He may have the looks of a model, but Antonio Pio Saracino prefers the design studio to a photographic one.
The award-winning Italian architect and designer has received a clutch of international prizes. In 2011 Antonio, 36, was named one of the world’s 25 most interesting trendsetters by New York’s ARTnews magazine.
His work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions in Rome, Venice, Trieste, Brussels, London, Athens, Moscow, Cordoba, Sao Paulo, Mexico and Sydney. In 2011 his work was presented in the 54th edition of the Venice Biennale and his design work has been acquired the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Art and Design, both in New York City.
In Dubai to take part in the design exhibition, Design Days Dubai and Bloomingdale’s Celebrate the World campaign, he was invited to create an interactive, in-store installation. “I chose The City Within, which was shown at Bloomingdale’s Dubai Mall store,” he says.
The installation was an intriguing piece; sheets of translucent polycarbonate hung in a series to create the illusion of a city. “It is ephemeral, as is all design, even architecture,” says Antonio. “What lasts is what remains in the mind. Installations are ways for me to experiment, to test ideas and make them into an experience.”
Despite his success, Antonio is not pretentious. “What do I love about Dubai? I love the Burj Khalifa, I love the landscape around here,” he says. He shares with Friday his design inspirations, what they mean to him and what his dream design project would be.
Work
Architecture is more than simply work for me – it’s my life. One part of my brain is always thinking about it.
I see design as something that is in continuation with the natural world. Nature and design are always intertwined; I am not looking to mimic nature, but instead to use natural materials to recreate the feeling that it gives us – a feeling of love, security and comfort.
At the end of the day we always design to protect ourselves from the wrath of nature. It’s my way of seeing things, but it evolves and changes. Every day you learn from the things you see.
Design should be functional, of course, but if that was the only reason to design, we wouldn’t keep creating things – we’d have just one kind of chair and one type of house.
We all have different cultures and tastes. Design and architecture represent the most powerful and interesting activity that defines our place within the world. Everything around us is designed and it affects almost every part of our life, from the bed we lie on to the cup from which we drink our coffee, to the car we drive... We are obsessed with objects.
I am an architect and a designer, though I had studied visual arts too as a student. I was very interested in art, but I found space and design more fascinating, and architecture a better way to express my creativity.
Even as a child I was drawn irresistibly to art. My father, a school teacher, used to bring home books on art to entertain me. That opened a whole new world for me.
So after schooling in Apulia in southern Italy, I joined La Sapienza University of Architecture in Rome. Being in the capital and seeing its architecture was an education in itself.
After assisting at several Italian and US architectural firms including famous Italian architect Massimiliano Fuksas on the project for the Palazzo Congressi, the famous convention centre in Rome, I went to New York for two months to learn English. And I never used my return ticket.
In two months I picked up a little English, but not enough, and before I knew it three years had gone by. And all along there were so many job offers that I couldn’t say no. Now it’s been 10 years since I moved there.
I started designing chairs some years ago, and that unexpectedly turned into almost a vocation by itself. Many design magazines, from Hong Kong to France to the US, featured them on their covers.
That led to them being acquired by three museums, including in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Art and Design, both in New York City.
I really enjoy making them, as for me they are art. For instance, the Ray sofa and the Ray chair that I designed are both inspired by the landscape and the skyline of New York.
They are composed of prism-shaped pieces of foam linked together and assembled, then shrink-wrapped together. If you see the chairs from a distance, their silhouettes resemble the skyline of New York – much like the organic growth of skyscrapers.
It was these creations that led to my pieces being exhibited at Design Days Dubai.
Of course, it is more satisfying to design a building that’s going to last a very long time. But the purposes are different, and complement each other. I would enjoy designing skyscrapers – they are the vertical model of living. I live in one in New York and would love to design one.
Play
I am not really a gung-ho person, all sporty and sweaty, but I love swimming. I also really enjoy biking, especially at High Line, Manhattan’s beautiful new park. When I first arrived in NYC as a tourist, I thought it would be great to bike around the park in Manhattan every evening. Now, that’s exactly what I do every day.
I love to relax by reading books on philosophy or design, listening to music – both classical as well as modern – or socialising with friends. I used to paint when I was in school, but not any more.
Dreams
It’s good to have dreams, but you have to learn to dream in terms of goals, be more pragmatic. One I always dream of could be a new Pantheon. In Rome my favourite building is the Pantheon that was built by Emperor Augustus to bring many religions together. Building a new Pantheon in this millennium, that will affect many people, where all the religions will respect each other, is a dream. I have so many dream projects – doing a building that affects people’s lives on many levels, is another.
I’d love to get married and have children some day, but not right now. There are many things that I have to do beforehand that require my full attention. With a family I may not be able to do them, so that pleasure will wait.
