What if your workplace was a showroom, an event space, and an art gallery? Flexibility is a benefit for nearly all design typologies, but the new home for Milan-based creative company Spazio Pesca required several purpose-built spaces at once. Founder Benedetta Gambino had a vision for a multifunctional office that could truly do it all, providing a productive environment for her team of designers, developers, new media experts, and their clients while also opening itself up as a host for its community of local creatives.
At Spazio Pesca, a daytime team meeting to design an artist’s website could easily transition to an evening cocktail party to open an exhibit of her newest body of work. Or an emerging fashion designer could shoot his latest collection on site in the photography studio, then host a trunk show the same week. To allow this variety of potentially simultaneous activities, Greta Cevenini—Italian designer, stylist, and founder of her eponymous studio—transformed the 1,400-square-foot interior of a classic Milanese apartment in the lively Paolo Sarpi neighborhood, employing vibrant color to dynamically define each use.
“I usually tend to be more neutral in my designs,” admitted the Milan-based talent, “however, when I experiment with color, I often aim for unusual and sometimes unsettling shades.” Case in point: An acid green paint envelopes Spazio Pesca’s entry-cum-exhibition space, where mirrored steel stools by Rome-based architect Sofia Albrigo and a bespoke steel table by Cevenini are lit by sculptural Vesoi wall lights. Through a curtained doorway are the more private areas—the offices, meeting room, and photography studio—that are bathed in off-white with original chevron parquet wood flooring underfoot. Color makes a statement again in the kitchen, where earthy plum and peach tones have a strong yet grounding impact on the walls and island by Zerogloss, as well as in the breccia-clad bathroom. It was activated with a site-specific floral installation by Milanese multihyphenate Mariachiara Manelli for its opening in July.
Custom and curated furnishings throughout these spaces also revel in contrast. The sleek, industrial seating, alongside more muted casework and built-ins, are all by Italian makers. Each piece was sourced carefully for its multipurpose potential. In the white-washed meeting room, for example, eight strapped Spaghetti chairs by Alias are set at a large custom work table that could double as a chic dinner venue or host a product presentation.
Though the project was designed to foster many creative disciplines, Cevenini found its initial inspiration in the sartorial world. An image of a white dress printed with photographs from Barcelona fashion designer Paloma Wool made it on the moodboard, then later inspired the sheer curtain, featuring images of some of Studio Pesca’s most significant work that hangs in the aforementioned dining-slash-conference room.
“It replaces the usual whiteboard for brainstorming sessions,” said Cevenini of the playful window dressing, a starting point for her unexpectedly contemporary design inside this historic residential shell. “Given the nature of the studio’s work, I chose to center this narrative around images.” Framed prints of projects are also displayed across the rooms.
These pictures reveal the wide-ranging nature of the three-year-old company’s production, from art direction to event planning to social media, but also offer the office itself as a gallery. Gambino sees Spazio Pesca as an opportunity to expand its impact through in-person activations, both public and private, as well as through an invitation to Milan creatives to use its facilities for their own shoots, pop-ups, or shows. In this hybrid workplace and community gathering space, many large walls are blank, just waiting for the right artistic collaboration to fill them.