Call of the wild

A trip to Australia sparked the imagination of this artistic director to create a discreet home open to nature in an abandoned garden in northern Italy.

Patrizia Moroso loves to relay the story that she discovered the plot of land with an abandoned garden where her four-bedroom house now stands almost by accident. “It was a sort of wild piece of land in the town that looked abandoned. It was incredible,” she says of her humble abode in her hometown of Udine in northeast Italy. The artistic director, with her brother Robert as CEO runs Moroso, one of Italy’s most vibrantly creative family furniture businesses.

A trip to Australia with friend and longtime collaborator, Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola sparked Moroso’s vision to build a house that was open to nature. It was 2003, and the friends transformed a business trip into an adventure with a visit to Uluru, the world-famous rock formation and Indigenous sacred site in the heart of the country. A raised observation platform around the ancient monolith elicited a similar walkway that now guides entrance to Moroso’s Italian retreat. The duo also found inspiration among the museums and contemporary homes of Melbourne. “We saw a lot of architecture that was really interesting for both of us,” says Moroso. “All these young Australian architects had a very essential approach because of their interesting use of strong materials like iron and timber to realise houses with a unique, special personality. Simple in their shape, strong in their materials, creating a beautiful dialogue with the surrounding landscape.”

A year later Moroso enlisted Urquiola to design her forever home for her family — her husband, artist Abdou Salam Gaye, and three children, Khadim, Omar and Amina — on that wild patch of land in Udine. “Remembering our personal experience and what we had seen during the trip, Patricia has done a fantastic project for me. It’s exactly as I wanted it, a nice black box inside this little jungle, in my little town. It’s not very common in Italy to see this kind of structure for a private home.”

The dramatic exterior palette of ash-black timber, which the design doyenne likens to aged wood, is highlighted with accents of oxidised red iron — a nod to the hues of the Australian desert but also to the colours of Africa, another continent close to Moroso’s heart, her artist husband having grown up in West Africa.

The dynamism outside continues within the interior where whitewashed walls and bare timber floors play backing track to the brightly coloured stars of the Moroso company’s furniture collaborations. These encompass pieces by the world’s most forward-thinking designers from Ron Arad and Antonio Citterio to Nendo, Front and Sebastian Herkner. One of the newest creations — a curvaceous, sculptural armchair by Urquiola titled Ruff — already has its place. Many of the designs in Moroso’s home however are the prototypes, the experiments before production, which the artistic director likes to shift in and out of each room as the mood takes her. “I enjoy changing things inside my house,” says Moroso, “because I love every new prototype — they’re like a new baby that arrives every year from the factory. Each is unique and different from the final, industrialised version. They are not perfect and I love them for that. They show the story and that is why, when I can, I include them in my home.”

The story of Moroso’s home mirrors the narrative of her life. Her favourite pieces such as the now iconic Lowland sofa, also by Urquiola and upholstered in a vivid turquiose green, sit alongside chairs in batik fabrics from Senegal, artworks by African artists such as photographer Boubacar Touré Mandémory, and sculptures from Tibet, which Moroso bought back from a trip to the region. “These are for me absolutely the centre of my home,” she says. “I love to put things in dialogue. So pieces from Africa or Nepal or India or America may be speaking different languages, but ultimately they ‘talk’ to each other.

“If you have art pieces, objects, pictures from different parts of the world living together you realise how much they have in common,” continues Moroso. “The world is a small place and we can learn to love each other even if we are different. Diversity is beauty, it’s the reason for life.” VL moroso.it; Moroso is available in Australia through Mobilia; mobilia.com.au

“The world is a small place and we can learn to love each other even if we are different. DIVERSITY IS BEAUTY, it’s the reason for life” PATRIZIA MOROSO

“It was a sort of wild piece of land that looked abandoned” PATRIZIA MOROSO

THIS PAGE in the kitchen of this Udine home in Italy, pitchers (on counter) by Gala Fernández; Unity bowl by Marc Thorpe Design for Venini; Husk armchair (on balcony) by Marc Thorpe Design and Supernatural chair by Ross Lovegrove for Moroso, enquiries to Mobilia. OPPOSITE PAGE the exterior of Patrizia Moroso’s home, created by designer and architect Patricia Urquiola and architect Martino Berghinz. Details, last pages.

THIS PAGE in the ground-floor living area, dining table by Ron Arad; Impossible Wood dining chairs by Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien for Moroso, enquiries to Mobilia; Unity vase by Marc Thorpe Design for Venini (on table); bowl by Gianni Osgnach. In the lounge area, Iris and Ibiscus armchairs by Dominique Pétot, 3 Nuns table and Misfits sofa by Ron Arad, Dew ottomans by Nendo, and Shanghai Tip table by Patricia Urquiola, all from Moroso, enquiries to Mobilia; prototype Rontonton floor lamp by Edward Van Vliet for Quasar; Twiggy lamp by Marc Sadler for Foscarini, enquiries to Space Furniture; Reloaded Decolorised rug from Golran, enquiries to Mobilia. OPPOSITE PAGE homeowner Patrizia Moroso in the first-floor living area; Imba chaise longue by Federica Capitani from Moroso, enquiries to Mobilia.

THIS PAGE in the sunken living area with built-in seating and fireplace, cushions and Binta armchair by Philippe Bestenheider (towards back) from Moroso; coffee tables and sculptures found in Africa; Eating Stars (2007) artwork by Fathi Hassan.

THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE at the stairs leading to the bedroom, Anomaly stools by Front for Moroso, enquiries to Mobilia. Patrizia Moroso with sons Khadim (left) and Omar, Khadim’s partner Mariacristina and their son; Modou chairs by Ron Arad for Moroso. In the first-floor living area, Ruff armchair by Patricia Urquiola for Moroso; Tibetan chest; prototype vases by Tord Boontje for Moroso. In another view of the ground-floor living area, sculpture (on console) by Loris Cecchini; photograph by Boubacar Touré Mandémory.

THIS PAGE in the corridor leading to the first-floor living area, vases by Gala Fernández; figurine sculpture by Qu Guangci; ceramic eagle sculpture by Giacomo Alessi. OPPOSITE PAGE in the garden with a view of the verandah, chairs, ottomans and tables by Bibi Seck; Shadowy armchairs (on verandah) by Tord Boontje and Banjooli chairs and table by Sebastian Herkner, all from Moroso, enquiries to Mobilia. Details, last pages.