Italian artist and designer, Vincenzo De Cotiis, is possibly one of the design industry’s best-kept secrets.
Born in Gonzaga, Italy in 1958, De Cotiis has been fascinated by art from an early age. As a young boy, he remembers sketching everything he saw around him from famous paintings to historical movements in art. Following his passion, he enrolled in art school in Venice before deeming it “too classical” and dropping out to study architecture instead, at the Milan Polytechnic. Milan’s famous Politecnico is an elite engineering and design school, where he joined the likes of generations of Italian visionaries including Giò Ponti and Achille Castiglioni.
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De Cotiis’ creative journey began upon graduating when he designed his first space–a friend’s boutique in Brescia. The design was starkly minimalist, featuring an all white interior, two sofas and two tables. Even the clothing was displayed unconventionally, only presented on Japanese-inspired mannequins instead of hanging on racks. It wasn’t long before Sergio Gandini, a former partner and chairman of Flos, a popular Italian lighting firm, took notice. Gandini was so impressed with what he saw that he opened De Cotiis a studio and successfully launched his career.
Today he operates a namesake gallery, architecture firm, and interiors practice in Milan, where he creates everything from industrial-size weathered-brass kitchen islands to framed giant tableaux of incandescent filmstrips covered in resin. He divides his time between what he calls his “laboratories”, his two workshops in the countryside, working on many architectural and interior projects for private homes, hotels, restaurants and retail spaces around the world, as well as designing pieces for his private furniture label.
Where Monastery Meets Laboratory
De Cotiis’ unique style is truly one of a kind. Deemed as “anti-design” and “monastery meets laboratory”, his style balances a raw authenticity with a minimal approach.
Central to his work is his passion for materials. Salvaged textile, wood, brass, recycled carbon fiber, reclaimed leather, and fiberglass sourced from shipyards are juxtaposed with modern, precious metals and gemstones to create rough meets raw industrial pieces.
(Image source: www.decotiis.it)
De Cotiis begins his design process with the material, and later adjusts the form to fit the material. The form always comes second. This is what gives his pieces a sense of organic intrigue. When he speaks of his materials, his face automatically lights up. He says, “I’ve been focusing on certain materials for a long time…for example, brass is something I’ve been working with for twenty-five years, and it has become my signature material of sorts. Also recycled fiberglass is a permanent material in my work. It’s unbelievable that the materials I’ve been using for so long still feel contemporary.”
The feeling of perfect imperfection in his work is achieved through deconstruction, reconstruction and re-appropriation of his materials. De Cotiis revels in the beauty of the imperfect. He loves showcasing the deterioration of time on his pieces, because he loves “things that have suffered through time–weathered down material, never smoothed, glazed surfaces. Time corrodes, makes everything different.” And, when asked when he determines a piece to be finished, he responds, “In reality, my pieces are never finished. The materials I work with change over time, reacting to the atmosphere, and they continue to evolve.”
(Image source: www.decotiis.it)
His “anti-design” approach stems from withdrawing from the idea of functional design. His pieces will always maintain a certain rule or function, but never in its original sense. For example, a table can also be considered a gesture of art, such as a sculpture.
(Image source: www.decotiis.it)
Belgian architect, Vincent Van Duysen, admires De Cotiis for being able to “expertly forge a subtle and poetic relationship between art, craft, architecture and design” Van Duysen has always been enamoured by “the delicate application of tangible and conceptual layers throughout his work. Refined and symbolic, yet also sensitive.”
The Progetto Domestico Label
Because his architecture and design practice are well established by now, De Cotiis has the luxury of being able to go back and work on his true passion, working with his hands. This manifests itself in the form of creating one-of-a-kind furniture pieces for his label, Progetto Domestico.
(Image source: www.decotiis.it)
Progetto Domestico’s pieces are either one off productions or limited edition series of no more than 10, which is why they are highly collectible and sold in galleries as opposed to shops. De Cotiis exclaims, “Though I am still involved in the architecture and design studio, I have good collaborators there, and I don’t need to maintain full control there–on Progetto Domestico I work alone. It speaks to me most, because I am the only one who conceives and creates these pieces. It’s where I am fully free to express my creativity.”
The pieces are in line with his signature style–with none prioritizing function over beauty. And, are exhibited at leading global design fairs such as Design Miami, Design Basel, PAD London, Design Dubai, Art Paris and the Carpenter’s Workshop Gallery.
18th Century Palazzo Milanese
However, his unique design is not confined to the spaces he works. There is nowhere his genius is more evident than inside his remarkable home in Milan.
What he calls his “Palazzo Milanese” or Milanese Palace, is the home he currently resides in with wife Claudia Rose.
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The home dates back to the 18th century and had fallen into disuse when De Cotiis first discovered it. He worked hard to preserve the original elements of the house’s design, even going as far as to stripping away any additions that had been made by previous owners over the years. What lay beneath was an imperfectly beautiful and raw villa with a breathtaking color pallet, making it the perfect backdrop for Vincenzo’s unique furniture pieces.
A more in-depth look into the Palazzo Milanese can be seen here:
Over the long and successful career that Vincenzo De Cotiis has worked hard to pave for himself, he has solidified his aesthetic to the point where it can be referred to as a school of thought. No matter how hard you attempt to describe the beauty of De Cotiis’ work in words, the sum of his aesthetic is always larger than its parts. To truly be able to revel in his innovative design, one must actually see it in real life. No picture can do his pieces justice, because the minute details involved on every surface of furniture, can only be appreciated upon closer inspection.