There aren’t many interior designers working today who use physical models to guide their decision-making and develop their schemes. Yet for New York designer Giancarlo Valle, these tools are not just key to his studio’s day-to-day operation, but also represent a constant state of flux and experimentation, and a continuation of ideas between each project. This approach to design has remained consistent since he founded his eponymous studio in 2016, as his projects have grown in scale and ambition. ‘It’s quick, it’s intuitive, it’s malleable,’ he says of the clay model-making process.
By creating each of their highly detailed maquettes at the same scale, and storing all
of them in an archive space at their Canal Street studio, Valle and his team are able to return to earlier designs and borrow specific pieces or circle back to the same larger ideas. This ‘internal algorithm’ allows the team to be self-referential, rather than outward-looking for ideas, and to move freely between different project types. ‘We try not to make the distinction between architecture, interiors and decorating,’ says Valle. ‘We think of it as one common language.’
