^DC What was the inspiration behind the realization of the Dorica collection? Why does this project hold such significance for you?

^FF This project has been especially important to me because it builds upon the Dorico system presented last year, expanding it into a complete collection of storage furniture in which both the architectural envelope and the objects within it are shaped by the same underlying logic. I believe that, within the contemporary design landscape, it is essential to develop products and systems capable of generating a wide range of possibilities for interior environments.

Creatively, the Dorica collection also closely reflects my own approach to design: starting from archetypal forms and reducing them to their essential qualities while preserving their formal identity. The result is a language with a strong communicative presence, capable of balancing a sense of familiarity with a forward-looking vision of design.

^DC What role did the material, and thus metal, play in the creative process?

^FF Metal was the very starting point of the project, which originated from the desire to give a strong three-dimensional identity to the flat metal sheet. In this sense, De Castelli plays a central role: through advanced technologies, surfaces are transformed and shaped, opening up new aesthetic and formal perspectives.

^DC What was the main challenge between the development of the cladding system and that of the collection? 

^FF The main challenge in designing the Dorico wall system was to develop a recognizable language that could also be optimized for industrial production and adapted to different projects, in line with a methodology that is also characteristic of De Castelli’s approach. The next step, thus the expansion into the furniture collection, with all the necessary formal and technical adaptations, represented a further evolution of this line of thinking. It became an opportunity to increase the relationship between form, technology, material, and a more holistic vision of design: a transformation that I consider consistent with both my approach to design and De Castelli’s design philosophy.

^DC Is there a particular note you would like to share about this project? 

^FF When I design, I make many sketches, searching for a way to shape the metal sheet in a form that is convincing, sculptural, essential, yet representative. During this process, the image of a Doric column emerged, and I realized that by breaking it down into metal modules, the project would take shape almost immediately.

I have always been deeply fascinated by form, and over time I have built a personal visual archive of shapes and proportions, strongly connected to classical archetypes from the history of art and architecture — forms I constantly return to and admire for their clarity and perpetuity. When I understood that this project could draw its identity from the essential, uninterrupted fluting of an architectural historical element, I felt a great sense of excitement. I was convinced that this reference would give the project a deeper strength, because it evokes an almost ancestral signifier: much like metal itself, a material that is equally primordial, yet historically unrelated to these forms.

This interplay of affinities and contrasts adds a unique value to the project. The simple proportion between the curve and the fold recalls this ancient formal memory, communicating something beyond its physical presence and creating a dialogue between past and present.