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Eclectic vision on Kleine Zeitung

The journalist Nina Prehofer from the Austrian magazine Kleine Zeitung interviews the creative duo Barbieri Magalini, founders of MM Company, on the occasion of Milan Design Week 2024, to delve into their eclectic vision in the field of interior design: “Within us coexist different souls”.

What do you attach particular importance to when selecting or curating design objects and products?

When we curate a space – be it a home, an art installation, or in this case a temporary café (Caleido Contract Cafè) – we always start with the idea of ​​what feeling the space should convey to those who will experience it. We always ask ourselves: how should they feel? From this question, all decisions about furnishings and products derive. A space should not only be beautiful, but above all evoke emotions.

What are your current favorite places and why?

The Caleido Contract Café, which we opened during Milan Design Week 2024, is conceived as a space based on the concept of “dialogue”: between people who come together to exchange ideas, as in typical Viennese or Venetian cafes, and among design pieces, such as those we selected from some Italian brands like OLEV Light, Sitia, Codutti, Matteo Pala, and Prodital Leather.

What style do you foresee for the near future?

Looking ahead, we are experimenting with the combination of two seemingly distant materials: wood and steel. We draw inspiration from the seventies and the currents of modernism in Europe and Brazil. And all this in a context of natural colors and materials such as terracotta, dark wood, and sand.

What is your personal must-have for your home?

We are creative, and within us, there are different souls: a somewhat nostalgic and romantic one, expressed in paintings, silverware, and used Playmobil, and one that appreciates design pieces, leading us to purchase pieces from young designers or artists and some icons, such as a lithograph by Enzo Mari or a lamp designed by a great master and reissued by an Italian company.