BorromeodeSilva: Italian Design That Makes Me Want Everything
By Patrice Meignan, Founder of TheArsenale
A pair of sunglasses. A denim-covered refrigerator. A Porsche 928 that makes me want to leave Milan and drive somewhere very far away.
There is a thread connecting these objects, and it is a studio I absolutely love: BorromeodeSilva.
When I think about the Italian design that excites me today, this is where my mind goes. Carlo Borromeo and the team have a way of making something familiar feel intensely desirable again. I look at their work and immediately start imagining where it would fit into my life.
That is a dangerous quality in a designer. And a wonderful one.
BorromeodeSilva: the pleasure of having a point of view
The studio’s portfolio moves between automotive design, products and visual identity. What I enjoy is the freedom of that movement. An idea can travel from a car to something you hold, wear or live with.
At TheArsenale, I have always followed that kind of curiosity. I can become as interested in a beautifully resolved detail as in an entire vehicle. Scale changes; the ability to make you care remains.
BorromeodeSilva is one of my favourite expressions of that approach. There is knowledge behind the pleasure, and enough playfulness to stop the knowledge becoming solemn.
L.G.R × Automobili Amos: the sunglasses I cannot stop looking at
The BASE 8 collaboration is a particular favourite of mine. L.G.R, Eugenio Amos and BorromeodeSilva developed a wraparound design with an eight-base curve, automotive-inspired side vents and mineral glass lenses. The limited-edition launch accompanied the Automobili Amos Safarista. Explore the eyewear project.
I love the way they suggest movement. They make me imagine an early departure, keys on a table and a good road ahead. The connection to the car has been worked into the object itself: its shape, its attitude and its details.
For me, that is what makes a collaboration worth looking at.
Garage Italia: a visual identity with room to play
The studio’s documented work for Garage Italia includes a visual identity inspired by the national identification stickers once familiar on travelling cars. The mark was designed to adapt to the colours and materials of different projects. Explore the Garage Italia project.
That idea appeals to me enormously. A workshop devoted to personalisation needs an identity that can accommodate imagination. It needs to hold a world together while allowing each commission to have its own character.
I see a lovely understanding of Italian automotive culture in that decision: familiar references, handled with confidence and a sense of humour.
Smeg: yes, a refrigerator can have a wardrobe
The Smeg FAB28 for Italia Independent makes me smile immediately. Real denim covers the refrigerator, with contrasting stitching and a protective plasma treatment developed with Mectex. Explore the Smeg project.
A fridge wearing jeans sounds like the beginning of a joke. Turning it into a convincing object takes material knowledge and the willingness to follow an unusual idea through its practical problems.
That combination is exactly what I admire. The result has personality because someone took the playful thought seriously enough to make it work.
Eccentrica: understanding what made the Diablo unforgettable
With Eccentrica, the scale of the emotion changes. Emanuel Colombini’s project takes the Lamborghini Diablo as its starting point, with BorromeodeSilva responsible for a design interpretation informed in part by the Diablo GTR. Explore the Eccentrica project.
Revisiting a car with this much presence requires judgement. Every alteration has to negotiate with a shape people already carry in their memory.
What I respond to here is the intensity. The car retains the visual drama that makes a Diablo such a powerful object of desire. The design invites you to look closer, then to step back and take in the whole thing again.
I would happily repeat that process for quite some time.
Nardone 928: the grand tourer that gets under my skin
The Porsche 928 reinterpretation for Nardone Automotive might be the project that best explains my affection for this studio. Its composite bodywork, bespoke lighting and reworked interior give the original grand tourer a new expression. Explore the Nardone 928 project.
I love a GT that makes distance feel attractive. Looking at this one, I imagine packing lightly and choosing the longer route.
There is a particular skill in identifying which qualities of an existing design deserve more attention. To my eye, this project brings out the 928’s confidence and its slightly unconventional elegance. It feels like a car someone has thought about for a very long time.
Automobili Amos: design for people who want to drive
The Delta Futurista brought together Eugenio Amos’s vision, BorromeodeSilva’s design and Podium’s engineering. The Safarista takes that conversation towards a more rally-focused machine, with purposeful changes to the body and cabin. Discover the Futurista and the Safarista.
These projects speak to the enthusiast in me. They make the idea of ownership inseparable from the desire to use the car.
I want great machines to generate stories. A route you had not planned. A place you would otherwise never have visited. A day that stays with you for years. Looking at the Safarista, it is very easy to start inventing the itinerary.
A very personal salute to Carlo and the team
This is a big shout-out to Carlo Borromeo and everyone at BorromeodeSilva.
I admire the range, the taste and the curiosity. Most of all, I admire the ability to make that curiosity tangible — in a frame, a surface, a cabin or an entire car.
Their work reminds me why I started TheArsenale: because discovering an extraordinary object can change your mood, your plans and occasionally the contents of your garage.
Keep going. I am already looking forward to the next thing that makes me say, “I need to show people this.”
Explore BorromeodeSilva’s product design and mobility projects. To share a discovery or discuss a project, contact me at TheArsenale.
