We had the pleasure of working with a trio of artists for our recent window installation – Our celebration of understated elegance and classically designed rugs. Scandinavian designed, elegant and modern. A perfect selection for any interior.
“The rugs are primarily made out of wool but there is one that is spun paper and metal. The floor is made of stones and resin, the wood logs are transformed into silver metal rock and so are the flowers from the ceiling. Everything is in metamorphosis” – Davide Casaroli.
Our Designer Series introduces us to Davide Casaroli Design, Sara Musashi Photography & Tricia DiMarco. I first met Davide a few years ago while he was working for a well known interior designer here in Los Angeles. In just a few short years he’s now on his own, working hard and creating beautiful environments, with passion and determination. I asked our artists a few questions wanting to know what it’s like as a young artist living in Los Angeles, what inspires them and how they chose their craft.
DCI: What was your inspiration for our window display?
Davide: A few days before I was asked to install the windows for Decorative Carpets, I met photographer Sara Musashi. While I was going through Sara’s pictures I saw how she captures the landscape naturally and I loved how she creates a movement of the same landscape, but it changed and became something else. When I came up with the main concept for the window, I wanted to do something artistic more than residential. I design and plan furniture everyday of my life, so I decided to express myself with raw materials. I wanted the rugs and pictures to be the only commodities. I decided to create an environment for the windows that had similarities with photographs and rugs in a natural and non-natural way. The rugs are primarily made out of wool but there is one that is spun paper and metal. The floor, made by Soli, is made of stones and resin, the wood logs are transformed into silver metal rock and so are the flowers from the ceiling. Everything is in metamorphosis. Tricia our botanical artist, was introduced to me through Decorative Carpets. She has an amazing energy and it fit perfectly into the collaboration. Her colorful flowers have a deep silver wash…
DCI: Who is your greatest influencer?
Davide: Many artists and designers influenced me and still do. When I was living in Milano, I was deeply touched by the great work of Gio Ponti. Gio Ponti was a complete designer. I like the variety of his work but what influenced me the most is the study of materials used in both architecture and industrial design. Mr. Ponti was always producing an amazing product with the greatest quality.
Sara: My greatest influencers are the bees. These amazing, sophisticated and elegant creatures are, to me, an infinite source of inspiration both visually and ethically. They chase beautiful things; they feed on them, respect them, and eventually transform their essence into something delightful and nutritious. If this is not art… I don’t know if something else is. Other influencers, with the great flaw of being human products are: Sarah Moon’s landscapes, The Never Ending Story, the Tales of E.T.A. Hoffman, Terry Gilliam’s Tideland. I found a relevant amount of answers to my questions in the writings of XIX Century Transcendentalist writers, such as my beloved Ralph Waldo Emerson. The series Transparent Eyeball is an homage to his essay “Nature”.
Tricia: I am constantly changing my art direction and my influencers change as I do – but they all somehow still influence the work I make today. I used to have these posters in my room in high school, by a guy named Tom Masse. My friends and I would stare at them for hours finding all of these hidden images. Then, when I actually started to learn about artists, my big influencers were Frank Stella and Bridget Riley, then Art Nouveau and 60’s poster art, Wes Wilson is a God! However, today I’d have to say my biggest inspiration is Rebecca Louise Law, her work with floras is amazing.
DCI: What inspired you to become a Designer / Artist?
Davide: Interior designer is not 100% correct. I am old school; I studied architecture at Politecnico di Milano. Let me mention Ernesto Nathan Rogers’ famous expression “from the spoon to the town”. Rogers suggests Architects to take inspiration in their modus operandi, by adopting cooperative and trans-disciplinary processes. An architect should be able to design a spoon as well as a city, considering both projects’ human and anthropological factors. When I was young I tended to respond well to everything that was artistic and scientific, when my parents built their home, I was only 10 years old but I was involved in the entire process. Poor them, they couldn’t understand why I wanted to sit in at meetings with the architect instead of going outside to play with other kids. Being raised in Italy traveling throughout Europe was definitely a part of the game, as Italians we live surrounded by beauty and great architecture. I was obsessed by Paris. I think I asked my Dad a million times to take me there. When I understood that was an easy trip, I wanted to go back and often.
Sara: I became a photographer when I was in middle school. In the central area of my hometown there are many hidden ancient gardens, avariciously kept enclosed by the house owners. With two of my classmates, during lunchtime, we would go on our “forbidden” and “adventurous” tour: trying to get inside the gates of the secret gardens pretending to be the postman. I obviously was the one with the disposable camera.
Tricia: About two years ago I started pressing flowers for fun and making patterns with them. Today I have drawers full of them and my walls are lined with dried flowers on twine. I’ve always had a fascination with the symmetry of flowers and a little while back I came across the hidden meanings they possess. There is actually a whole Victorian Era, flowers were thought to be much more than they are today, and I’d really like to bring them back.
DCI: What drives you forward?
Davide: Well, that’s easy. There’s nothing that can hold me back. I see myself as moving forward in both work and my social life. I’m 29 – in my opinion – everyone at my age should feel this way. The secret is to do something with all of your heart and your energy. Only life experiences can shape us and open our eyes to what’s coming next. Work wise, I have many plans. I want to start doing more good products. Recently, I started to collaborate with another designer, my friend Zaheva Akirov. We came up with a charity called Maison Mano. We are creating custom pillows and for each pillow sold we will donate one to a homeless shelter in Downtown Los Angeles.
Sara: The hope in the mokṣha, or rather the end of the reincarnation cycles. Mayonnaise and macarons. The southern California sun, but also the series of photos that I’ve never finished dedicated to my super-foggy hometown. Travelling. Finding new secret gardens. Finding some original hikikomori to take inspiration from. The nostalgia of Ibiza. Going to Ibiza. Going to Montana. And certainly, finding a hive to take care of.
Tricia: Like I said my work is always changing, which is a blessing and a curse. It never gets boring, but it can also be utterly exhausting. I’m always making things that are uniquely me but once I start a new phase of work, I always need move on to the next. Hopefully one day I can find a way to mesh everything together and settle on one type of work. But for now, I’m an illustrator, a florist, an art teacher and a botanical artist that is always and is never tired of it all. Oh, and my mom – she’s obsessed with me, and always yells at me if the new work isn’t coming out fast enough.
