Milano Home meets Donatella Casiraghi, CEO, Interior Architect, and Furniture Designer, and Matteo Barni, Founder, Project Manager, and Home Décor Designer, Raku manufacts producer of Laabmilano.

What are the new products you will be presenting at the next edition of Milano Home, their characteristics, the values that distinguish them, and is there a flagship product or collection?

For Milano Home, we wanted to focus on the concept of Nature reclaiming artificial elements in their entirety. With our IKIGAI, the vase is no longer a container for soil from which a plant can grow, but an integral part of the life of the plants themselves, which now grow directly on the porous surface of the ceramic that contains the essence of life - water. A reminder that nature always has a force superior to human creations and that it always finds a way to fill any space, even where it is not foreseen by humans. A thought that resonates in Taoism and Yin and Yang: the more man imposes himself on nature, the more it will respond in the opposite way. All this to remember that in balance, we must leave space for nature. On the other hand, our Raku ceramic fountains, with their shapes proportioned according to Feng Shui, capable of inducing a state of relaxation through the evocative sound of flowing water, want to remind us that the basic element of life is not superfluous but something to be appreciated and always considered.

How did your company start and what are your strengths?

Laabmilano was born in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, during the global slowdown that led many to reflect on their goals and desires. During that period, Matteo Barni returned from London, where he worked as an E-commerce Product Manager, to Italy to pursue the artistic vein he had long abandoned in favor of a computer science career. In such a difficult period globally, he wanted to take a chance and follow his passions and talent, starting a Raku ceramics production. Learning the craft from Master ceramists in Brianza and supported by Architect Donatella Casiraghi in the aesthetic research, the Laabmilano brand developed as a pure e-commerce, avoiding traditional solutions, precisely because of the period in which it developed.

Being highly appreciated in the American market, Laabmilano, under the guidance of its Architect, developed a line of minimalist and modern furniture with a strong visual impact, with attention to detail. New styles are created that well represent the couple behind this brand and that soon lead them to the Asian market where they develop new contracts and partnerships with producers and design studios where the concepts of Feng Shui impressed in Laabmilano by Donatella resonate more strongly. Laabmilano becomes, through organic evolution, a creative studio with Styles and Products above trends, which do not want to take up the traditional but to be a step towards the future rather than a reinterpretation of the past from a new perspective. A constant search for the new - born from the confrontation of the two minds - is the basis of every Laabmilano project: a continuous evolution of ideas that are reiterated between Donatella's experience and Matteo's imagination.

What is your relationship with shops or e-commerce, how important are they and what is the added value for the retailer of having your brand in their store?

Given the origin of Laabmilano, our relationship with other e-commerce specializing in luxury is fundamental to reaching the most distant markets. And, given the initial nature of the brand, the collaboration with these partners is fast and direct, and with them, Laabmilano has positioned itself globally in the American and Asian markets, where Raku elements combined with Made in Italy, the flagship of the studio, are in high demand.

For distribution, Laabmilano develops its own e-commerce platform, which leads to the start of numerous collaborations, working with design studios, hotels, and restaurants. Among the key partners, the collaboration with Akar de Nissim, of Singapore, a place that Laabmilano uses as a bridge to reach Southeast Asia, a rapidly growing market, thanks to the office located there. With them, they have created the exclusive Daya collection, a collection of 8 pieces that are extremely luxurious but with a focus on design and the needs of the individual. All our designs aim to evoke emotions in the observer and as such are always unique pieces - both due to the unpredictable nature of Raku as regards ceramics and due to our desire for furniture design. Our quality is assured by the Master craftsmen of Brianza who, with their experience and advice, allow us to develop innovative and globally appreciated designs. Laabmilano takes up the artisan tradition and thanks to it, pieces of high manufacturing value can be reproposed in stores, allowing art to enter homes.

What are the trends in modern living for the coming year?

The essence of the future is the thoughts of the minds that are evolving today, capable of intertwining the innovation of today's technologies and materials to give life to new designs. Future design must tend towards innovative, soft forms, breaking away from the stereotypes of aseptic minimalism. Its purpose? To invite reflection, to enhance energy. Design elements must communicate "pleasure" to the user to allow for an emotionally rich life. We, all companies, must not remain wrapped up in a classic concept and similar to each other to avoid taking risks. It is not social conditions that prevent the creation of the new, it is we ourselves who must free ourselves from mental chains to be free and strong in our Italian creativity. Unique, strong pieces must invade the market and make people talk about us.