Francesco Risso’s Marni Comes Full Circle With Home Decor
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Marni’s Francesco Risso’s Dadaist vision of fashion is a language of shapes, motifs and even potential characters that make people, well, happy. Similar perhaps to the way a Dr. Seuss conjures wildly abstract creatures or how Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Little Prince explores various planets in space to address themes of loneliness, friendship and love, Risso’s viewpoint is just as otherworldly.
Risso is now bringing that exploratory spirit into home decor, expanding Marni’s presence in the lifestyle segment with two new collections that will debut during Milan Design Week: tableware with Belgian design label Serax, and an upscale wallpaper series with Italian wall covering-maker LondonArt.
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Marni, along with luxury brands like Jil Sander and Maison Margiela, is a key part in the galaxy of Renzo Rosso’s OTB group, whose sales totaled 1.63 billion euros in 2022, thanks to robust retail expansion in North America, and Asia Pacific where Japan represents a core market.
Speaking to WWD on a sunny Monday morning in Milan, Risso is wearing a flocked denim blue jacket that looks like it has been colored over with a blue marker, conjuring images of the open sea he was born on. He spent his first years of life on a boat in the Mediterranean — his father, an eternal adventurer, wasn’t fond of staying too long on dry land.
His mother had her feet more firmly on the ground and a few years later raised Risso and his three siblings in Genoa while she worked as a consultant in real estate for clients that included Benetton. When his father wasn’t at sea, life centered around his large family and the many eclectic guests that surrounded his table.
“It was hard to get a word in and be heard at my house, so I had to distinguish myself through my creativity,” Risso says, noting that home decor was a natural step. “My sister also used to call me the virus of the closet,” he quips, adding that as a child he used to sneak in and de- and re-construct the family’s clothes into something completely new, much to her chagrin.
Risso’s office is incredibly neat, with an antique Olivetti typewriter to the side of the desk and books about French American sculptor and painter Niki de Saint Phalle and Kandinsky on the shelf behind him. As he reflects on how far he’s come, one can’t help but notice he’s cut his boyish curls short. He’s both relaxed and focused at the same time, giving the sense that he’s settled into his own Marni universe, finding himself in the process.
“Naïveté is the result of a sense of instinctiveness and pure curiosity, it’s not meant to be less serious,” he says.
Inheriting the task of reviving founder Consuelo Castiglioni’s Marni and making its clear aesthetic his own in 2017 was viewed at the time as an arduous task. Risso’s iconoclastic approach has over the years attracted major collaborations, including with outerwear label Carhartt WIP and global retailer Uniqlo, just to name a few. Risso and his team have been selective about the Marni community and the lifestyle he has built around inspiring creatives, including Madonna, who attended the brand’s spring 2023 fashion show in DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, as well as funk veteran Bootsy Collins and U.K.-born musical misfit Dev Hynes.
Home and interiors aren’t anything new since the Castiglioni days (Marni Market endured the change in designers, selling limited-edition objects during past Milan Design Weeks), but this landmark step with Serax and LondonArt will mark the brand’s completion of its 360-degree metamorphosis.
Dubbed “Midnight Flowers,” the collaboration with Serax includes an array of 120 fine porcelain tableware pieces celebrating the spirit of the Marni brand.
Positioned at the high-end, Serax has partnered with distinguished and up-and-coming talents all over the globe, such as Ann Demeulemeester, Vincent Van Duysen, Paola Navone and Piet Boon and is present in some of the best restaurants in the world, among them Jean Georges restaurants in New York City and Nobu Milan.
The Marni collection features drawings exclusively envisioned for Serax and applied onto plates and bowls as well as tea and coffee cups with delicate touches. All of them are emphasized by colored brush strokes that recall a lively herbarium à la Marni, a botanical garden that grows and flourishes in art naive fashion.
“This is the opposite of Versailles, this is for people who enjoy life in a humble way. It’s supposed to be used every day, not kept in a closet,” Risso says.
LondonArt, a firm founded in 2011, has produced collections with Dsquared2, artist Maurizio Cattelan and photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari’s Toiletpaper brand. The Marni wallpaper features patterns and prints from its ready-to-wear collections over the years. With 14 subjects and a multitude of color variations, the patterns will be custom printed on non-woven vinyl.
Talking about the Marni collaboration, wallpapers are undoubtedly experiencing a renaissance, LondonArt chief executive officer and art director Nicola Bottegal explains.
“I could define the Marni LondonArt collection as a choral and collective project. Working with Francesco Risso was extremely stimulating because we joined forces by interpreting Marni’s artistic heritage and transforming it into a product. We added to the bright colors full of character already used from the fashion house, more versatile shades suitable for home decoration,” Bottegal says.
Following a press preview on April 18, the installation will be open to the public from the following day.
Leading up to the event, Marni’s headquarters are bustling ahead of Design Week. The interview with WWD comes to a close and Risso nods his head when he hears the Dr. Seuss comparison, adding it brings tears to his eyes when people tell him his work makes people happy.
After all, Dr. Seuss’ rhymes aren’t necessarily meant to be understood, but once a child hears the story, the image and the words have a way of lingering for a lifetime. “I do so like green eggs and ham. Thank you thank you, Sam I am.”
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