Seven Designers Spent the Summer at an Italian Palazzo. Here Are the Results.

It would be a dream brief in any creative field: Set up shop in a 13th-century palazzo at the foot of the Italian Alps with a group of friends, and see what comes of it. And yet that’s exactly what Étage Projects founder Maria Foerlev offered to her stable of designers this summer, inviting seven contemporary design practices to Palazzo Monti, an artist’s residency program and creativity incubator that just happens to be decorated with Neoclassicist frescoes and located a stone’s throw from local artisans who might be able to realize the projects dreamed up on site. The resulting works are now on view at Étage’s Copenhagen gallery space, and include Fredrik Paulsen’s cracked granite seat, Guillermo Santomá’s marble basketball backboard, Soft Baroque’s squishy-looking concrete columns, and Sabine Marcelis and Paul Cournet’s marble and resin Lazy Susans, which were inspired by the communal Italian dinners the artists enjoyed together each night. Sneak a peek at our favorites below.