Multidisciplinary design studio Tellurico's practice centers around the investigation of alternative solutions through the study of folklore and the relationship between crafts and the environment.

After graduating with a Master of Contextual Design at the Design Academy of Eindhoven, in 2017, Francesco Pace founded Tellurico, a multidisciplinary design studio specialised in objects, spaces and installations design.

The investigation of alternative solutions through the study of folklore and the relationship between crafts and the environment has been the centre of Tellurico’s practice. The context in which a project is born has been the primary focus of these years' research. What binds the objects of a place to the characteristic of the place itself intertwines the historical, geological and social aspects of humankind, as well as the uniqueness and simplicity of everyday life. It is an always expanding field of investigation, as endless are the ways to live.

In 2020 Tellurico was nominated by Platform Magazine among the Best Italian Designers Under 40. In 2021 Tellurico won the prestigious Officine Saffi Awards with his project Telluride and in 2022, has been listed among the Next Pure Talent of 2022 by Elle Decor and in 2023 became part of the AD20 List of the New Italian Rising Talent from AD-Italia.

So far, Tellurico’s works have been presented in many international venues, such as the Biennale of Architecture in Venice, Van AbbeMuseum in Eindhoven, M.A.D.RE. Museum in Naples, Triennale di Milano, Brøhån Museum in Berlin, Beirut Design Fair, Italian Pavilion in Barcelona, Zoya Gallery in Bratislava and others. He works closely with cultural institutions and private collectors and received commissions from different galleries such as Emma Scully Gallery in New York, Side-Gallery in Barcelona, and Mint London.

MODERNISSIMO
A solo show commissioned by Spazio Leone

East London-based gallery Spazio Leone is delighted to present Tellurico: Modernissimo, a showcase of contemporary and classic design.

This first show is borne out of a friendship with Tellurico’s Italian-born Francesco Pace, who studied in both Milan and Eindhoven and is now based in Eindhoven. Founded in 2017, Pace’s multidisciplinary design studio Tellurico has quickly established itself as a leading emerging name in design. “Now more than ever, design needs a new crowd to refer to,” says Pace. “From different heritage and backgrounds, new opportunities can be born for the designer as well as for the final user.”

TAKE CARE!
Set Design and Curatorial Project commissioned by Isola Design

Significant social issues have been under the spotlight in the last three years, highlighted by a pandemic that has irretrievably broken many unstable balances. Personal and social well-being has become the main priority for almost everyone. 

The Take Care! Exhibition aims exactly at promoting design projects focused on tackling contemporary issues that cover both the social and individual spheres.

The inequity in access to food resources, the fast deterioration of the environment, and the excessive production of waste finding a way of rebalancing themself are just a few examples of some of the most urgent topics of our time. The projects on display work towards raising awareness on those themes bringing up crucial questions, and promoting both conceptual and practical solutions.

The set, designed by Tellurico Design Studio and commissioned by Isola Design, creates a bridge between indoors and outdoors.  A conversation between the outside garden of Biblioteca degli Alberi and the inside exhibition space of Stecca3.  The plants burst through the windows into the exhibition space and invade the inner space.

The installation design is inspired by how native South American civilisations grow food. In South America, when colonists arrived from Europe, they thought they had found heaven, the promised land. One of the reasons they thought so was because by walking along the paths within the forest, they were able to find all the food they needed along the way, accustomed as they were to growing their food by cutting down a piece of land and growing only one vegetable or fruit on that same land. Local South American tribes grew their food differently, in commune with nature, along the path they were walking in; in this way, they did not have the need to carry food with them, and they could take everything they needed from the forest.   We similarly created the installation design, a patch along which the viewer can walk and find the design projects, food for their mind.

All the plants used for the installation have been carefully selected together with OZ eventi,  which works not only as an installation a specialised installation company, picking only seasonal plants from the Milanese countryside.

