Cristin Alen Design and art derection

While he was never formally trained, he credits his Italian heritage and time spent in Tuscany for his sensitivity to aesthetics. ‘There’s a reason the Renaissance happened there,’ he reflects, noting the region’s unmatched light and colors. His work embraces nature’s imperfections, blending them with human craftsmanship to create objects that challenge traditional design boundaries. Despite his hard-edged creations, the designer hints at a softer direction for the future. ‘Seeing my work together, I realize it’s quite hard. I think it’s time to go fluffy,’ he muses, imagining the next evolution of his artistic narrative.

I’m from Italy, although I left when I was very young. Specifically, I spent a lot of time in Tuscany. There’s an innate sense of aesthetics there, especially with light and colors, because we have amazing colors. There’s a good reason why the Renaissance was there, not somewhere else. I’m born in Torino, which is a Baroque city, and extremely driven by the court, because the king was living there. So the whole city is very designed. I always liked aesthetics. I’m untrained, unschooled, and unknown. This gives me an advantage of some sort, because there’s no provenance to what I do.