Studio Nucleo

Studio Nucleo is a Turin-based Italian design and art collective founded in 1999 by Piergiorgio Robino and Cristiano Toraldo di Francia. Operating at the intersection of design, architecture, and contemporary art, the collective is known for its experimental approach to materiality, form, and the cultural significance of objects. Studio Nucleo's practice challenges conventional boundaries between functional design and fine art, often producing work that questions the nature of production, authorship, and the lifecycle of objects. Their projects span furniture, installation, sculpture, and spatial interventions, all united by a rigorous conceptual framework and a strong interest in process and material transformation. Among their most recognized bodies of work is the 'Primitive Future' series, in which the collective encases iconic mid-century modern furniture pieces, such as chairs by Mies van der Rohe or Arne Jacobsen, in layers of polyurethane resin, effectively fossilizing design history and inviting reflection on cultural memory, obsolescence, and value. This signature technique blends reverence and critique, treating canonical design objects as artifacts to be preserved and simultaneously obscured. Studio Nucleo has also produced large-scale installations and architectural interventions, frequently exploring themes of time, decay, and the tension between the handmade and the industrial. Studio Nucleo has exhibited widely across Europe and internationally, participating in major design and art events including Milan Design Week, Design Miami, and various gallery exhibitions throughout Italy and beyond. Their work has been collected by institutions and private collectors interested in the fertile overlap between design and contemporary art. Recognized as a significant voice in Italian experimental design culture, Studio Nucleo continues to push the dialogue between object-making, conceptual art practice, and critical design theory.