UNTITLED 1B
Tellurico: “Time is the only thing I truly own and can sell”

Interview with Francesco Pace, a multidisciplinary designer, sculptor and craftsman who, to explain his job, spent the entire week of Fuorisalone 2021 working wood using an angle grinder with a metal cutoff wheel.

At Fuorisalone 2021, Francesco Pace, aka Tellurico, presented the performance Untitled 1B, which is the sequel to Untitled 1A (2020). Both performances were commissioned by 5Vie Milano and supported by the Netherlands Embassy in Italy. One could watch him in the courtyard of the SIAM (the old Arts and Crafts Encouragement Society founded in 1838) as he sculpted blocks of wood to create a collection of wooden objects. This performance fully sums up his approach (which he defines as multidisciplinary) and recent reflections that he made during the lockdown. It was a five-day performance and narrative; it talks about the time and work of the designer and the craftsman, the process often hidden behind a beautiful object, and sustainability.

What were you doing in the courtyard of a historic building in the heart of the 5Vie district?

I was working on an idea that partly came about during the lockdown. In the Netherlands, we had three lockdowns; the hardest was the last - five months spent indoors. During that time, time became extremely flexible: there were days you could do a thousand things, and others you went to sleep and felt like you hadn’t done anything all day. So, I started to think about the meaning of time. I thought that, in the end, time is the only thing I can sell. It’s the only thing I really own. Whenever a client or a company asks me to do something for them, the only way to quantify it is with time. It is a way to measure the value of what I do and of the objects themselves. I wanted to express this relationship between time and the craftsmanship behind an object. When you look at an object, it is difficult to give it a price, a value other than a sentimental one. When I tell you that it takes 300 hours to make it, you understand. I wanted to convey the idea that objects are more than objects, that there is a complex work behind them, not only in terms of craftsmanship but also in terms of time. It is also an answer for those who ask me to complete a project in a week ... 

DISSONANT CLASSICISM
DESIGNED IN COLLABORATION WITH DESIGNED IN COLLABORATION WITH STEFANO FUSANI

Design has become a true form of contemporary language, breaking down the barriers between architecture and art and straddling the two disciplines.  Designers now approach traditional production techniques by readapting them to a contemporary aesthetic and, at the same time, enriching them with an experimental vision, thus transforming them into tools for innovation. The re-appropriation of these classic production processes has formed a discipline in which ancient crafts are reinterpreted and adapted by contemporary designers to modern socio-economic dynamics.  

Dissonant Classicism is a performance project that stems from breaking down the value traditional techniques have within the world of the arts, both applied and plastic, in the current production of a design piece.  Having been invited to the Athens Design Forum, we took as a study case one of the most exploited examples in contemporary Greece, the Classical Ancient Temple, focusing in particular on the Zeus Temple of Athens, located approximately 500m southeast of the Acropolis.

After very concise visual research, we decided on four objects to reproduce during our performance. 

This first step, called ''the Extraction," consisted of selecting a series of objects from the Temples and decontextualising them, repositioning them in a new and unfit environment, an Industrial Archeology that was also the location of the performance itself.

The second step concerned the choice of craftsmanship. We needed a craft that belonged both to Ancient Greece and to our practice, and that could be used during the performance.  Stucco is a technique used for covering pillars and walls in Greek Temples, and it was perfect for our needs.  We adapted the technique using it in a personal way; the "stucco" is no longer plaster, and the base is no longer stone walls, but contemporary materials, such as polystyrene as a base, a resin-based plaster mixed with local sand as covering materials.

The action of producing these pieces live, being able to interact with viewers while working, is the fundamental aspect of this project.  A way to bring the making-off closer to the people while investigating new production processes.  Dissonant Classicism is concerned with the conceptualisation of an object and the action of creating; it is about the performance, not the final form achieved. In this way, old and new techniques are fused with different visions and aesthetic needs, material studies and possible applications, reflecting not only on functionality but also questioning the aesthetic values and perceptive standards regarding the production of an object.  

A working methodology that goes beyond the products and opens up space for a discipline that aims to encapsulate its context.