MILAN — When the ribbon was cut on the San Babila Milan metro in 1964, it was the most futuristic thing locals here had ever seen. Fast forward 50 years later, and its fire engine red, lacquered forms designed by Italian architect Franco Albini just never get old.
For ex-pats Jenny D. Pham, a German-born, U.S.-raised former chief brand officer for Versace, and her partner, artist and California native Phil America, the metro is not just a Milanese monument, it’s a testament to the city’s design prowess and vision that continues to resonate worldwide. The metro was the launching pad for Season One of their new studio and brand Objects Are By, which invites creatives from unexpected fields to connect with artisans to design whatever inspires them.
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The first to test the waters was America, who designed a series of home accessories, such as vases of diverse shapes and dimensions, mugs, tea pots and carafes, trays, bowls, glasses and candle holders using the aesthetic of the Milan metro system as the launching pad. The vases are made of upcycled ceramic and water and take inspiration from the metro’s wavy bench and the staircase handles flanking its staircases that were envisaged by Albini.
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America, who is also a graffiti expert and author of “Above the Law,” an anthology of graffiti on passenger trains, said the Milan metro had a profound impact when he first moved to the fashion capital in 2009. Together, America and Pham epitomize the ongoing international wave of creatives flocking here who are altering the city’s cultural fabric.
“And when I was thinking about Milan and what I love about Milan, and even what brought me here when I was younger, was the metro,” America told WWD, ahead of the Tuesday launch, explaining that through the winding tunnels is where one comes into contact with the real locals.
Season One also includes “The Internet,” a collection of blankets by Los Angeles-based creative director Elena Flores, who chose the internet itself as the ecosystem for her aesthetic.
“I saw this as a chance to question the very essence of a ‘location’…is the internet a place?” she said.
The collaborative design process included enlisting ChatGPT to generate 100 prompts, which were presented to the AI firm Mid Journey to create woven tapestries and artworks that reimagined what the internet, technology and the digital might look like if they were tangible locations. Pham explained that the brand is not planning to shy away from technology. In fact, it plans to embrace it.
“We always talk about this idea of like, future consciousness, and it’s a word we kind of played with because it implies so many things because when we think about the future, we always say it’s a way for us to actually say we’re breaking out of a silo, which is already the future,” Pham said.
Flores’ blanket is made from vegan wool, which fulfills the sustainable pillar that Objects Are By aims to uphold in the future, Pham explained.
Pham and America are the first to admit that they are outsiders in the home and decor field, but the power, they say, of their brand is their network, which includes visionaries across all creative fields. Season One will officially launch Tuesday. The collection will be sold at select speciaity stores this spring.
As for Milan, it’s the city that offers an unbeatable international vibe and that the two call home for now.
“Milan isn’t just a city to passively absorb. It is a place one can actively shape and influence, fostering a two-way relationship; a metropolis that provides a conducive environment to explore new ideas and creativity,” the said.
For the upcoming Milan Design Week in April, the duo will unfurl another season and introduce another category with a collection designed by a creative who has collaborated with Virgil Abloh, Off White and Carhartt.