MILAN — In a cavernous tunnel of a defunct 1930s railway depot, Older Studio cofounder Morten Thuesen gazed at his upside-down selfie blown up on yellow gel-coated cotton.
“This is something entirely our own,” he told WWD, pointing to another shot of his partner in life and work Letizia Caramia dressed in a snowsuit, flashing a thumbs-up sign.
“Memory Curtains,” their inaugural show under their own names, is the fruit of their inner curiosity. “It’s very much our passion project and a way for us to experiment,” said Caramia, who is from Pietrasanta, Tuscany. “It’s part of the fil rouge that joins everything we do together,” Thuesen said.
The exhibition is the result of their constant exploration of photography, painting and architecture. Each piece originated from a photograph, was digitized, transferred onto fabric and stretched over large-scale iron frames. The motifs and landscapes were drawn from analogue photographs taken by Thuesen over the past decade. Corniced in monolithic wooden crates, which are traditionally used for transporting artworks, the duo underscore their flair for reused materials and creating architected spaces.
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The two met at Alexander McQueen and in 2013 went on to found Older Studio, a business-to-business firm that makes sustainable, sartorial uniforms that have garnered a cult-like following. After designing staff outfits for Copenhagen culinary shrine Noma about 10 years ago, things snowballed from there, explained Thuesen, who is also from Denmark.
Paris design fair Matter and Shape, 10 Corso Como and upscale lighting brand Flos, among others, followed. The latter tapped them for the costume design of a dramatic, intepretative performance during Milan Design Week 2023. Outside of their core business of making quirky workwear, they also design objects — furniture, cutlery, sculpture and even lighting, some of which was showcased by Milan’s Nilufar gallery in 2022 and, most recently, was displayed at the Shanghai Italian Pavilion Expo and at the Alcova venue for Milan Design Week 2024 and more.
“Memory Curtains” will unfold at Dropcity, the architecture and design hub in Milan first envisaged by Andrea Aputo in 2018. Dropcity is currently in the process of turning the row of tunnels running along Via Sammartini into a venue dedicated to propelling and supporting boundary-pushing ideas and creators. Fashion brands like Marni and Elisabetta Franchi have already hosted events in the space.
Running parallel to the exhibition is a public screen-printing workshop, part of Dropcity’s program, led by acclaimed screen printer Andrea Baldelli. Throughout the exhibition, Baldelli will screen print a series of motifs by Thuesen and Caramia onto archive rugs and blankets supplied by luxury rug-maker Cc-Tapis. “Memory Curtains” will be on display on Via Sammartini 63 until Jan. 26.
