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Go to shop14 February 2025
Milarmo is an imaginary city, potentially the ideal place to live, the city we all desire where the beauty of the North meets the beauty of the South. It is the fruit of the imagination of Carolina Martinelli and Vittorio Venezia: both architects, she is from Milan, he is from Palermo, they met and founded the studio that bears their names together. Without having to choose between Palermo and Milan but rather choosing both to live and work, pretending that the flight that unites them is like just a tram.
Your studio was founded in 2015, and this year is the tenth anniversary. A classic of anniversaries is to give thanks. What is an aspect of the work path you have done together that you are grateful for each other?
We are very grateful for the ongoing collaborative process that has characterized us since the beginning. The strength of our studio lies precisely in the constant dialogue and complementarity of our approaches. I deal mostly with interiors while Vittorio designs mostly objects, we have built a working environment based on mutual trust and respect for each other’s ideas, which has allowed us to face every challenge with a shared vision.
You have chosen to have two “windows”: one in Palermo and one in Milan. What characterizes each of these two working contexts?
For us, Milan and Palermo are not two distinct cities but a single large metropolis, where everything merges and contaminates. We often leave without a suitcase because we have half a wardrobe in both, and taking a plane has become almost like getting on public transport. We go from the shops of Piazza Marina to the windows of Via Durini, from the latest exhibition at the Prada Foundation to a coffee on the Mondello seafront.
Milan is fast and stimulating, innovation, exchanges and meetings with other creatives from every sector push us to do better. Palermo, on the other hand, is the place of roots and reflection, where the slower pace allows us to sink into our work, to innovate it while leaving the rest aside.
Each neighborhood of this great imaginary city, “Milarmo,” has differences and assonances, and we try to combine its two souls to merge and reinvent them in our work.
In managing the work of two, do you have a fixed routine, with a well-defined division of labor, or does it change depending on the project?
Our routine varies based on the needs of each project. We have a flexible approach, which allows us to adapt to the nature of each assignment. What remains fixed is our continuous dialogue, the engine of our work. Although there are defined areas of expertise, dynamism and collaboration are the keys to our process. Each project is an opportunity to learn to work together in a different, but always synergistic, way.
How would you define your home and, in general, what are, in your opinion, the important aspects of a domestic interior today?
Living between Palermo and Milan, our two homes reflect our approach to design, suspended between craftsmanship and industry. The Sicilian house immersed in an orange grove is a country retreat that preserves traditional elements, such as Vittorio’s great-grandmother’s table, while the Milanese apartment, minimalist and overlooking the center, expresses a more urban sensibility. Although they are very different, they share some fundamental aspects, such as the attention to natural materials or the flexibility of the environment, capable of adapting to daily life without sacrificing beauty.
For us, the adaptability of space is essential because the house must be able to evolve over time to accommodate new lives or respond to new needs. Another important characteristic for us in domestic interiors is that there is room for customization, to make them unique: our rooms are full of objects designed by us or found in markets. Natural lighting also plays a fundamental role, whether it is the light filtered by the trees of the Sicilian garden or that which passes through the windows onto the landscape of the Milanese city, because it is always what makes the house warm and alive.
Is there any news on upcoming projects that we can anticipate?
Among the projects we are developing is a contract seating system inspired by Venetian know-how. The proposal takes shape around two chair models that share the same structure but different characters: one more agile and dynamic, the other more welcoming and versatile. We are exploring new finishes and solutions to enhance wood and functionality, with the aim of creating a design that can be adapted to different spaces, just like the boats in the Venice lagoon which have different shapes to adapt to various uses and channels.
