From Storm to Showcase: Monostudio’s Tempesta project joins ENHANCE 2025

This year, DesignWanted once again partnered with the editorial and authorial design fair EDIT Napoli to promote design excellence and highlight emerging talent. Beyond serving as a media partner, DesignWanted introduced a special prize, granting the selected project an exclusive opportunity to be showcased at the second edition of the Enhance exhibition, which will return to Milan Design Week in 2025 with a focus on the conscious use and exploration of materials.

After carefully reviewing the diverse and intriguing projects showcased at EDIT Napoli, the Tempesta project by Milan-based studio Monostudio, led by Elisa Evaso and Luca Guglieri, stood out as the selected project. As Juan Torres, Creative Director at DesignWanted and in charge of the mention, expressed:

“The selection of the Tempesta chair, designed by Monostudio, was driven by its seamless alignment with the theme of this year’s Enhance – Back to Materials exhibition, which emphasizes conscious material use and exploration. Monostudio creatively transformed the destruction caused by the storm in Milan last July into an opportunity, repurposing the wood from uprooted trees into a narrative that starts with the material itself. Through detailed research into the wood’s physical and mechanical properties, the studio crafted a functional chair that showcases the material’s transformation, using a tree trunk that would have otherwise been discarded. The project weaves a story of resilience and highlights the untapped potential of the material.”

The project: Tempesta chair by Monostudio

Exhibited at EDIT Napoli 2024, the chair represents an approach to wood as a living material, used in its entirety. Sapwood and heartwood take on different functions, aiming to create a new connection between humans and nature, conveying a sense of well-being through the senses. The chair tells the story of the tree, and through the use of small planks, it moves over time without losing functionality.

It was crafted from the simple cut of a trunk from one of the many trees uprooted in Milan during the tragic storm of July 25, 2023. By studying dimensions and the connections between the parts, Monostudio sought to highlight the beauty of natural materials and their imperfections through the form. Their mission is promoting slow design, close to nature and human well-being, reaching the senses with its ‘soft power’.

Enhance 2025 – Back to Materials

Enhance is an event format we created to bring to life the global research we continuously pursue as a magazine. It provides a moment to pause and celebrate the innovations achieved by designers and companies.

Under the unified theme of Enhance, the event delves into diverse topics inspired by the UN Sustainable Development Goals relevant to the design industry. Its debut at Milan Design Week 2024 featured a curated selection of projects centered on the social impact of design. In 2025, the focus will shift to materials, exploring how they inspire designers to rethink production processes and improve the performance of final products through innovative sourcing and conscious use of diverse materials.

This is not a mere material library but an exhibition that highlights the added value of the final product—capturing a range of innovations that might not be immediately visible. As the conversation around materials intensifies, there’s a growing push for recycling, upcycling, and circularity, with special attention to reusing waste from natural processes (e.g., food waste).

Enhance 2025 is dedicated to showcasing these innovations, spotlighting the ability of designers to deliver fresh solutions that not only respond to our current challenges but also anticipate future scenarios in material use.