In the evocative setting of an industrial archaeology site of over 220 sqm, inside the former Necchi factory at Baranzate, Galerie Philia explores the sacred through the sculptural works of Arianna Lelli Mami and Chiara Di Pinto. Also known as Studiopepe
For Milano Design Week, the impressive mise en scène evocatively titled Temenos – in Greek, a sacred place pertaining to a sanctuary and its enclosure – was an immersive experience based on the circular shapes of Stonehenge and the dome of the Pantheon.
“Co-curated with Galerie Philia, the installation was conceived to narrate the notion of the sacred in all its anthropological and historical complexity, in our works and in the symbols assigned to objects and furnishings across history,” Arianna Lelli Mami and Chiara Di Pinto, founders of the creative studio, explain.
A cylindrical structure placed at the center of the space interpreted the form of a temple and revealed the eclectic pieces by Studiopepe, with their non-conformist design approach and painstaking research on formal archetypes. “Temenos – says Ygaël Attali, co-founder of Galerie Philia – represents the start of our collaboration with Studiopepe. Their organic-sculptural design, entirely made by hand, brings out the beauty of imperfection in a complete work. Studiopepe has produced a powerful set of pieces that stand out for their thematic and aesthetic consistency.”
Works that also reference the “mentors” of the artistic duo, including Constantin Brancusi, Isamu Noguchi, Le Corbusier. The result is a limited-edition collection exclusively created for Galerie Philia: monolithic seats, a console, a lamp and a mirror, featuring a complete re-reading of their functions, eliminated or transformed in the symbolism attributed by man.
Each work is named with the nine archetypal entities of Egyptian cosmology, the essential principles of the creation of the universe: the Tefnut table assembled with slabs of brown onyx; the Temu lamp immersed in its organic form; Geb and Nut, a series of thrones with daring geometry in burnt wood; Isi, a modernist concrete seat inspired by the famous Palace of Assembly of Chandigarh by Le Corbusier.
“In our travels, we like to visit ethnographic and anthropological museums, such as the Museo Preistorico Etnografico Luigi Pigorini of Rome with its collection of traditional art and materials, documenting the cultures of all continents,” they say at Studiopepe. “Elements that besides having an artistic and religious character, bear witness to various aspects of material culture of non-European populations, from which we have taken inspiration for our collection.”
