Meeting… Paolo Ferrari Following the completion of two career-defining projects in Saudi Arabia, Paolo Ferrari reflects on the philosophy that has shaped his eponymous practice over the past decade. Words: Eleanor Howard • Portrait Photography: © Julien Cadena
T
here’s something exhilarating
curiosity continued to manifest in passions
about taking risks in order to create
for drawing, painting and writing, before
something different. That spirit of
culminating in a year studying fine art. “It was
experimentation excites me,” says
a very liberating experience,” he reflects. “It
Paolo Ferrari with a mischievous
gave me an incredible foundation.”
smile, as he looks out across the
From there, Ferrari studied environmental
Ionian sea with the silhouette of Mount Etna
design at OCAD University in Toronto, Canada’s
looming in the distance. Fresh from delivering
oldest and largest art and design school. “I was
the keynote address at Sleeper Sessions in Sicily,
quite naive and sheltered. I didn’t understand
the Canadian designer reflects on the mindset
the breadth of this world, but going to
that has shaped his Toronto- and Milan-based
university was the moment everything clicked
practice over the past decade.
for me – it expanded my thinking,” he states.
The foundations however, were laid much
Ferrari credits the programme’s emphasis
earlier. “As a kid, I was always surrounded by
on conceptual thinking with influencing the
people making things, which meant I would
philosophy that would later define his work.
play in quite unconventional ways,” he laughs.
Before striking out on his own, Ferrari began
Weekends were spent experimenting with
his career at a small practice in Toronto, before
carving at his father’s woodwork shop, while
joining Yabu Pushelberg, where he spent six
his great aunt was a seamstress, often allowing
years rising from Senior Designer to Design
him to play with scraps of fabric and leather. “It
Director. “Working at Yabu Pushelberg was an
felt like a really magical place.”
eye-opening experience because it exposed me
Throughout adolescence, that creative
to a completely different scale,” he states. It