gaetano Pesce: «we can’t be solid; we are as liquid as our time»
From the polyurethane of the UP series to the resins of Vieni a Vedere installation for Bottega Veneta: experimentation doesn't need to be taught; it just has to be done
Gavriel from GarageBand to Lo-Fi sound: “It’s about crafting”
Comprising seven self-produced and penned tracks, Luxe reflects pivotal moments in Gavriel’s life, inspired by the vaporwave sounds and lo-fi aesthetics of his youth
Niccolò Pasqualetti: designing human diversity
«The fluidity of stone and the sensuality of water»: Niccolò Pasqualetti on being an independent and emerging brand today: birth and growth of the designer now a LVMH prize finalist
A Look Inside Painter Alexander James’ London Studio
Alexander James, known for his large-scale and layered abstractionist paintings, has a tendency to bring together in his compositions what many would consider to be disparate subjects
The musician spaceship: Astronne voices the poetry between a sound and a soul
Astronne is the musician spaceship – every movement represent a noise. Connected all together, what you see becomes vociferous
Minotaur – the rough love story between Lily Stockman and Le Corbusier in Paris
The American artist Lily Stockman is the first woman to exhibit at Maison La Roche – with an exhibition that follows her “obsession” with Le Corbusier, blending Greek mythology and...
Kiki van Eijk: the primitive roots of rough design
Dutch designer Kiki van Eijk seeks a stable balance between human-made and nature through a sustainable approach which relies on the properties of raw materials and the expertise of craftsmen
Cosmic Garden: safeguarding Indian craft manufacturing
The Cosmic Garden exhibition at the Venice Biennale is committed to the emancipation of women through craftsmanship – with the support of Dior. A dialogue with Karishma Swali, from the...
Benjamín Labatut: the fear of technology is a human experience
Benjamín Labatut technology and imaginations by exploring the limits of human thought – «We're all scared, when human beings are scared, they start to chart out the future»
