Fatto Bene exhibition – All photos by Matteo Bellomo and Stefania Zanetti, courtesy of Teo Sandigliano.

Design – Bruno Munari once said, “When everything is Art, nothing is Art.” Today, if you google ‘design products,’ you get over 7.6 billion results. How can we differentiate good design when everything claims to be it? Wondered Teo Sandigliano, curator of the Fatto Bene exhibition in a former church in Milan.

• RELATED STORIES: Discover more Italian design on Archipanic.

Entrance of the Fatto Bene exhibition.

Fatto bene, which means ‘well made’ in Italian, brings together the work of eleven Italian designers committed to refocusing attention on objects, the physicality of design, and the beauty of materials. “Fatto Bene means products, furniture and home accessories with a story not only at an aesthetic level but also for the way they have been thought, made and conceived.” Teo Sandigliano told Archipanic. “It’s not just about form and function, but design as a system comprising materials, sustainability, and production techniques. From serial productions to self-production, I selected eleven ways of making timeless good design by mixing storytelling and heritage with cutting-edge technologies.”

From left: side table by XXX, La Specola lamp by Zanellato Bortolotto and Brise chair Federica Biasi.

Inspired by Padua’s historic astronomical observatory, La Specola lamp collection by Zanellato Bortolotto for Incalmi reuses a technique in which copper is baked in an oven covered with coloured vitreous powders. Federica Biasi’s Brise Chair for Gervasoni is inspired by the aesthetics of Vienna straw seats, reinterpreted in wood with a laser-carved backrest.

From left: fruit trays by Matteo di Ciommo, Manico chair by Giuseppe Arezzi, lamp by TIPSTUDIO, and metal sideboard by Francesco Forcellini.

Matteo di Ciommo has reimagined fruit trays as countryside skylines with groves of cypresses and villages’ squares. The Secondo Fuoco Lamp by TIPSTUDIO revalues foundry slag: on one side, it’s natural, raw, and irregular. On the other, it is adorned with a bronze cast, smoothed and polished. Developed in collaboration with Woak, Giuseppe Arezzi’s Manico Chair x It’s Great Design transports us under an olive tree in Sicily, with cicadas in the background. Francesco Forcellini and De Castelli created a sideboard dressed in metal with essential lines.

From left: Lay-back 310° deckchair by Maddalena Selvini, Brise chair by Federica Biasi, and La Specola lamp by Zanellato Bortolotto.

Maddalena Selvini teamed up with Feltrificio Biellese to create a portable recliner for short moments suitable for indoor and outdoor spaces. Marble becomes elastic and responds to the sitter’s weight in Lorenzo Damiani’s Foglio Bench – A hymn to playfulness in design. Francesco Faccin has reinterpreted a traditional mountain chair with urban aesthetics thanks to CNC techniques and a clean, silent interlocking system.

Bottom left: cork furniture by Maddalena Casadei.

Maddalena Casadei teamed up with Falegnameria Pisu to create a soft-shaped furniture collection made from 100% natural compressed cork. Maddalena Casadei teamed up with Self-produced with the skilled hands of Ladino carpenters. Studio Lamp by Isato Prugge explores serial craftsmanship with six different wood essences.

Top left: Studio Lamp by Isato Prugge. Centre: Foglio Bench by Lorenzo Damiani. Top right: Mountain Chair by Francesco Faccin.

Flatwig Studio curated Fatto Bene’s set-up with the support of Erbe Collective for the display tables, Scia’s Divisione Tessuti for the curtains on the facade of the Antica Chiesa, and Beatrice Bianchet for the visual identity.

• All photos by Matteo Bellomo and Stefania Zanetti, courtesy of Teo Sandigliano.

Top left: lamp by TIPSTUDIO. Top right: fruit trays by Matteo di Ciommo. Bottom: Foglio Bench by Lorenzo Damiani.