Cara \ Davide, the Milanese design duo inventing a new design language
In our Future Icons series, we explore ten next-generation designers who have made us sit up and take notice: here, we speak to Cara \ Davide about their design process and their cross-cultural inspirations

Founded in 2016 in Milan by Cara Judd, an interior design graduate from South Africa, and Davide Gramatica, an Italian product designer, Cara \ Davide creates diverse furniture pieces with resolutely sculptural forms.
Inspired by the pair’s cross-cultural background, as well as a fascination with materials, techniques and processes related to different territories, their work is simultaneously contemporary and ancestral. ‘Slow, instinctive, dialectic’ is how Judd and Gramatica describe themselves. From the synthesis of their two personalities and their creative process, Cara \ Davide comes into being.
Chair from the ‘Segmento’ Collection
‘Segmento’ is the studio’s latest project, fuelled by the idea of breaking down and reassembling pine logs, and the collection includes a bench, chair and stool – ordinary enough objects but in an abstracted form. ‘Thick logs, solid and linear, are cut into segments and reassembled into compact and curving lines to create furniture of a fractured and angular nature, never symmetrical but different from any perspective,’ they say.
‘Territorio’ chair
One of their first projects, Territorio – composed of a stool, a chair, and a cabinet, whose colour palette and shapes ‘pay tribute to the beauty of an African aesthetic’ – celebrates the harmony between the two designers while also highlighting the studio’s deep and respectful investigation of the materials. Territorio (meaning territory in Italian) was indeed a turning point for the duo, as they both affirm: ‘with this project, we feel that we managed to find a special meeting point of culture, context, material and production that represents us personally and as a duo and it has become the baseline of our work and practice.’
‘Wave’ Tray for Muuto
Since 2016, they have produced diverse furniture pieces with resolute and sculptural forms. From their Mobili Sintetici, basic and pure wooden elements, and their Calandra series, showcasing welding techniques and curvilinear shapes, to a collaboration with Danish design brand Muuto.
Through organic shapes, international influences, textured surfaces, and a dedicated material investigation, Cara \ Davide found its signature style with a very personal direction.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Maria Cristina Didero is an independent design curator, consultant and author, who has contributed to many publications over the years; she is currently Milan editor of Wallpaper* . Didero has consulted for companies such as Vitra, Fritz Hansen, Lexus, Fendi, Louis Vuitton, Valextra among others. Based in Milan, she works internationally, curating exhibitions for institutions: some of her most recent projects include Nendo: The Space in Between and The Conversation Show at the Holon Design Museum, Israel; FUN HOUSE by Snarkitecture at National Building Museum, Washington D.C.; SuperDesign a project about Italian radical design, NY; Vegan Design, or the Art of Reduction by Erez Nevi and The Fish and The Crowd by Carlo Massoud, Milan. In April 2022 she curated a Mathieu Lehanneur exhibition at the Triennale in Milan called The Inventory of Life, while in July she debuted a project at the MK&G in Hamburg titled Ask Me if I Believe in the Future, alongside a series of ongoing collaborations. She was appointed 2022 Curatorial Director of Design Miami/. She is currently preparing two projects for Milan Design Week 2023.
-
Hella Jongerius named Honorary Royal Designer for Industry 2023
The Dutch designer received the Honorary Royal Designer for Industry 2023 accolade alongside creatives from different disciplines
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
London restaurant and tequila bar Ixchel brings Mexico’s timeless flavour to every sip and bite
On London’s King’s Road, Ixchel offers an unmissable fusion of Mexican art, cuisine and atmosphere
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Matthew M Williams is leaving Givenchy
American designer Matthew M Williams is set to exit his role as creative director of Givenchy after a three-year tenure
By Jack Moss Published
-
Six Dots Design’s Joseph Ellwood creates furniture to represent his generation
Wallpaper* Future Icons: Joseph Ellwood of Six Dots Design on his love of making, forms that reflect fluid identities, and his work for Rimowa
By TF Chan Published
-
Wilkinson & Rivera reinvent traditional wooden furniture from their London workshop
Wallpaper* Future Icons: Wilkinson & Rivera’s Grant Wilkinson and Teresa Rivera are reinventing furniture classics in wood
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Andu Masebo’s stripped-back designs are informed by materials and manufacturing
Wallpaper* Future Icons: designer-to-watch Andu Masebo talks about being inspired by London and the practicalities of making
By Oyin Akande Published
-
Lighting design studio Trueing combines the utilitarian and the decorative
Wallpaper* Future Icons: Aiden Bowman and Josh Metersky of Trueing combine backgrounds in art history and engineering to create exquisite lighting designs
By Pei-Ru Keh Published
-
Kusheda Mensah’s modular furniture compositions promote social interactions
Among Wallpaper’s Future Icons, designer Kusheda Mensah of Modular by Mensah talks about social spaces and finding inspiration in her heritage
By Shawn Adams Published
-
Raphael Kadid’s designs experiment with light and structure
Among Wallpaper’s ‘Future Icons’, Basel-based Raphael Kadid is an architect by training but is setting the design world alight
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Tom Chung’s designs are inspired by the great outdoors
Designer Tom Chung – tipped as a Future Icon by Wallpaper* –talks about being inspired by his Canadian childhood and the meaning of friends in the industry
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Mac Collins explores identity and empowerment through design
Part of Wallpaper’s Future Icons series, Mac Collins tells us about his design work, and inspiring the next generation
By Sujata Burman Published