Etamorph – Enrico Tognoni
Enrico Tognoni is an Italian designer and the founder of ETAMORPH, a New York-based design studio dedicated to exploring the transformative possibilities of marble. Rooted in his Tuscan heritage and informed by a contemporary approach to material innovation, Tognoni creates sculptural furniture and collectible objects that challenge conventional perceptions of stone while celebrating its enduring beauty.
Through ETAMORPH, Tognoni combines traditional craftsmanship with advanced technologies, developing works that emphasize fluidity, texture, and material expression. His practice is driven by a fascination with transformation, resulting in pieces that blur the boundaries between art, design, and architecture while highlighting the poetic and structural potential of natural materials.
Interview
Italy. Born and raised in the north of Tuscany. Where the marble quarries of Carrara are located.
The complexity of the drape in La Pietà of Michelangelo.
Yes, but started as an architect.
The process was gradual and started during my architecture studies in Pisa (Italy). At first was shaping the space, then from building to interiors to objects. The jump of scale was natural and inevitable, fed over the last few years by the reconnection with my roots. The rediscovery of the world of marble fabrication/craftsmanship in Carrara played a crucial role.
I approach my work with a deep commitment to the exploration of the interaction between technology and craftsmanship, knowing that each piece will move through many hands during its process of creation, and that it will be infused with the energy coming from this collective effort.
Central to my beliefs as a designer is a reverence for craftsmanship—a convergence of art and engineering. In my work, creation is a very powerful moment. Matter and ideas coalesce to create a profound sensorial experience. In this process, the relationship between material, form, and craft has a crucial role.
There is not really a daily routine. There are days in which I will set everything aside to put down ideas that have been fermenting in my head for a while, and days in which I am more focused on business and technical tasks. I always leave my creativity free to interrupt whatever I am doing.
There is always a lot of coordination with the workshop and suppliers in Italy. Making sure that commissions, projects, and prototypes move forward smoothly is very time-consuming because the figures involved and the obstacles are many.
I don’t work with only one material, but over the last couple of years, I have deeply focused on natural stones with a particular interest in monolithic pieces. The connection to my hometown and the mountains where I grew up are the main reasons. A sort of rediscovery of my roots and the local craftsmanship.
In my creations, craftsmanship and cutting-edge technologies contribute equally to achieving the final result. Advanced robotic milling and CNC machining allow me to bring the material characteristics to the limit, while traditional working methods like hand fishing give the final product a sense of craftsmanship not possible with technology. In this delicate balance, my works find uniqueness.
Meaning is much more important than design trends. In an age like this, where technology allows us to achieve what was impossible a few years ago and social media awards whatever is more appealing at first sight, it is very easy to get lost in design trends and meaningless exercises of style. Meaning is what keeps a designer focused on their path of growth.
None.
Carlo Scarpa.
Mark Newson.
Isamu Noguchi, Alberto Burri, and Donald Judd.
Never complete.
“Meaning is much more important than design trends.”
The Questions
(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…)
Freedom
Habit
Overthinking
Incompetence
I don’t see today great models to follow
Creating while sleeping
Open to new adventures
Calmness
Determination
Intelligence
Thoroughly
Compose and play music
–
Open my own design/architecture firm after a few years after moving to the US
The wind
Greece
Nothing material
Living for yourself
Creating
Problem solving
Loyalty
James Ballard
None
None
My family
Names are just a tag
Post modernism and over-decoration
No regrets for now
At peace
What’s next?
“In my work, creation is a very powerful moment. Matter and ideas coalesce to create a profound sensorial experience.”
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