Talking Shop With Michael Del Piero
Chicago
An inveterate traveler, Michael Del Piero scours global markets for rare finds. “To me, an unusual item’s texture and story are equal to, if not more important than, its provenance,” she says.
The designer’s recently updated store, Michael Del Piero Good Design, boasts a clean, modern space reflecting a European lifestyle experience. Amid antiques from Spain, Africa and China, Del Piero fuses the refined with the rough and worn.
A hand-finished metal Foundry collection stool sits alongside a weathered-wood table in one vignette that juxtaposes the sleek and the battered. Natural and highly textured fabrics in cotton, linen and velvet are casually strewn about or tucked into a massive, 13-foot-wide black cabinet found in Parma, Italy.
Select pieces of art in moody tones could have been plucked from a century-old home in France. Countering the antique-filled West Town storefront are a midcentury brass light fixture by Reggiani and minimalist plywood furniture from Chicago designer Lukas Machnik’s Monument collection.
All the elements coalesce to create a warm and inviting vibe. As Del Piero puts it, “My store now has more of a residential feel that reflects a luxurious and livable European sensibility.”
