NY2 COLUMN BY FRANCESCO BALZANO

Francesco Balzano

Born Paris, France, 1979

A designer based in Paris, Balzano creates minimal, absolute, and timeless furniture, objects, and interiors. He seeks to uncover emotional resonance in the dialogue between shape and material and reveal the poetry in the relationship between scale, light, and space. Balzano’s aesthetic vocabulary draws inspiration from the timeless beauty of Venice, Rome, and Florence, where he spent much of his childhood

Guided by the principle that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, Balzano’s work combines noble materials, purity of lines, and hyper-detailed architectural references with everyday functionality. With a sense of exquisite tension — between classical forms and contemporary ingenuity, serene nature and innovative urbanity, timeliness and timelessness — Balzano’s work contains an enigmatic complexity within a deceptively simple aesthetic, inviting the viewer to discover personal and multifaceted meanings

Dedicated to the highest level of craftsmanship that stands the test of time, Balzano works closely with master artisans at Atelier Saint-Jacques and La Societe STRS to create each exquisite work. In strictly limited edition, signed, and numbered, Balzano’s finest collections are available exclusively at STUDIOTWENTYSEVEN

After studying architecture and design at Penninghen, Balzano joined the famed studio of Joseph Dirand, working on prestigious projects around the world. In 2018, he opened his eponymous atelier while continuing his work as an interior architect

Balzano’s debut New York solo exhibition, Inizio, opened at STUDIOTWENTYSEVEN New York in September 2024. An investigation of origin of things, Inizio comprises two series of works that epitomize the artist’s values and vision: rooted in simplicity, craftsmanship, and the use of exceptional materials, they are meditative and playful explorations of intimacy and monumentality. With curation and scenography by Nacho Polo and Robert Onuska, Inizio is the gallery’s inaugural exhibition of a solo artist