Guga Collective

Born by the encounter of two young Italian designers, Guga is an open project where experimentation and suggestions take form under the combination of pure craftsmanship and design.

Marianna Guernieri and Francesca Gattello, founders of Guga Collective, graduated in Interior and Product Design at the Politecnico of Milan, following different creative paths related to interiors, products, lighting, design research and journalism.

Their recent work met on a common ground, sharing the same principles and values, inspired by a sort of “enlightened craftsmanship”, with which the Italian duo is giving life to a productive cycle developed between Italy and Belgium, that involves designers, craftsmen and local companies, in an environment of collaboration, mutual respect and fertile creativity.

With Jon Marianna Guernieri has focused her attention on the formal variables of wooden tables, designing a shape that overturns the standard logics of conviviality and dining esthetics. Final result? Sharing unique experiences around a young but still elegant table, that can change and improve our habits in small domestic environments.

Even if placed in a small room, Jon's peculiar shape and angles allow an acceptable number of people to sit around it, changing a bit the way we consider table’s hierarchies. It can hold from a minimum of one to a maximum of 8 people. The presence of a smaller corner makes it also and ideal place kids, singles or for couples whot want to cut some privacy.

With Calcarea Francesca Gattello has created a collection of vases focused on the re-use of industrial stone waste as a component for an experimental ceramic material. This project focuses on a local production scale and wants to represent the Tuscan traditional stone industry through a new perspective: using an industrial output as a re-evaluated material she identified an immaterial dimension of the reference territory as an added value and a quality indicator.

To manufacture both Jon and Calcarea the two designers turned to expert craftsmen, in Tuscany and in the Flanders, with whom they created a prolific collaboration and an intense dialog, aiming to add new features in the traditional processes of handcrafting.