Designing narratives: the approach of De.Tales
Founded in 2021 by Giuseppe Varsavia and Igor Rebosio, De.Tales operates across architecture, interiors and product design, with a growing focus on hospitality. Each project is conceived as a narrative shaped by in-depth analysis, context and a contemporary reading of genius loci.
This episode of Behind features De.Tales, the studio founded in 2021 by Giuseppe Varsavia together with Igor Rebosio, design director. Based in Milan, the practice operates across architecture, interior design and product design, with an increasing focus on hospitality as a field of research and experimentation.
In fact, De.Tales does not define itself through a single discipline. Its structure reflects a deliberate choice: to operate transversally across architecture and interiors to maintain full control over each project’s narrative. For Varsavia and Rebosio, design is never a fragmented exercise. The architectural envelope and the interior atmosphere are conceived as interdependent layers of the same story. Only by working on both, they argue, can a project fully express its identity.
The name of the studio encapsulates this ambition. A “design tale” is a method. Each commission is approached as an opportunity to construct a narrative, one that translates the client’s expectations into spatial form. De.Tales positions storytelling at the core of its practice; narrative, in this sense, is not a superficial theme but the outcome of a rigorous process of analysis.
This approach becomes particularly evident in hospitality, a field in which the studio has increasingly specialized. Hospitality projects, by nature, demand layered thinking: they involve brands, owners, operators and end users, all interacting within the same spatial framework. Before defining any formal language, the team conducts an in-depth reading of the context, understanding the market positioning of the brand, the ambitions of the ownership, and the experiential goals of the space.
Such analysis extends beyond programmatic requirements. It addresses what the studio describes as the broader conditions surrounding a project: cultural references, social dynamics, and the physical and human landscape in which it is embedded. This is where the concept of genius loci becomes central. For De.Tales, the “spirit of the place” is not limited to geography or architectural heritage, it also resides in the people connected to the project.
In hospitality especially, the genius loci is shaped by a constellation of actors. The client’s vision, the brand identity, and even the operational team contribute to defining the character of the space. The location itself tells one story; the people involved tell another. Design emerges at the intersection of these narratives. As a result, repetition becomes impossible. A hotel in Sicily cannot be approached with the same logic as one in Milan, even if certain architectural details might be aesthetically pleasing in both contexts. The studio resists the comfort of predefined formulas.
Operating across architecture and interior design inevitably increases complexity. The two disciplines are often treated as separate domains, each with its own logic and autonomy. De.Tales embraces the challenge of integrating them. The dialogue between architectural structure and interior detail becomes a tool to intensify the storytelling dimension of the project. One discipline enhances the other; together, they create a more immersive and coherent experience.
To Behind, the studio reveals a practice rooted in depth. By treating each commission as a tale to be carefully written, De.Tales proposes an alternative to standardized design solutions. Their work suggests that architecture and interiors, when conceived as parts of a shared narrative, can move beyond aesthetics and become vehicles for meaning; spaces shaped not by repetition, but by attentive interpretation of place and people.
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