Uniforms on chairs
Show 2
September 2025
The OLDER design duo has chosen a very specific position in the fashion world, concentrating its activity on the creation of uniforms. The uniform is a peculiar and layered sociological object that takes on multiple meanings: from the definition of the self to the construction of a collective identity. However, its ability to “even out” makes it distant from the egotistical dimension of fashion interpreted as the aesthetic and original exaltation of the individual.
When OLDER approached the furniture design sector some six years ago, the choice fell on the creation of handcrafted, almost unique pieces, or at least produced in small series. Objects that spring from the personal lives of the two creatives, born in and for their homes, before being transformed into commercial objects. These are, one might say, “produced in the family”, and for this reason deeply imbued with individual personality.
With the exhibition Uniforms on Chairs, OLDER reflects – with awareness and self-mockery – on its own creative schizophrenia, combining the very different and almost opposite approaches taken whilst working in the fields of fashion and design respectively.
To do so, they choose to dress up with uniforms – i.e. with the most serial product the fashion world can conceive – some historical pieces, in some cases unique examples, of collectible design usually kept in the exceptional archive of the famous Milanese gallery Nilufar. Precious objects, sometimes born to be functional and in all cases becoming collectors’ items, thus wear “unifying clothes”. These strange hybrids, these “dressed-up furnishings”, are then immortalised in Louis De Belle’s beautiful photographs, suggesting new levels of interpretation. For example, highlighting the personal, almost human relationship we sometimes establish with objects: things dressed, in this case, like models on a surreal fashion set.
The ironic and alienating image of this layered exhibition could not find better spaces to express itself than the newly opened The Great Design Disaster: a showcase on Via della Moscova, where designer and interior designer Joy Herro will experiment between collectible design and other disciplines with an unusual and irreverent spirit, as the ironic name of the newborn project space suggests.
Valentina Ciuffi
Uniforms on Chairs
25 September-24 October 2025
A show by OLDER Studio
For The Great Design Disaster
Curated by Valentina Ciuffi
Set photos by Louis De Belle
Chairs courtesy of Nilufar
Graphics by Studio Vedèt
Show photos by Luigi Fiano
When OLDER approached the furniture design sector some six years ago, the choice fell on the creation of handcrafted, almost unique pieces, or at least produced in small series. Objects that spring from the personal lives of the two creatives, born in and for their homes, before being transformed into commercial objects. These are, one might say, “produced in the family”, and for this reason deeply imbued with individual personality.
With the exhibition Uniforms on Chairs, OLDER reflects – with awareness and self-mockery – on its own creative schizophrenia, combining the very different and almost opposite approaches taken whilst working in the fields of fashion and design respectively.
To do so, they choose to dress up with uniforms – i.e. with the most serial product the fashion world can conceive – some historical pieces, in some cases unique examples, of collectible design usually kept in the exceptional archive of the famous Milanese gallery Nilufar. Precious objects, sometimes born to be functional and in all cases becoming collectors’ items, thus wear “unifying clothes”. These strange hybrids, these “dressed-up furnishings”, are then immortalised in Louis De Belle’s beautiful photographs, suggesting new levels of interpretation. For example, highlighting the personal, almost human relationship we sometimes establish with objects: things dressed, in this case, like models on a surreal fashion set.
The ironic and alienating image of this layered exhibition could not find better spaces to express itself than the newly opened The Great Design Disaster: a showcase on Via della Moscova, where designer and interior designer Joy Herro will experiment between collectible design and other disciplines with an unusual and irreverent spirit, as the ironic name of the newborn project space suggests.
Valentina Ciuffi
Uniforms on Chairs
25 September-24 October 2025
A show by OLDER Studio
For The Great Design Disaster
Curated by Valentina Ciuffi
Set photos by Louis De Belle
Chairs courtesy of Nilufar
Graphics by Studio Vedèt
Show photos by Luigi Fiano