The Vanguard: CARA \ DAVIDE

As part of our series on a new wave of international designs you need to know, we look at the boundary-pushing work of the CARA \ DAVIDE studio.

WORDS Dumisani Mnisi PHOTOS Alejandro Ramírez Orozco (Cc-Tapis/Mingardo); Matteo Bianchessi (Marmo Boli); Nicola Colella; Supplied

CARA \ DAVIDE is all about shifting perceptions, experimenting with materials and techniques, and creating pieces and spaces that test the limits of creativity. The brand is a collaboration between Cara Judd from South Africa and Davide Gramatica from Italy, who met while they were both studying product design at IED Milan. After many years of working together on personal projects, the design duo opened their studio in 2016. Their cross-cultural background is one of their superpowers, allowing them to draw inspiration from their two countries of birth.

CARA \ DAVIDE works with craftsmen and artisans from both Italy and South Africa, creating personal and limited-edition pieces that explore form and materiality. “We were interested in exploring diverse materials and techniques in our works, and our cross-cultural background opens discussions about the significance and perception that objects can hold,” they explain.

With a strong focus on material perception, territory and technique, the design pair push themselves beyond product design, collaborating with global brands such as international design/art gallery Galerie Philia, and luxury Italian department store chain Rinascente. Their creativity also includes work on residential spaces, where they’ve done scenography and interior designs for several brands. When they are not designing, Cara and Davide lecture in the product design courses at IED Milan, shaping the next generation of professionals.

They rebel against the ordinary, so their designs embrace functionality as well as a certain mood of abstractness and unfamiliarity. For example, their collaboration with Italian rugmaker CC-Tapis and metal design house Mingardo resulted in a rug rail that subverts the typical shape. CARA \ DAVIDE revised the rail to create a piece of furniture that elevates any space, from retail to residential. Made from curved Inox tubes, the rail has an abstract, distorted shape that lends itself to a conversation about how creating new forms and moving away from symmetry can change perception.

Their urge to resist conformity is also found in their Ambo chair, which they created for Fenix’s Design Duo Double Feature project. Inspired by the concepts of duality and individualism, the Ambo chair can be separated into two individual chairs, each maintaining a distinct character and shape. Using bold colours such as Apara Rose (rich pastel pink) on one chair and Fenix’s Giallo Evora (caramel brown) on the other, and featuring boxed long legs and wavy patterns, Ambo symbolises the coexistence and unison of divergent designs in a single piece.

This year, CARA \ DAVIDE debuted the Marmo Bolli table in Milan, in collaboration with Italian stone brand Sfrido Estate. The small table is a visual juxtaposition of material and narratives, contrasting the industrial look of studded rubber floors in Milan’s underground metro stations with the refined elegance of natural stone. Made entirely from Bardiglio marble found in Italy, the table gives a nod to Italian history and heritage while celebrating variance.

The duo’s passion for technique also seeps through in the Broca, a long bench made from Grey Camberi – a marble that’s local to Mexico. The bench explores the mechanical aesthetic of machinery by using techniques of extracting marble in cylinder format. The product of a collaboration with Mexican manufacturer Marmoles Covarrubias, Broca is an industrial masterpiece that celebrates simplicity of design, and complexity of materials and skill. | caradavide.com

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