Be the Project: interview with REdDUO

Anyone who stepped into REdDUO’s studio-home during last year’s Milan Design Week could not have forgotten it: an old Milan apartment suspended between 1930s architectural memories and a contemporary approach where material dictated the rhythm. REdDUO, the multifunctional project founded in 2020 from the creative union of Fabiola Di Virgilio and Andrea Rosso, works with a precision rooted in craftsmanship and a freedom born from contamination. Their collections range from ceramic home objects to homewear garments, offering an experience that weaves together design, fashion, and everyday ritual. From the Third Eye ceramics to the upcycled textiles of Loads of Lines, and Casa REdDUO—developed with a network of partners, from the material textures of Kerakoll to the fabrics of Dedar, from JOV rugs to Leucos lighting—the duo builds a design vision where stylistic identity and daily practices find a spontaneous balance. A research path that continues to expand, also through dialogue with brands such as Very Simple Kitchen and Acerbis, where their sensitivity meets new scales and languages. We interviewed REdDUO to further explore their perspective, including their thoughts on “Be the Project.”


REdDUO x VERY SIMPLE KITCHEN

Who is REdDUO today? How do you define yourselves? What is your background, and what is your stylistic signature?
REdDUO today is a living organism: a couple, an ongoing conversation between two different sensibilities. Fabiola comes from architecture and art direction, with roots in fashion and the visual world; Andrea from material research, sustainability, and creative innovation, and he is part of a major fashion group. Our stylistic signature emerges precisely from this duality: material + gesture, functionality + creative instinct, craftsmanship + everyday life.
We are drawn to tactile surfaces, to imperfections that tell a human story, to colors that do not shout but accompany. Each project seeks a balance between past and present, memory and contemporary reinterpretation.

The apartment presented at Design Week 2025 seemed to oscillate between a lived-in home and an exhibition space. How do you design this dual register without losing authenticity?
For us, the home is never a set, but neither is it a neutral place. It is a space that breathes, that changes with us, and inevitably tells a story. When we design, we allow the “lived” dimension to coexist with the “communicated” one. The mise en scène is not an artificial construction; it is a way of making the essence of a place visible, allowing its most intimate qualities to emerge.


CASA REdDUO_ph. Giulio Ghirardi

You collaborate with ceramic artisans, tailoring workshops, and specialized ateliers. What aspect of the craft process most influences the way you design?
Craftsmanship teaches us slowness, precision, listening—and often patience. Nothing is born instantly: you test, you fail, you adjust, you learn. Two elements particularly strike us: the hand, because every gesture leaves a trace, an imperfection that becomes identity. And rhythm: the artisan’s time is non-negotiable; it is part of the outcome. When we design, we consider these aspects—leaving space for variations, embracing the unexpected, and building objects like small emotional architectures.

Your pieces seem to oscillate between intimacy, staging, and everyday use. How does the emotional “measure” of an object come about?
Measure arises from dialogue: between function, aesthetics, and atmosphere. Every object must have a practical role, but also an aesthetic presence that accompanies the user. We always ask ourselves: how will it be used? What feeling does it communicate in a room? What kind of light does it absorb or reflect? What color will it take on in a specific environment? It is an intuitive, almost physical process: we listen to the material, observe how it behaves in space, and find that emotional “note” that makes a REdDUO object intimate, essential, yet capable of transforming an everyday gesture into a small ritual.


REdDUO_Loads of Lines_ph. Alessandro Oliva

Collaborating with companies such as Alias, Kerakoll, Dedar, JOV, and Vimar means engaging with very different design cultures. How do you maintain a recognizable language when the context changes?
For us, language is not a style to apply, but a sensitivity we carry with us. Certain elements remain constant: material research, attention to tactility, layered colors, a calm aesthetic that never shouts, a balance between rigor and imperfection. When we collaborate with different partners, we always listen to their story and transform it through our filter. We do not impose REdDUO; we integrate it, allowing two worlds to meet in a shared space.

Looking at your journey, it seems that REdDUO has chosen a path of expansion “through contamination” rather than scale. Is there a new field you would like to explore?
Yes, contemporary wellness. We are fascinated by spaces of care—hammams, spas, ritual baths—as places of silence and intimacy. We would love to explore this universe through our language, experimenting with material surfaces, delicate colors, and soft atmospheres, where light and matter become part of the sensory experience. We are already building a dialogue in this direction.


REdDUO_Third Eye Collection_Ph Ilaria Orsini

“Be the Project”: how do you interpret it?
For us, “Be the Project” means considering design as a living part of the way we exist in the world. It is not a formal exercise, but a daily process that evolves with us. It means listening to space, interpreting material, observing gestures and everyday habits, and allowing “life” to enter the project. For us, the Fuorisalone 2026 theme means being permeable, open, curious—allowing things to emerge not from a rigid idea, but from relationship and union.