Since founding her eponymous brand in 2018, the Milan-based, Colombia-born designer Natalia Criado has been developing a body of work that reads as both functional object and sculpture. Known for her tableware wrought in silver-plated metal – often articulated through uncanny, surrealist gestures, such as a pair of teapots conjoined at the spout – she creates pieces that carry a palpable symbolic charge, at times drawing on themes as disparate as personal memory or her research into pre-Columbian ceramics and objects.
To pair that esoteric sensibility with a house like Laboratorio Paravicini – the Milanese ceramics brand run by Costanza Paravicini and her three daughters, Benedetta, Margherita and Bona, known for their deftly hand-illustrated ceramics – feels like a bridge across dimensions. 'I had been aware of their work for some time, and what drew me in was not only the craftsmanship, but the structure behind it, a family-run studio largely composed of women,' Criado says.
The collaboration has resulted in a new tableware collection, ‘Metalia’, which brings Criado’s metalwork into dialogue with Paravicini’s craft-led practice. Their joint presentation, titled ‘The Invisible Table’, runs from 21-26 April 2026 at Laboratorio Paravicini’s via Nerino workshop. Wallpaper* sat down with Criado to discuss her collaboration with Laboratorio Paravicini, her evolving relationship with ceramics,and what she’s most excited to experience during Milan Design Week 2026.
Salone del Mobile 2026: in conversation with Natalia Criado
Natalia Criado
Wallpaper*: Laboratorio Paravicini’s work is deeply rooted in a Milanese sensibility – the studio is based in the city's medieval centre, where Costanza Paravicini also raised her family. How did you engage with that context?
Natalia Criado: Milan has this duality, it’s extremely fast, very industrial, but at the same time deeply rooted in tradition and craft. Working with Paravicini allowed me to engage with that slower, more intimate side of the city. It felt like stepping into a lineage rather than starting from zero. As someone who has adopted Milan as home, it became less about referencing the city, and more about participating in it.
‘Milan has this duality, it’s extremely fast, very industrial, but at the same time deeply rooted in tradition and craft’
Natalia Criado
W*: In the past, you’ve worked largely with metal – how did you approach translating that practice into Laboratorio Paravicini’s ceramic language?
NC: My relationship to ceramics actually precedes my work in metal, so there’s always been a certain sensitivity there. Ceramics carry an inherent fragility, both physical and symbolic. Rather than translating my metal practice directly, I approached it as a dialogue. The metal elements became almost protective, structures that hold, frame, or even shield the ceramic pieces. It was less about imposing one material onto another, and more about creating a balance between strength and delicacy.
W*: Can you walk us through the different pieces in the collection?
NC: The collection is composed of a series of ceramic plates by Laboratorio Paravicini, developed in dialogue with my design language, alongside metal elements that I created. The metal works almost as a protective structure, encasing and framing the ceramics, responding to their inherent fragility. At the same time, it doesn’t conceal them; it accentuates their delicacy and surface. There’s a tension between the two materials, strength and vulnerability, where each piece exists both as a functional object and as a sculptural composition.
W*: The collection will be presented as part of an installation titled ‘The Invisible Table’. What can visitors expect to encounter?
NC: The installation is not meant to present a table in the traditional sense. It’s more of an atmosphere, something slightly disorienting, where the idea of the table is suggested but never fully defined. Objects appear almost suspended, disconnected from a fixed structure. It invites visitors to question what a table really is, whether it’s a physical object, or something constructed through interaction, memory, and ritual.
W*: Tableware is inherently tied to ritual and gathering. Did you imagine a specific kind of table or moment while designing these pieces?
NC: I wasn’t thinking of a specific table, but more of a condition. Something slightly suspended, almost intangible, a table that exists more as a psychological or emotional space than a physical one. The pieces were designed with that tension in mind: between presence and absence, use and contemplation.
‘The pieces were designed with that tension in mind: between presence and absence, use and contemplation’
Natalia Criado
W*: Do you see this collaboration as a one-off exploration or the beginning of a longer dialogue with ceramic work?
NC: I see it more as an opening than a conclusion. Ceramics is a language that I feel very connected to, and this collaboration allowed me to re-engage with it in a new way. I don’t think it ends here, it feels more like the beginning of a longer conversation.
W*: Aside from your own projects, what are you most excited to see during Milan Design Week?
NC: What I look forward to most is how alive the city becomes. It turns into a point of encounter, something that is work, of course, but also something much more human. There’s a convergence of people who are deeply engaged and curious, and that energy is always incredibly inspiring. I’m especially drawn to the unexpected, smaller exhibitions, conversations, moments that aren’t necessarily on the main stage but feel more intimate and real
Laboratorio Paravicini, Via Nerino 8
Opening Hours
Monday-Sunday: 10am-6pm
Wednesday: 10am-10pm