Gio Pagani
Gio Pagani is an Italian architect and designer whose multidisciplinary practice spans architecture, interiors, furniture, and creative direction. Founder of his eponymous studio in Parma in 1995, he has developed a distinctive design language characterized by a refined balance of contrasts—between romance and rigor, luxury and simplicity, tradition and experimentation. Drawing on experiences across design, fashion, photography, and art, Pagani creates immersive environments and collectible pieces distinguished by their strong identity and timeless elegance.
Guided by a philosophy he describes as “disciplined excess,” Pagani approaches design as a synthesis of architecture, craftsmanship, and lifestyle. His work combines cultured forms, rich materials, and meticulous attention to detail, resulting in spaces and objects that are both sophisticated and deeply personal. Through a continual exploration of beauty, emotion, and functionality, he has established a singular voice within contemporary Italian design.
Interview
I was born in Parma and graduated in architecture with a specialization in architectural design and restoration at the Politecnico in Milan.
Klimt and his passions, Romanticism, the Viennese secession, and the revolutionary fervor of the Bauhaus.
I was born into a family with a passion for antiques, with whom I breathed the aesthetics of objects, the uniqueness of places, and the depth of messages in art.
The love for the approach to aesthetics of Gio Ponti and many Italian architects of the 1950s, who always understood the importance between the designed space and the objects that would inhabit it. The architect’s vision “from the spoon to the city.”
Instinctive, connected to the emotions of places that I keep in my heart, places that touch the soul and communicate the desire to give shape to feelings.
My days are always different. The journey – either physical or daydreaming – and the dialogue with people who are close to me are a fundamental constant to my creative workflow.
I love to research materials. It is they who often dictate the forms and give life to objects. I am fascinated by the material when it is able to transfer organicity and nature.
Each object hides details related to manual and artisanal work, now rare crafts that must be preserved. Each material calls for specific techniques and brings with it a unique experience.
Know the past, understand the soul of the objects that have marked our history, to start giving memory and culture to new works.
I like to think that I have eclectic and fluid thinking that allows me to explore different stylistic languages. Creating often means to lay bare, to study, to understand in order to explore unknown worlds.
Gio Ponti, Luigi Caccia-Dominioni, Carlo Scarpa.
Axel Vervoordt, Christian Liaigre, Rick Owens, Vincenzo De Cotiis.
Lou Reed for his nocturnal, libertine, rock poetry and David Bowie for his chameleon-like ability to change, self-deny, and reimagine himself.
I love taking ideas from the past and transporting them into the contemporary.
I create through looking at my own past to revolutionize my future approach…. I aim for eternal growth and love the change.
“I love taking ideas from the past and transporting them into the contemporary.”
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…)
Harmony with the people I love.
To lose my passion.
I’m still looking for it.
Jealousy and indifference.
Those who have the courage to live for their passion without compromise.
I’m not extravagant.
Exploring a future that I have not yet written.
Force.
Sincerity.
Acumen.
Wonderful, with elegance.
Concreteness.
Each imperfection has made me who I am.
Giving life to a dream I had just by listening to my passion.
A marble sculpture.
In front of sea.
My affections.
Don’t have mercy.
Dream shapes, spaces and aesthetic.
The patience.
The honesty.
James Joyce.
Corto Maltese.
Gio Ponti.
My parents.
Vittorio and Virginia.
Wickedness.
Not having tried everything, and the time passes unavoidably.
Watching the opera of Turandot at the theatre.
Per aspera ad astra.
“I create through looking at my own past to revolutionize my future approach.”
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