Fig + Nash interior designers and showroom owners Dino Raimondi and Mick Fox at Four Seasons Hotel Firenze. “With the largest private garden in Florence, it was a gorgeous spot for an aperitivo before dinner on our last night,” Raimondi says.
PHOTO COURTESY FIG + NASH
A glamorous excursion aboard the Orient Express led to an impromptu buying trip for a Palm Desert showroom, which led to a piu grande passion for all things Italian. As they say in Italy, “Da cosa nasce cosa.” (In essence: one thing leads to another.)
The progression for Fig + Nash owners and interior designers Mick Fox and Dino Raimondi was as natural as an Aperol spritz in the afternoon. Raimondi has 100 percent Italian ancestry, and given that the couple’s sojourn was a belated honeymoon, they had stars in their eyes from the moment they flew to Paris, hopped on the train for the 27 hours to Venice, and continued from Venice to Florence before returning home.
The designers were happily romanced by all the finer things Italy had to show them. Between soaking up the culture, cuisine, and quintessentially Italian cocktails, they visited the Ginori atelier, where Manufactory artisans have produced homewares by hand since 1735. “They’re all wearing white smocks,” Fox says, “and some represent the eighth generation in their family to be an artisan for Ginori.” A subsequent trip to Sicily left the duo feeling like honorary citizens, eager to share their finds with shoppers and clients.
Their new shipment from Ginori has landed, joined by custom pillows fashioned from Fortuny fabrics and works by L.A.-based Italian artist Mattia Biagi. Salute!
From left: ll Letterato (the Scholar) Candleholder, Il Frate (the Friar) Incense Burner, and Il Seguace (the Companion) Candleholder, all in Saffron from the LCDC Collection by Ginori. The large alabaster vessel on a pedestal was imported from a mine in Southern Italy. Metallic bronze wallcovering by Elitis.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRANDON HARMAN
saffron and alabaster
The home fragrance collection La Compagnia Di Caterina (LCDC) by Ginori is layered with story, and Fox makes a fabulous storyteller as he relates the tales. “In 1533, Catherine de Medici traveled from Florence to Paris to become the Queen of France. She brought with her astrologers, an alchemist, courtesans, court jesters, a couple spare lovers, her chefs,” he says. “Ginori, with designer Luca Nichetto, has beautifully re-created an olfactory fantasy based on her journey,” and the characters in her colorful entourage.
about face
“I like going somewhere where I know I can’t be overdressed,” says Fox, citing another reason Italy fit the couple like a tailored suit. The pieces they brought back from Ginori, some with elegant faces wearing well-defined expressions, present similar precision and quality. “Gio Ponti was Ginori’s artistic director in the 1920s. Imagine a house that has hundreds and hundreds of years of that level of creativity.”
Indeed, for nearly three centuries, artisans channeling their expertise have extracted Ginori porcelain statues from molds to assemble and refine them a mano. Each piece requires technical knowledge and genuine love for the craft. “When we saw the artistry in person, we knew we had to bring it to El Paseo.”
Clockwise from top: Neoclassical-style L’Amante (the Lover) Candleholder Statue, L’Amazzone Diffuser Holder, and Palazzo Centauro Candleholder Statue, all in pure white with gold details. Midcentury mirrored coffee table from Florence with burgundy enamel inlay. Its brass bracelet edge complements the sexiness of its stiletto-heel legs.
The tar-dipped plush teddy bear in an acrylic box is part of Biagi’s series inspired by a visit to the La Brea Tar Pits. Biagi has dipped musical instruments, chandeliers, and bicycles in the same black tar. A gold-leaf interior gleams from an organic-shaped plaster table lamp by Biagi. The plaster eye lamp is a signature motif for Biagi. Model Winnie Harlow has a similar one on a larger scale in her dining room. Her Los Angeles abode, designed by Martyn Lawrence Bullard, appeared in Architectural Digest’s “Style” issue in 2023. Handcrafted wallcovering by Elitis.
a model artist
Multihyphenate artist Mattia Biagia works in multiple mediums and hails from Ravenna, on the Italian coast east of Bologna. The creative director, interior designer, and design ambassador to Italy has modeled for Jean Paul Gaultier, among other fashion house icons, and worked in the home design world since the age of 19, including 16 years in creative design work for Minotti. Biagia and his Italian model-turned-artist wife, Valerj Pobega, take the creative world by storm from their Los Angeles studio with corporate, fashion, and celebrity clients (from Dolce & Gabbana to Lady Gaga) who seek out his sculpture and design work and her avant-garde pieces of hand-painted wearable art.