Philia
Magazine

Agathe Lavaud is a French architect and interior designer, and the founder of Volta, a Paris-based studio established in 2016. Working across architecture and interior design, her practice is defined by a refined dialogue between contemporaneity and tradition, with a strong attention to detail, materiality, and spatial harmony.

After studying at ESAG Penninghen and the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Marne-la-Vallée, including a period of study in Italy, Lavaud worked with renowned studios such as Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Wilmotte & Associés, Vidalenc Architectes, and Thierry Lemaire Architecture before establishing her own practice. Through Volta, she approaches each project through a sensitive and contextual process, developing spaces shaped by thoughtful research into volume, craftsmanship, and the existing environment.

Giorgio Bonaguro is an Italian designer working across product design, interiors, and art direction. After studying Mechanical Engineering in Modena and Industrial Design in Milan, he collaborated with influential designers including Michele De Lucchi, Francesco Faccin, and Lorenzo Palmeri.

Working between Europe and Brazil, Bonaguro develops furniture, objects, and interiors distinguished by elegant forms, material research, and a refined contemporary sensibility. His work reflects a balance between craftsmanship, innovation, and timeless simplicity.

Tristan Montabord-Marc is a Belgian interior architect and designer based in Brussels, where he founded his eponymous studio. Working across high-end residential interiors and collectible design, his practice explores the relationship between architecture, craftsmanship, and timeless elegance. Guided by a balance of precision and poetry, he creates spaces and objects distinguished by refined proportions, noble materials, and a quiet sense of sophistication.

Extending his architectural practice into collectible design, Montabord-Marc recently introduced his first limited-edition furniture collection, Auguste, conceived as a series of sculptural objects that blur the boundaries between furniture and architecture. Characterized by meticulous craftsmanship, authentic materials, and subtle asymmetry, his work seeks to create a lasting dialogue between art, design, and architecture, revealing beauty through simplicity, balance, and enduring materiality.

Francesca De Giorgi is an Italian designer and architect whose work explores the relationship between light, textiles, and craftsmanship. Drawing on the heritage of her family’s historic workshop in Lecce, Puglia, she creates lighting and textile pieces that blend contemporary design with artisanal tradition. In 2023, she founded NASSI, a brand named after her grandmother, celebrating a family legacy carried through three generations of women while reflecting the culture, materiality, and enduring craftsmanship of southern Italy.

Johannes Hemann is a German designer whose practice explores the intersection of experimentation, material behavior, and contemporary craftsmanship. After studying Product Design at the School of Art and Design in Offenbach am Main and spending a semester at Kingston University in London, he founded his eponymous studio in 2011. Since then, Hemann has developed a distinctive body of work that challenges conventional design processes through playful investigation and technical innovation.

Known for reinterpreting familiar forms through unexpected methods, Hemann gained international recognition with projects such as the Storm Series, in which furniture is shaped through simulated storm conditions, allowing natural forces to become active participants in the creative process. His work has been exhibited internationally, including in Milan, London, Basel, New York, Tokyo, Berlin, and Tel Aviv, and has earned multiple nominations from the German Design Awards, establishing him as one of the notable voices of his generation in collectible design.

Liyang Zhang is a Chinese-Canadian architect and ceramic artist, born in Osaka and based in New York City. Her interest in ceramics emerged from a desire to explore the most elemental aspects of architecture, namely light, material, and form, on a more intimate, tactile scale. Her work often arises from a dialogue between hand and material, allowing form to emerge from the clay’s inherent qualities. As an artist, she sees her role as guiding a material to reveal its true nature and inviting its own character and story to emerge.