Elise Kopec x Wouter Verstraete

Originally from Belgium, is a creative duo operating between fashion, design and architecture, currently based in Italy (Milan). Their collaboration is a result of a common fascination for materials in their purest form, a balance between materiality and concept, experiment and pragmatism. Elise Kopec graduated in Fashion Design from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent as well as in Brand and Product Management from Milano Fashion Institute, while Wouter Verstraete graduated in Architecture and Engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven. The F/A ICONIC IRONIC Exhibition, at Antonia Jannone Gallery, is their first publicly presented design project as a duo.

Curulis works with the notion of the historical sellae curulis; symbolises power and authority; searches for a new (design) vocabulary; deals with highly controlled environments; evolves from a composition towards a piece of furniture; defines irony as a playful combination between luxury – ordinary, technology - craftsmanship, comfort – inconvenience.

CURULIS builds upon the legacy of an indestructible icon, radically envisioning its form and symbolism as an iconic piece of furniture representing highly controlled (domestic) environments dominating over spatial experimentation.