Estudio Orth is a multidisciplinary furniture and interior design studio based in São Paulo. Founded in 2018, it is led by the couple Seba Orth (designer) and Luísa Bianchetti (visual artist), who have been guiding the studio from its foundation.
With a maximalist palette of materials in service of a minimalist language, its work presents a sculptural approach to functional items such as lighting fixtures, seating, tables, rugs, and everyday accessory objects. Its practice engages with themes such as symbolism and brutalism, exploring forms that move between organicity and rationality.
All pieces are meticulously handcrafted by master artisans, one at a time. In the creative process, ancestral techniques such as metal casting, solid wood carpentry, and the use of exotic Brazilian stones lend material identity and maturity to the products.
1. Where were you born and where are you from ?
I was born in Nice, in the south of France. And I’ve been living in Brazil for 20 years.
2. What is your first memory connected to the art world ?
As a child in Nice, I remember crossing paths with the artist César Baldaccini, who lived in the city. He wore a denim jumpsuit and had a white beard, it was the first image I had of what an artist could be. His work has stayed with me ever since as a strong influence.
3. Have you always worked in the art/design field, and what led you to the design creation ?
Yes, I’ve always been part of that world. It was a natural, almost inevitable path.
4. What led you to the design creation ?
It started out of practical need. I began creating and participating in works for homes, apartments, restaurants, and stores. I didn’t want to design just the interiors, but also the furniture and lighting. Gradually, I developed my own techniques and a personal language.
5. How would you describe your creative process and it influences ?
Everything starts with the material: stone, metal, wood. The process is artisanal, handmade, without industrial methods. My language is born from the meeting of emotional memories from the south of France and the strength of Brazilian brutalism, influenced by Luisa, who was born in Brasília, a city that is a manifesto in itself.
6. Could you describe a typical day of your work ?
I’m driven by a creative obsession. My days are intense, focused on bringing as many ideas to life as possible, in a spontaneous and visceral way.
7. Why did you choose the specific materials you work with ?
Because they are natural materials, with soul. They carry stories, time, and imperfections (all the things that interest me). They are all of Brazilian origin, calling on the country’s unique and natural richness.
8. What are the technical particularities of your creations ?
Each piece is handmade, with almost sculptural attention. The techniques are my own, and each work carries a tension between brutality and sensitivity. Our pieces have a presence in space, as if they were alive.
9. What advices could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works ?
Follow your instinct. Take care of your obsessions. Don’t doubt, move forward.
10. If your works had to belong to a design movement, in which one would you define it ?
Neo-Romanticism and tropical brutalism.
11. What designers and artists have influenced you ?
I’m more influenced by artists like César Baldaccini, Picasso, and Giacometti, and also by architects such as Oscar Niemeyer and Lina Bo Bardi.
12. What contemporary designers do you appreciate ?
The Campana brothers.
13. What contemporary artists (in any kind of art) have you been inspired by ?
Pierre Soulages, César, Giacometti, Tunga.
14. If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be ?
Design with soul.
15. Is there anything you’d like to add ?
I believe sculptural design is a way of restoring presence to the object, making it almost human, imperfect, enigmatic, and alive.
PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE
(The Proust Questionnaire is a set of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust.
Other historical figures who have answered confession albums are Oscar Wilde,
Karl Marx, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Cézanne…)
1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
To create and build.
2. What is your greatest fear?
Doing nothing.
3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Impatience.
4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Conformism.
5. Which living person do you most admire?
Luisa, my wife and partner.
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
Living without a homeland.
7. What is your current state of mind?
Anxious, always.
8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Faith.
9. What is the quality you most like in a man ?
Sincerity.
10. What is the quality you most like in a woman ?
Maturity.
11. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Chic.
12. Which talent would you most like to have?
To play a musical instrument.
13. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
To be calmer and more serene.
14. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
The next one.
15. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
A dolphin.
16. Where would you most like to live?
On a sailboat.
17. What is your most treasured possession?
I don’t care about things.
18. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Ignorance.
19. What is your favorite occupation?
Creating.
20. What is your most marked characteristic?
My energy.
21. What do you most value in your friends?
Sincerity.
22. Who are your favorite writers?
Marcel Pagnol and Charles Baudelaire.
23. Who is your hero of fiction?
Ulysses.
24. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Joan of Arc.
25. Who are your heroes in real life?
John Lennon.
26. What are your favorite names?
Orpheus, Pacôme.
27. What is it that you most dislike?
Conservatism and conformism.
28. What is your greatest regret?
Wasting too much time.
29. How would you like to die?
At sea.
30. What is your motto?
“Impose your luck, seize your happiness, and go toward your risks. Once they see you, they’ll get used to it.” — René Char
