Gemma, Case Study

In Italian there is the term sprezzatura. The term describes the effortless execution of tasks and activities that normally require a lot of effort.

Attributing „sprezzatura“ to something or someone is mainly used in the fashion world. Personally I mostly perceive sprezzatura in everyday objects that break with the usual aesthetic standards.

In Italy you’ll find this in many everyday objects: The choice of their colors may seem random, the distances between the individual design elements appear disproportionate. Materials are often cheap, the manufacturing careless. And yet these objects retain an incredible elegance and beauty. For me, the seemingly „randomness“ of this beauty is the epitome of Sprezzatura.

Italian Core – that’s what I call the design style that samples visual stereotypes from Italy and takes them to the extreme. Due to my fascination of this style, I tried myself out designing some of the assets you’ll find on this page. For me, they embody the Italian style well. What do you think?