Agustina Bottoni

Argentinian designer Agustina Bottoni was born in Buenos Aires in 1984. She first studied Fashion Design at the University of Buenos Aires, graduating with a Bachelor’s in 2008, before relocating to Milan, where she obtained her Master’s in Product Design from the Nuova Accademia di Belle Arti in 2015. Since completing her studies, Bottoni has been working independently as a designer on the European scene, collaborating with select clients, as well as producing her own small editions of objects, textiles, and furniture pieces.

Bottoni’s practice is concerned with embracing craft traditions—especially those from her home country—through a contemporary sensibility. Her forms and color palettes are light and often rather ethereal; kinesis is a common thread throughout the young designer’s oeuvre. From the handcrafted kinetic sculptural vases in the Eden Series (2016); to the Melodicware (2017) sound sculptures incorporating wind chimes; or even the Mate Craft Tableware (2015), in which the encasing leather is designed to take on changing colors and patinas with use—there is an engaging sense of movement and transience in Bottoni’s work. The designer thinks of her works as encouraging emotional perception and she considers “objects as companions in our lives,” which perhaps explains how each piece seems so imbued with a life of its own.

Bottoni has already received considerable acclaim for her unique designs. In 2015, the Mate Craft series was exhibited in Paris as part of the Human Made exhibition at Maison & Objet. The following year, in 2016, Eden was presented during the Operae Design Festival in Turin; several of Bottoni’s series were included in the W. Women in Italian Design exhibition as part of the Triennale Design Museum, Milan; and Texere (2016), a unique tapestry wall-hanging in wool felt and cut by the precision Atom cutting machines, was commissioned as part of La Triennale di Milano. In 2017, she was nominated for the Milano Design Award and continued her hectic exhibition schedule, including showings at the Ambiente Fair in Frankfurt (with Il Coccio Design Edition) and at Milano Design Week. Currently, Bottoni divides her time between Milan and Buenos Aires.