Sisters and Co-Founders of Ceraudo, Emily and Victoria Ceraudo join us for the latest instalment of Curated By…
‘Based in London but underpinned with the colourful flair of Italian design, Ceraudo’s mission is simple: to embolden its customer to engage with their playful side, explore the unexpected, and push their creative boundaries.’
Founded in 2016, since its launch the design studio has made quite the impression, entering the homes of Europe’s chicest. Their latest offering, ‘Orpha‘, a new fabric and furniture range inspired by the abstract colours and rhythmic forms of the Orphism and Fauvism movements, is sure to set hearts a flutter once more.
Here, the Ceraudo sisters share a first peek at Orpha with CF readers, offering design wisdoms, inspirations, and more…
How did you first get into design?
We’ve both always been in creative industries – myself in fashion and then branding, and Emily as an architect, so joining forces to create a furniture design studio felt like a natural progression.
What is your design philosophy?
To design pieces that are versatile yet decorative, and for our customers to feel empowered and inspired by our designs, helping them to become their own interior designers.
How would you describe your aesthetic?
This can vary from collection to collection, but we’re very influenced by the antiques we used to source – we love to reinterpret design eras with a more contemporary spin, whether it be small details or bolder colours. For example, our latest collection is very modern, but we’ve used a classic camelback curve throughout the furniture shapes.
Talk us about your new fabric and furniture range, Orpha…
This is a bit of a departure from our 80s chintz Pome collection, and more traditional stripes and checks fabrics – we were inspired by the abstract shapes and chromatic scales of the Orphism movement where there are no rigid lines and the composition of the fabric feels free-flowing. We wanted the fabric to act almost like a piece of art itself, that can be used independently as a decorative feature such as a wall hanging or headboard, or be used with our furniture shapes, designed to complement the fabrics with their full upholstered details and curved lines.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Much of our inspiration comes from artists or design eras from the 20th century. We love to spend the afternoon in the V&A library or scanning through our huge stack of old World of Interiors magazines from the 80s and 90s.
Talk us through some of your favourite design projects to date…
Pome was our favourite collection, and also the first! It was a really exciting time for the company as we departed from a vintage and antique dealer model, to designing our own fabrics and furniture, so it was amazing to see the reception this had after a lot of hard work.
List some designers, artists, and makers you really admire and tell us why you admire them…
John Stefanidis – we’ve always fawned over his Greek interiors and the skillful balance between simplicity and accent colours.
Emma Burns, Design Director at Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler (the interior decoration arm of the business). We interviewed Emma at home and she kindly let us shoot her house in Kensington. We were really inspired by her use of colour and little design quirks seen throughout the house. Emma also introduced us to the work of Roger Banks-Pye, who we became instant fans of thanks to his blue colour schemes, checks, and the overall decorative aesthetic.
We’re also hugely inspired by Italian mid-century designers such as Gio Ponti and, of course, Piero Portaluppi’s Villa Necchi Campiglio.
Some of your favourite places to shop for homewares…
For antiques and one-off finds, it would have to be Kempton or any of the big English antique fairs, or when in Italy or France we often scoop things up at markets for our own homes. For contemporary shopping, it would be Liberty’s homeware floor, Collagerie, or Pimlico Road.
How does travelling influence your designs and tastes?
Travelling is a huge influence to us – being able to see and experience interiors that might be bolder or just far less familiar than what we see in the UK, always gets the design juices flowing. Whether it be a house in Italy or visiting India to meet with our fabric suppliers, we always come back buzzing with inspiration.
What are some tips you have on how our readers can bring a touch of Ceraudo magic into their homes?
We offer a few different ways to incorporate our products into any interior scheme – all of our collections feature fabrics that can be bought by the metre which is great for re-upholstering an old chair or covering a headboard, we offer cushions in all our fabrics if budget is limited, and of course, our upholstered and lacquer furniture for larger pieces.
What’s next for Ceraudo?
New collections, expanding into the US, and we’ve just launched in Liberty of London last month (January) which is very exciting for us.
Any Questions or Tips to add?