21st Century Castle Design

Castello di Potentino has launched a design line, collaborating with all our talented friends - some of whom have been volunteers - to develop a 21st Century Castle brand.

You can view the catalogue for the show we did with Nigel Coates in Milan Fuori Salone at the Salone del Mobile 2015 on Issuu here or you can download the pdf here.

Castello di Potentino will be utilising local skills and local materials; sourcing tradition and redefining the role of the Castle in modern-day terms.

We create designs that are solid, well-crafted, intelligent and practical:
- designs heavily influenced by Tuscan sobriety, with strong reference to a wide array of aesthetic histories – Etruscan, Medieval, Oriental, Renaissance, '50s, '60s and '70s;
- designs incorporating the heritage of Italian classicism with a pinch of the surreal and humorous; 
- designs strongly influenced by the interiors, the motifs, the spaces, and the dogs of Castello di Potentino;
- designs inspired by its surroundings - the vines, the olive groves, wood, stone, earth, water, wine, colour, season - its nature and its past re-thought and re-juggled for today’s needs and desires.

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Nigel Coates

Nigel Coates

Nigel Coates was born in 1949 and is an Artitect and Product Designer. He has consistently challenged the meaning of architecture and the object. His mission is to bring equal parts of art and intelligence to architecture and design; whatever the space or the object, Coates will fill it with passion, irony and instinct. 

After training at the Architectural Association, soon Coates became an original design force, with many of his ideas drawn from the ‘confusion and excitement’ of urban life. His inventive narratives have translated into many buildings, interiors and exhibitions around the world, particularly in Japan and the UK. 

More experimental work has been shown in an art and design context, including Ecstacity at the Architecture Association (1992), Mixtacity at Tate Modern (2007), Hypnerotosphere at the 2008 Venice Architecture Biennale, and Picaresque at the Triennale Design Museum (2012). He is much in demand as a designer of lighting and furniture, collaborating with many Italian companies including Alessi, Ceramica Bardelli, Gebrüder Thonet Vienna, Fornasetti, Fratelli Boffi, Glamora, L’Abbate, Poltronova, Richard Ginori, Slamp, Terzani and Varaschin. 

Examples of his work are held in several museum collections including the V&A in London and FRAC in Orléans. His book ‘Guide to Ecstacity’ was published by Laurence King in 2003 and his latest, ‘Narrative Architecture’, was published by Wiley in 2012. He is also a leading light at the new London School of Architecture.

 

For more information about Nigel and his work, you can go to his website: www.nigelcoates.com

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Jono Nussbaum

Jono Nussbaum

London born, Jono studied furniture design at Kingston University and is now based in the south of Tuscany in Italy. Drawing inspiration for his work from his rural environment and continual fascination with the natural sciences and visual arts Jono describes his work as an instinctive physical response to his current environments.

 

For more information about Jono and his work, you can go to his website: www.jononussbaum.com

Gerry De Bastiano

Gerry De Bastiano

Gerry de Bastiano was born in Lecce, Italy.

After his artistic studies at the Scuola D'arte di Lecce and carried on in Rome at the European Institute of Designer, he decided to experience London where he began to develop his personal taste. Together with the Architect Nigel Coates, and Fashion Photographer Michael Roberts he also met Francis Bacon all of whom had a decisive influence on his artistic direction.

In the 90s, working for the first time with ceramics, having been completely seduced by its charme, Gerry started producing his first vases very successfully working with the Florentine institution, the Fabbrica Zaccagnini. Always researching and searching for the best aesthetic solution, the Artist created a new technique in ceramics and developed a series called “Collapsing Vases”. From 1999, Gerry de Bastiano became the artistic director of the Fabbrica Zaccagnini manufacturing in Florence.



For more information about Gerry and his work, you can visit his website here

Clare Frost

Clare Frost

“Although I believe in the pure elegance of a simple thing well done, I am often overwhelmed by the sheer amount of beautiful complicated things. I feel lucky to have crossed paths with such incredible teachers, many of them women, and to be able to work seeking a balance between the chaos of beauty and the order of design.

Working in small quantities and limited runs, my focus is producing interesting, adaptable designs using traditional techniques and handwork. Following my interests and curiosities instead of seasons, new designs are presented as they are ready. Designed with love and made with care, my greatest hope is that my work gives you the joy it gives me, and that you use them in happy, healthy days. A confirmed believer in apotropaism, I also hope my work brings you strength and protection.”

Clare Frost

For more information about Clare and her work, you can go to his website: www.clarelouisefrost.com

By Nigel Coates & Charlotte Horton

Paracastello - Milano, Salone Del Mobile 2015- Fuorisalone At Studio "H+"

Nigel Coates & Charlotte Horton

Nigel Coates and Charlotte Horton present a range of furniture inspired by Castello di Potentino. ‘Para’ meaning ‘in support of’ or ‘derived from’ the actual castle… para-castello was intended to evoke the castle spirit without slavishly complying with it. Coates is a frequent visitor to the Potentino and a great friend of Charlotte and Alexander. The show was hosted at Daniela Cataneo's Studio "H+". Filmed and edited by Margherita Leofanti for Studio "H+"