Carving a Love Story

Exhibition

Zanat, Villa San Michele

• Year Completed: 2021
• Design: Monica Förster Design Studio
• Creative Director: Monica Förster
• Team: Harald Sundberg, Alicia Knight

Amongst the spectacular cliffs of Capri and the azure blue waters surrounding the island, the Swedish doctor Axel Munthe found a place to call home. Villa San Michele, a breathtakingly beautiful house and garden built on ruins of an ancient roman palace and filled with art, history and curious objects that in some way touched Munthe.

Some 125 years later we were invited to exhibit in this unique place. For a month our exhibition “Carving a love story” complemented the collection in Villa San Michele. The project was developed together with Zanat and the exhibition represented a highlight in our fruitful collaboration. In the exhibition we focused on functional modern sculptures hand-crafted in solid wood. Among the selection of pieces were some special edition items inspired by the spectacular location of the Villa, such as a bespoke large version of the iconic Nera bowls, as well as new products like the Sky mirrors and Unity side tables, with special stains and carvings chosen particularly for this project.

“We are excited and honoured to be invited back to Capri and to the sublime views of Villa San Michele. This time we bring with us our friends and collaborators at Zanat to manifest our long-standing relationship in a separate exhibition. We can think of no better place than the breath-taking Villa of Axel Munthe, to display such delicately sculpted objects. Zanat truly turns our designs into pieces of art.“ – Monica Förster