Some interiors feel as if they have been gathering stories for decades, even when every piece arrived last month. That is the effect the Milan-based architect and designer Giuseppe Porcelli sets out to create, and in a new interview with Vanity Fair Italia he explains how he builds rooms he describes as rich, layered and often nostalgic.
From Dimorestudio to a studio of his own
Born in Campania and adopted by Milan, Porcelli spent around seven years at Dimorestudio, the practice led by Emiliano Salci and Britt Moran, before setting up his own studio in 2021. WWD notes that he led some of the firm’s high-profile projects, including its first interiors job in Florence. Today he moves between private homes, luxury hospitality, furniture design and art direction, with projects in Rome, Milan and Dubai.
His first furniture collection, Garçonnière, was shown during Milan Design Week 2025 inside a pied-à-terre lined with Fortuny fabrics. It brought together an armchair, a console, a table lamp and a mirror in bamboo, brass, glossy lacquer, silk and faux tortoiseshell, deliberately mixing details usually read as masculine or feminine.
Chiaroscuro, contrast and memory
Porcelli tells Vanity Fair Italia that each project starts with a moodboard of photographs, colours, textures and key words, shaped by the client’s habits and memories rather than by a single style. He borrows from many periods of design history and mixes them with references from art and fashion, so that the finished rooms feel timeless rather than tied to a trend. He uses very little white, except for table linen, sheets and towels, and prefers soft chiaroscuro, candlelight or late-afternoon sun to brightly lit spaces.
The magic, in his view, comes from contrast: colours, fabrics and objects from different eras that should not work together but do, creating a tension people remember long after they leave the room. His favourite piece is still the very first he designed, an armchair with a natural bamboo frame and gold-plated brass details. Delicate to make and costly to produce, it remained a one-off. He describes his own home as a precious casket of things collected over the years, and the emotion he most hopes to stir is simple: nostalgia.
Bringing the mood home
The same thinking works for what we wear. A layered stack of bracelets, warm gold earrings or a vintage-feel necklace can play old against new just as Porcelli does with brass and lacquer, while a structured leather handbag adds the depth of a well-chosen antique. Explore the full jewellery and bags collections for pieces with a story to tell.
Sources: Vanity Fair Italia (interview by Valeria Vantaggi, 8 November 2026); WWD; Vogue Italia; artdaily.
