This is the fifth post in our interview series with ten influential I.D. curators, retailers and creative directors. Yesterday, we talked to Council’s Derek Chen.
To Ambra Medda, design is a wild and wonderful subject matter. After co-founding Design Miami in 2005 and directing that hugely influential international fair for for six years, Medda stepped down and shifted her focus to a different kind of programming. Originally imagined as a physical location with events, gallery space and a concept store, L’ArcoBaleno (“The Rainbow” in Italian) evolved instead into an online marketplace where editorial stories comingle with collectible design objects for sale. Unfazed by putting NASA, Zaha Hadid and Botswanan weavers in the same sentence, Medda curates a refreshingly inclusive view of design.
How do you find out about new designers?
A lot of it comes from word of mouth. I have a healthy network of designers, gallerists and other people that I’ve worked with. Designers are very hard-working and competitive, but they’re also very generous and supportive. The community is quite giving. If I do a studio visit with a designer who’s relatively established, they’ll very openly say, “Please meet these young designers that are working for me.” It’s a whole circuit.
Also end-of-year shows. A lot of talent I pick up directly from design schools like the Royal College of Art, ECAL in Switzerland and the Design Academy Eindhoven. And then just walking around and poking your nose in places—it could be a corner store here in New York, or it could be some guy making traditional ceramics in Southern Italy. It doesn’t have to be that far away. There’s some pretty exotic stuff around the corner if you’re prepared to open your eyes.
My main intent now is really to open up the discourse. Because I feel like we keep talking about the same designers. The magazines, the fairs, the system tends to highlight the safer choice. I don’t know one designer from New Zealand, but I’m sure there’s incredible craftsmanship happening there. Same thing with the Philippines. I’m excited to go and find out. Not just focus on Paris, Milan, and London—all cities that are compelling and that I will continue to visit—but go and discover new territories and completely unknown talent.
What kinds of design are you looking for at the moment?
I’m always looking for quality. Quality meaning care and dedication to the way this thing is made. It could be super high-tech, or it could be very low-fi and very crafty. Fresh. It has to come with that feeling of, “Wow, I’ve never seen this before.” Not because it’s out of this world or something that’s completely unrecognizable—but you have to feel a sense of novelty, for sure.
Then I think the designer has to be interesting as a person. I’m interested in the whole story, from the city to the studio to the way that person lives or works, or the process behind the pieces that they make. The things that inspire them, the ideas that they represent. All of that stuff produces the reason why I’m there. I’m very motivated by people and the things that they make. If they’re made well and I feel like they’re promising, that’s compelling.
Medda on a studio visit with the Dutch designer Maarten Baas
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