Materials carry their own language. The grain of timber, the veining of marble, the coolness of metal, or the pliability of clay can alter how an object is perceived, even when its form remains unchanged. For designer Faye Toogood, this material intelligence is not simply part of the design process. It is where the process begins.
For Salone del Mobile 2026, Toogood brings this philosophy to Casa Tacchini through Material Anthology, a site-specific sculptural intervention that celebrates raw materials, experimentation, and the distinctly human act of making.
A Material Library Reimagined at Casa Tacchini
At the heart of Toogood's London studio sits an open library of materials: pieces of clay, metal, timber, and other raw elements collected together like a cabinet of curiosities. It is a working archive as much as a source of inspiration, offering materials that can be picked up, compared, combined, and reconsidered.
This instinct for exploration became the starting point when Toogood was invited to take over Casa Tacchini for the duration of the 2026 fair.
For Material Anthology, Faye Toogood turned her attention to Tacchini's own studio, workshops, and archives. Offcuts, samples, and raw materials were gathered and curated into an anthology that became the focal point of the installation.
Rather than presenting these materials simply as samples of a finished design process, Toogood reshaped them into site-specific sculptures. The intervention transforms Casa Tacchini into a celebration of the hands-on, human process behind design, revealing possibility in materials before they become finished objects.
Finding Colour in Natural Materials
Each room within Material Anthology develops a tonal palette inspired by Tacchini's natural materials.
Colour emerges from the materials themselves, from the blue veining found within marble to the soft blush of a knot in timber. These details become part of the atmosphere of each space, allowing qualities that might otherwise be treated as incidental to take on a more expressive role.
The result places materiality at the centre of the experience. Texture, tone, and natural variation are not secondary to form. They become part of how the spaces are understood.
The Same Form, a Different Feeling
Toogood's fascination with materials is grounded in their ability to change our response to an object.
Within her studio, the material library serves as what she describes as her “jewellery box.” Pieces are taken from it and placed alongside one another to see how they interact. For Toogood, changing the material of an identical form can completely change its meaning.
A chair rendered in plastic does not carry the same associations as that same chair made from bronze, glass, aluminium, or gold leaf. Its silhouette may remain unchanged, yet its material alters its character, how it is experienced, and the emotional response it creates.
This curiosity shaped Toogood's approach to Casa Tacchini. Rather than imposing an unrelated material language upon the space, she encouraged Tacchini to examine its own material library with the same spirit of experimentation.
Celebrating Tacchini's Raw Ingredients
Tacchini's natural materials provided fertile ground for that exploration.
Material Anthology draws attention to their inherent nobility and quality while considering how much possibility remains within them. Offcuts and samples become more than remnants of production. In Toogood's hands, they demonstrate the creative potential contained within the raw ingredients of design.
The intervention consequently becomes both an installation and an exploration of process. It draws attention to the decisions that occur before an object reaches its final form: touching, testing, juxtaposing, reshaping, and allowing one material to converse with another.
It is an approach closely aligned with Toogood's belief that her work is rooted in what she calls the “raw intelligence of materials.”
A Dialogue Between Evolution and Memory
The installation arrives alongside Tacchini's New Collection 2026, a collection conceived as a continuing dialogue between evolution and memory.
Within this context, Material Anthology offers another way of looking at the relationship between past and possibility. The archive becomes something active rather than static. Familiar materials are reconsidered through new combinations, scales, and sculptural forms, while the physical process of making remains visible at the heart of the experience.
At Casa Tacchini, material is therefore more than the substance from which design is made. It carries colour, texture, association, and feeling. Through Toogood's intervention, these raw ingredients are given space to speak for themselves, revealing how much of design's character can begin long before an object assumes its final form.
Source Note: This article was developed from “Material Anthology by Faye Toogood | Casa Tacchini,” originally published by Tacchini. The content has been rewritten and adapted to reflect Living Innovations’ editorial voice and tone. The original article can be found here: https://tacchini.it/en/news/material-anthology-by-faye-toogood-casa-tacchini
