Tortona Rocks returns for its eleventh edition, Design to Change Everything, a theme that interprets design as an active and structural force capable of making a concrete impact on society even before its formal expression. In a present marked by social tensions, political conflicts, economic inequalities, and deep collective uncertainty, the project takes shape as an intentional and necessary act: it does not accept inertia nor passively adapt to reality, but instead proposes alternatives and opens up new possibilities. Among the projects of Tortona Rocks #11 is also Fòco, living notes by Studiopepe, the final chapter of Archiproducts Milano’s tetralogy on the elements. Studiopepe, the design studio founded by Arianna Lelli Mami and Chiara Di Pinto, interprets fire as a projectual and transformative energy. We interviewed the two designers together with Enzo Maiorano, co-founder and Artistic Director of Archiproducts.

Fòco, living notes by Studiopepe is the final chapter of the tetralogy curated for Archiproducts Milano after Earth, Water, and Air. How did you interpret the element of fire, and what role does it play in concluding this curatorial journey?

Fòco concludes the path we have built, bringing the previous stages into a synthesis. We did not work on the image of the flame, but on its more abstract dimension: fire as generative energy, intention, and transformative force. It thus becomes a moment of revelation, more inward and almost spiritual. It is the final element because it transforms, purifies, and leaves behind a trace that is not destructive, but projectual.

The project translates the energy of fire into a layered space. What were the design elements through which you gave shape to this narrative?

We worked on a layering of sensory and material elements to translate this energy into space. Light was one of the main tools, a soft and diffused luminosity conceived as a presence that envelops and accompanies. At the center of the project also emerges the idea of a reinterpreted hearth, not as a physical element, but as the perceptual and symbolic core of the space. An intimate gathering point, built through a “listening room experience,” where sound, vibration, and atmosphere contribute to generating a sense of warmth and connection. Alongside this, we introduced a research into materials and textures, bringing rougher surfaces into dialogue with more refined ones in order to evoke the process of transformation.

With the Living Notes concept, Fòco becomes a design landscape made of spatial notes and suggestions. How did this approach allow you to build a project capable of welcoming different brands and products into a unified narrative?

The concept of Living Notes allows us to work through fragments, through spatial notes that are never closed but always open to interpretation. This approach was essential in building an environment capable of welcoming different brands and products without losing coherence. Instead of imposing a single, rigid narrative, we created a flexible structure made of suggestions, atmospheres, and micro-stories. The products enter this system as active elements, dialoguing with the space and amplifying its meaning.

In recent years, Milan Design Week has become increasingly broad and cross-disciplinary. For you as designers, what does Design Week still represent today?

For us, Design Week continues to be a fundamental moment of research and exchange. As designers, our role is precisely to contribute to this level, proposing projects that are not only visual or immediate, but that have layering and thought behind them.

With Fòco, Archiproducts Milano’s curatorial journey also comes to a close. “It was a path that developed over time. It was not born as a quadrilogy, but became one through the constant relaunch of the exploratory challenge: conceiving spaces starting from a natural element. In a context such as Fuorisalone, where striking installations often dominate, we chose to build each year an interior project intended to live throughout the year,” says Enzo Maiorano. “Design Week is the spotlight, the major event, but Archiproducts Milano remains a physical place where design can be experienced and where architects and professionals can find a concrete reference point for design research.”

This year as well, Collater.al is a media partner of Tortona Rocks, and here you can visit their website to discover the full program of events scheduled for Milan Design Week 2026.