DESIGN | TALENT
ABOUT
Forma translates from Italian as shape, form, figure; fantasma as ghost, phantom, apparition. Formafantasma—the name chosen by Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin when they founded their studio in 2009—captures the inherent tension between what is seen and unseen in the world of design. Labour and extraction, politics and culture, status and wealth—these are the spectres that haunt our objects. Together, Trimarchi and Farresin interrogate these forces, using design not as a tool of simple solutionism or styling but as a means of revelation.
The studio’s research-driven and environmentally oriented practice takes form in objects, spatial design, pedagogy, and exhibitions. In recent years, their work has included Cambio (2020), a solo exhibition commissioned by the Serpentine that explored the ecological and geopolitical aspects of the timber trade; an ongoing collaboration with Prada involving symposia and site specific projects; and direction of the Geo—Design master’s program at Design Academy Eindhoven.
Amid shifting global systems and a corresponding sense of urgency, we sat down with Trimarchi and Farresin to reflect on the role of design—beyond form, beyond function—in a world on the edge of transformation.
Talent: Andrea Trimarchi, Simone Farresin
Photographer: Piotr Niepsuj
