Letizia Caramia, Italian, and Morten Thuesen, Danish, are the two figures behind the Older design studio (they like to call it a company, which is an “older” term), founded in 2013. They met in London where they were both working for Alexander McQueen. A couple in life and work, they moved to Milan and began to design and produce sustainable uniforms in terms of materials and packaging (compostable), sophisticated outfits invented for outstanding clients like The Shard, the tower in London designed by Renzo Piano, or Fjordenhus, the first building designed by the artist Olafur Eliasson.
“Our design language is a constant practice of expanding boundaries, blending design, architecture, art and mindfulness,” they explain. “Our background mixes Italy and Denmark, art and design. Our method focuses on the pursuit of a shared language, creating things that challenge the idea of ‘good taste.’ We want to create something that triggers dialogue. Basically, we try to give a new ‘sound’ to contemporary design.”
In 2018 they began to accompany the organic uniforms with the first furnishings designed by Older, still with the same criteria: a continuity between apparel and design which they call “furniform,” part furniture part uniform.
At Christmas in 2020, during the lockdown, the two went to Pietrasanta, in Tuscany, at the house of her father, a professional craftsman. The scrap materials found in his studio became the starting point for a series of experiments, leading to the Scarpette seating, now joined by a table and the serving trolley Carolino. The name of the seat comes from the little “feet” at the ends of the three legs; the trolley has a storage element as a base. The colors are the lively hues of flags. “The period of isolation was a time of solitude, so our idea was to create friends that could transmit warmth, something like Geppetto with Pinocchio.”
Nina Yashar, founder of NILNilufar Gallery and a world-famous talent scout, discovered these projects during an aperitif at the home-workshop of the two designers in Milan, right after their move to the city. She decided to show their items in her space, and to insert them in her curatorial e-commerce project Picked by Nina.
