Welcome to the immersive world of Spinzi

When I met Tommaso in his Milan studio, located in the Affori neighbourhood north of the city centre, he welcomed me into an immersive space where the eye is drawn to pieces of design and art scattered like leopard spots. It’s impossible not to be captivated. There's a unique energy in the air, with icons of Italian design from the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s, intermingled with pieces by Spinzi, the brand he created and has based in Italy since 2019. The studio has a kaleidoscopic dimension, embracing the designer's various passions—not only art and design but also automotive and other interests. The result is a lunar environment of various shapes and colours that define a lifestyle concept with a clear and concrete identity.

Our conversation starts by exploring his years abroad, from Switzerland to Australia, then New York, and his time in Tokyo. Living and working for so many years outside one's comfort zone necessitates confronting and comprehending the surrounding world on a wide scale. It initiates a path of stylistic, personal, and professional research that feeds a continuous process of artistic creation. Driven by nostalgia for his homeland, Tommaso returned to Italy with an immense baggage of experiences, ready to be unpacked in Milan, where he chose to grow the Spinzi brand. Shaped by years of introspection and experimental research, the brand is today well-respected in the interior design and home decor sector, as well as in the world of collectible design and curation of rare artifacts.
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Spinzi-designed interiors are an evolution of the Italian concept of home, encompassing personal spaces and, given the post-pandemic developments, workspaces. They express a client’s passions, lifestyle, past, and vision for the future. These serve as the inspirational drives in Tommaso’s designs and collectible works, where the artist can convey his own unique style and artistic vision.
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One of his first creations, Meccano, is lounge chair designed for the modern man but inspired by the designer’s childhood memory of creating objects with the model construction toy of the same name. Childhood memories and the world of mechanics indeed show themselves as fils rouges throughout the atelier's production.

Two other iconic pieces are Anime and Medusa, both of which function as art and furniture or home accessories. Anime, likely a nod to Tommaso’s time in Japan, is a wall-mounted mirror that resembles a portal to another dimension rather than a traditional mirror. The tunnelling effect is created by a neon tub housed with the frame, allowing the mirror to also serve as an ambient lamp. Medusa, made from a solid block of marble, can serve as a stool, small table, or a sculpture. It draws on two influences: a childhood memory of a raised bathtub in the designer’s family home on Lake Como where he was born; and a fearful dream involving Australian jellyfish (medusa in Italian)—deadly creatures with translucent bodies that are almost invisible to the eye and move through water as though dancing—swimming in the waters of Lake Como.
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Tommaso’s connection to Lake Como is further illustrated by Abstraction, a series of wool rugs that depict the lake and the surrounding landscape. The geometric designs and colours evoke the mysterious nature of the lake, with its Y-shaped boundary determined by the mountains. These rugs aim to abstractly impart a feeling of natural warmth to the environment in which they are placed.

Then comes Silos, a family of products that originated from observing industrial silos built in the 1900s in Northern Italy. This collection includes tables of various shapes and sizes, consoles, chairs, and decorative pieces that draw on the rebirth of Italian post-war industry and craftsmanship. Many pieces in the collection reference the Milanese architecture of Piero Portaluppi and Giò Ponti, inviting exploration of the geometries of places like Palazzo Beltrade, and are inspired by the photographic work of Bernd and Hilla Becher. The defining feature of Silos? The holes, symbolizing permeability to change and innovation, allowing a continuous flow of artistic vision.
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The collection in Circus is absolutely noteworthy for travelling back in time and drawing inspiration from  the grandeur of the Roman Empire, while also incorporating bright colour notes and sleek lines that pay homage to Space Age designs of the 1960s and ’70s. This successful blend features circular shapes inspired by Roman ruins, arenas, and columns, creating cylinders of different lengths that act as stable supports. Larger cylinders of various sizes also come together to form a playful sofa. The overall collection expresses the atelier’s joyful dialogue between forms and colours.
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Our meeting concluded with a visit to the Spinzi website where, with the team’s guidance, I delved into the Catalog section—manifestation of Tommaso's 360-degree research. Within the Catalog, one encounters not only his original creations but also a thoughtfully  curated array of mid-century treasures— floor lamps, chandeliers, sideboards, reclining armchairs, wardrobes, sofas, Murano glass bowls, and more. The retro allure of the Spinzi brand has cultivated a devoted following among art enthusiasts and collectors worldwide. A visit to the Spinzi studio leaves one with two distinct impressions: a newfound confidence in interpreting the world around us, and, perhaps more significantly, the assurance to translate this understanding into unique value.

Cover: Spinzi Creative Atelier
Images provided by Pietra Studio and Antonio Mocchetti