Love and lathing: Giacomo Moor and his team are carpentry’s cutting edge
Skilled carpenters in Italy are known as falegnami, expert woodworkers whose handcraft has been finely honed over generations. Many of them live and work in Brianza, a furniture-making region 45 minutes outside Milan. And many of them are octogenarians, or quickly approaching their golden years.
Milan-based woodworker Giacomo Moor is an exception to this rule. At 34, he is the oldest in his nine-person workshop, where hip young carpenters wearing baggy jeans, fashionable beards and big yellow earphones cut, trim, join and build sleekly designed furniture. Moor runs not only the youngest woodworking shop in town but also the only one that designs and installs furniture in addition to building it.
‘In Italy there are a lot of furniture designers and there are a lot of carpenters,’ he says. ‘But there aren’t people who do both. The secret is to be able to work with your hands, but also to be competent with design.’
He adopted this unique approach when he launched his business in a basement in 2011. His early customers were private clients who wanted to cut out the pesky architect middleman. He now does full-scale interiors, producing not just elegant walnut desks and oak tables made from reclaimed beams, but also custom kitchens with oak tops and cabinets made from rare blackened ash wood. Many of his pieces now combine his finely researched and treated woods with glass, iron or brass.
Moor graduated from the Politecnico di Milano’s School of Design eight years ago. While studying, he also worked with a local carpenter, learning the trade.
His first piece was a set of bowls carved from the trunk of an olive tree and was recently shown at Milan’s Triennale museum. ‘It took me four days to excavate it,’ he says. ‘That was back when I had time.’
Moor now oversees 100 projects a year from his new atelier, a former auto body shop. In addition to private clients, he works with companies and galleries, such as Post Design, Memphis’ contemporary design brand, for which he produced furniture in 2013 and 2014.
At Salone del Mobile, he debuts metal and stone oak shelving for Acerbis (the wood is buried underground to give it a grey tone). Two other new works – a tool kit for a craft and design project presented by Fondazione Cologni, Living and Yoox, and a paduka-wood toucan sculpture for Woodyzoody, a new company co-founded by Moor’s wife Aurelie Callegari and based on an idea by designer Giulio Iacchetti – are as impeccably made and easy to slot into a home as his furniture.
As originally featured in the May 2016 issue of Wallpaper* (W*206)
INFORMATION
During Salone, see Moor’s shelving and a console at Rho Fiera, hall 5, stand L06; the tool kit at Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana; and the toucan sculpture at ASAP, Corso Garibaldi 104. For more information, visit Giacomo Moor's website
Photography: Alberto Zanetti
ADDRESS
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
JJ Martin
-
Fashionable Christmas baubles to accessorise this year’s tree, from Bottega Veneta to Loewe
Selected by the Wallpaper* style team, a gleaming array of Christmas baubles for fashion fans featuring fantastical designs from Bottega Veneta, Loewe, Prada and more
By Jack Moss Published
-
Discover South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island: food, fun and beachside bliss
With natural splendour and a balmy, subtropical climate, Hilton Head Island beckons beach-goers, gourmets and golf fans alike
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
A look inside the home of George Homsey, one of the fathers of pioneering California modernist community Sea Ranch
George Homsey's home opens for the first time since his death, in 2019; see where the architect behind some of the designs for Sea Ranch, the pioneering California modernist community, lived
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Faye Toogood brings new life to Matisse’s legacy
Milan Design Week 2023: tapped by Maison Matisse, the London-based designer has taken inspiration from the French master’s forms to create a collection of heirloom-worthy objects
By Sam Rogers Published
-
Prada Frames 2023: Milan programme announced
Programme announced for Prada Frames 2023 at Milan Design Week, the annual symposium curated by Formafantasma at Luigi Caccia Dominioni's Teatro Filodrammatici from 17 to 19 April
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
Alessi Occasional Objects: Virgil Abloh’s take on cutlery
Best Cross Pollination: Alessi's cutlery by the late designer Virgil Abloh, in collaboration with his London studio Alaska Alaska, is awarded at the Wallpaper* Design Awards 2023
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Salone del Mobile 2023: highlights from Milan Design Week
In pictures: our highlights from Milan Design Week, held during the 61st Salone del Mobile 2023 (18-23 April)
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
USM launches blushing pink limited edition of its modular furniture
Following an installation during Milan Design Week 2022, USM launches a new pink limited edition of its Haller range
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated
-
‘You don't want space; you want to fill it’: Milan exhibition
Making its debut during Milan Design Week 2022 at Marsèll Paradise, a new exhibition by Matylda Krzykowski, explores how we approach the space we live in (until 15 July 2022)
By Cristina Kiran Piotti Last updated
-
Men’s mental health takes centre stage at an art and design exhibition by Tableau
‘Confessions’, which travels to Copenhagen’s 3 Days of Design following its debut at Milan Design Week 2022, features commissioned work by 14 male artists, designers and architects, reflecting on toxic masculinity, vulnerability and mental health
By TF Chan Last updated
-
Salone del Mobile 2022: highlights from Milan Design Week
In pictures: our highlights from Milan Design Week 2022, held during the 60th edition of Salone del Mobile (7 – 12 June 2022)
By Rosa Bertoli Last updated