Nice

Matteo Thun

Matteo Thun, architect and designer, was born in Bolzano in 1952. He studied at the Salzburg Academy with Oskar Kokoschka and at the University of Florence. After meeting Ettore Sottsass, he became a cofounder of the Memphis group in Milan and was a partner at Sottsass Associati from 1980 to 1984. He was a professor of design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna (Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst, Wien) from 1983 to 2000. In 1984 he opened his own studio in Milan and became the Art Director for Swatch from 1990 to 1993. An encounter with Luca Colombo and Antonio Rodriguez led to the founding of Matteo Thun & Partners in 2001, which was later organized into the companies MTLC, MTD-R and MTD-R China. The different creative entities develop projects in the fields of architecture, interior design and product design. The companies employ around seventy professionals, including architects, designers and graphic designers.

Antonio Rodriguez

Born and raised in Spain, Antonio Rodriguez studies in Valencia and Milan. In 1989 he founded the Estudio Valencia A6 for Product Design. In 1993 he moves to Milan and starts working with the Taipei Design Center, Studio Matsunaga and Ugolini Design. From 2000 to 2005 he teaches at the IED - Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan. From 2003, he was Head of Product Design and Partner of Matteo Thun & Partners before partnering with Matteo Thun under the new industrial design firm MTD-R and the architecture, interior and industrial design studio MTD-R Shanghai in China.

MTD-R - Matteo Thun e Antonio Rodriguez

The creative approach of Matteo Thun and Antonio Rodriguez to product design is characterized by simplified forms and the use of warm and natural materials. At the root of each project is an in-depth study of materials, technologies, the market and the client with a view to combining a minimal aesthetic with direct functionality. Innovation of the design items created by Matteo Thun and Antonio Rodriguez often is related to the influence on gestures and the evolution of everyday life.

Fantini series:  Nice, Venezia 

Ph. Nach_Courtesy of Studio MTDR-R