House of Fun

Cristina Celestino’s VIP ‘Happy Room’ for Fendi is fluffy but refined.

- JJ Martin

Female designers are few and far between in the world of high design. In Italy they are, quite oddly, nearly non-existent. Which is what makes Cristina Celestino a singular rising star. Born in Pordenone, a small town in Italy’s far north-eastern corner, and currently based in Milan, Celestino has been working behind the scenes for nearly a decade as an architect, designer and the founder of design studio Attico, which focuses on research into materials and shape.

Although she has presented standout individual pieces at Milan’s Salone del Mobile – including glass furniture for Tonelli Design and, most recently, a feather-inspired mosaic wall for mosaic specialist BottegaNove, Celestino will make her big-ticket design debut at Design Miami (30 November to 4 December) with a collaboration with Fendi.

‘I’ve had my eye on Cristina for three or four years,’ said Maria Cristina Didero, the Milan-based design curator who hatched the collaboration. ‘She has a soft, elegant approach to design that is rare right now. She’s done exceptional work but nothing on this scale of a full collection. So it’s a very exciting moment for her.’