Studio Materiality: Playing with every aspect of design

Their projects elude the limitations of a mere product and resemble narratives that unfold within both the material and incorporeal sphere. Since 2016, Studio Materiality’s team, under the guidance of Miltos Kontogiannis, has added to its portfolio specimens of interior architecture, sometimes enlisting a vibrant palette and funky mood, others monochrome surfaces that bring us to the aesthetics of today. Occasioned by their most recent work, “Another Nail Studio”, a vibrant space welcoming everyone, we talked with the beloved design studio about their peculiar character.

Another nail studio, 2021 | image: Alina Lefa

-In Another Nail Studio, inspirations from Bauhaus and De Stijil are all-pervading, suffused with a pop aesthetic. Where do you usually source your inspiration from?

Another Nail Studio is a very characteristic example of where we usually draw our inspiration. From the world around us and our everyday lives. In this space one can observe all these architectural trends you mentioned, but, if one pays closer attention, they will realise that they converge harmoniously and fabricate an industrial composition. The location incorporates elements from the surrounding environment and is camouflaged immaculately in the architectural “noise” of the city. But it doesn’t go completely unnoticed. Is it a nail salon? Is it an auto repair shop? Is it a youth startup? Let’s have a look!

Another nail studio, 2021 | image: Alina Lefa

-Another Nail Studio embodies a thoroughly functional diversity design. What other principles would you like for your creations to embody?

Beyond functionality, we want our spaces to be safe and invite you to play with them. Having these design principles as our basis, we can let our creativity loose and create spaces that have a story to tell. Storytelling is the connective link between all our design principles.

-How do you select each project you seek to realise, what stories do you want to tell through your selected forms?

We don’t choose the projects, they choose us, one could say. The diversity of our projects denotes the big variety of sectors and spaces where we can operate. The stories we wish to tell are determined by many parameters, like e.g. the story that the customer has already envisaged and wishes to share. In the case of Another Nail Studio, we wanted the space to resonate with the soul of the person who engages with beauty practises. Nails are both for men and for women, generally for people who don’t constrict themselves to today’s standards and attempt to conceal themselves. This story is showcased in the polychromy, as well as the unorthodoxy of its natural space, as well as the services of Another Nail Studio.

The Apple Tree pediatrician’s office, 2020 | image: Alina Lefa

-What is the method you follow, so that this unique experimental result emerges with your every project?

We can’t determine any particular method that characterises all of our projects. When one jumps from a paediatric office to a bar in Piraeus, it is hard to approach both with the same method.

-Let’s talk about the aesthetic of Studio Materiality. Every work of yours is characterised by a colour palette, that, aside from the feeling of joy and playfulness, bestows a powerful identity. Besides colour, which other Design fundamentals do you follow -by which you can also manage to abide in each and every field of design? In textile design samples as well as in branding design, lines prevail, with fillings of different colours. How did this vocabulary come to be?

I’m very glad that these elements seem to have become a staple for Studio Materiality. However, we would like to say that they just happen to serve a purpose in a big range of our projects up until today. As it goes, we don’t have some self-imposed limitation that forces us towards the use of colour. We have used white, black and grey. There are times when we might use dusky and dull hues. We certainly want people to interact with our spaces, but we have other alternatives to make that happen besides colour. In “Uncle Tan’s” one is met with arcades, while in “Burgers and Beaches” we placed a lifeguard tower. The vocabulary, as well as practice, are defined each time by the needs of the project.

Uncle Tan’s drinking house, 2021 | image: Alina Lefa

-What role does the choice of materials play in each design?

The selection of materials is a very crucial step for us. Let us not forget our name after all. We are a studio that occupies itself with materiality. Though we like not only using, but also deconstructing it, and placing it in an entirely different system of symbols. Which materials might aid us to bring the jungle to a central Athenian café? How do you create an underwater atmosphere in a fast-food joint, without of course transforming it into a real-life fish tank? Our thoughts always circle around the use of materials.

Burgers and Beaches restaurant, 2021 | image: Alina Lefa & Alex Antoniadis

-It seems the combination of architecture - branding and graphic design works marvellously. Do you think designers must mingle different fields of design to create a complete work? Would that be a way to further develop Greek design?

-YES! Fusion is perhaps the only way one can advance in whatever field. In the midst of the world of overproduction and overconsumption in which we live, parthenogenesis appears to be all the more distant. Though, via the combining of elements and techniques, we come closer and closer to creating something new and breathing new life into things we’d assumed couldn’t progress a step further.

Another nail studio, 2021

-Let’s talk about the presentation of your work. You elect to use axonometric projection instead of vertical, without noisy images from realistic three-dimensional models. Why did you do that?

Sometimes simplicity is the best policy. When one is bombarded with information, especially visual, it is very easy to lose oneself. The things we mentioned before would not have been able to happen. Spaces must be “clean”, it must be easy to experience the storytelling and to traverse through them.

-What can we expect in the near future from Studio Materiality?

I will say everything, and I hope those who read this interview do not take it as arrogant. Indeed we have no idea which paths our next project might lead us towards. But we will certainly strive to never be without this sense of joy and revel people have grown to love about our work.

We sincerely thank Studio Materiality for our conversation, and we anticipate with great enthusiasm their upcoming work.

One of the most popular projects of Studio Materiality, The Apple Tree pediatrician’s office, will participate at Open House Athens 2022. See the full list of the participating buildings here.

See more: studiomateriality.com