5 minutes with Zanellato/Bortotto

Giorgia Zanellato and Daniele Bortotto, the young Italian duo behind studio Zanellato/Bortotto.

They met in Lausanne, Switzerland, where they both studied product design at ECAL. After their studies in 2013 they founded their studio together in Treviso in northern Italy, where they are still based today.

Their first collaboration together was the Acqua Alta Collection which was launched at Salone Satellite in Milan in 2013.  A project that stands out and which started an engagement in research which still continues today. Their “Giudecca” rug  for cc-tapis was designed for this project and the duo talk about their inspiration and what artisanal products mean to them:

 

1) How did you start your collaboration together?

We met during univeristy at ECAL, in Switzerland, and through our friendship we had the idea to work together. We waited until we returned to Italy in 2013 to start collaborating on projects together.

 

2) Giudecca is inspired by Venice and named after the Venetian island, what originally drew you to the historic city?

Giudecca is part of a collection called Acqua Alta which we designed for an historic Venetian company called Rubelli. The whole collection is entirely dedicated to Venice. Every piece was born from reflecting on the lagoon based city and walking through the Venetian streets or “calli” searching for details and elements to draw inspiration from.

 

 

3) You’ve created a very contemporary piece inspired by a place with so much history, how did you arrive to the final design? 

Through our own language, searching to revisit key contemporary elements and techniques connected to the past and our history. In this case we interpreted the iconic venetian stair-cases and landings with a particularly graphic approach paying special attention to color.

 

 

4) You’ve worked with a variety of materials from glass, metal, leather, marble and resin, what was it like working on a rug and especially a product that is so artisanal?

It was fascinating to see how an idea could be translated in such a unique way through a technique as particular as hand knotting. The silks and wools, and the artfully combined colors, led to such an exciting result for us.

 

 

5) What does an “artisanal product” mean to you?

 It’s extremely important, because it allows to think of a product outside of traditional production logic, giving it unique and inimitable characteristics.