In Rome, rhinoceros gallery—a contemporary art space led by Alessia Caruso Fendi—continues its collaboration with Galerie kreo. From March 21 to August 31, 2025, the exhibition ‘Profili e Gesti’ will present works by Marco Campardo, Pierre Charpin, Jaime Hayon, Jean-Baptiste Fastrez, and Chris Kabel.
This second collaboration between Galerie kreo and rhinoceros gallery presents five designers whose practices engage with material experimentation, craftsmanship, and artistic expression, each through a distinct lens. Through a dynamic interplay of forms, profiles, and gestures, the exhibition highlights how design shapes space, movement, and perception.
Galerie kreo is renowned as one of the most influential design galleries internationally, describing itself as a “research laboratory.” The gallery specializes in limited- edition contemporary pieces, commissioned exclusively from top designers.
“I’m proud to collaborate once again with the ‘kreo world’ to bring the works of five exceptional designers to Rome. This second edition of our pop-up reaffirms the inseparable fusion between design and art. Through the unique perspectives/ PROFILI of these artist-designers, creativity takes shape in expressive gestures/GESTI. Their work blurs boundaries, where form follows not just function, but the power of a poetic sign that mirrors both our inner and outer worlds.”
— Alessia Caruso Fendi, director of rhinoceros gallery.
Jaime Hayon invites us into a world of imaginary figures and vernacular influences. His Atelier Wonderland series features ceramic vases and chandeliers with hand- painted faces, where deep red and intense green recall the warmth of the South. Alongside them, a series of large, glossy white porcelain vases is decorated with small mosaic tiles by Bisazza, meticulously cut and applied by hand. Their silhouettes—sometimes streamlined and slender, sometimes round and generous—are crowned with a “hat” or a small head and adorned with a wideband of mosaics featuring characters from imagination: stylized birds, expressive faces, geometric motifs, golden arabesques, and large red hearts. These elements come together in a style that is both sophisticated and playful.
Jean-Baptiste Fastrez gives his creations a sculptural presence. His mirrors, wrapped in corduroy velvet, contrast the softness of fabric with the precision of glass, balancing flexibility and rigidity, matte and gloss. They oscillate between frame and reflection, enveloping forms and defined contours.
Marco Campardo, in turn, pairs a vivid blue with a high- gloss resin traditionally used for boat hulls, its smooth, reflective surface catching the light. His bench, supported by two solid bases, naturally echoes the materiality of Fastrez’s mirror.
In the section dedicated to Pierre Charpin, a series of his drawings on paper explores texture, depth, and formal associations.
These abstract compositions invite a contemplative engagement with line, shading, and balance, reflecting Charpin’s sensitivity to gesture as trace and form as rhythm. His exploration of geometry and color extends to the Triangolo coffee table, made of blue-azure and glossy white enameled lava stone.
Chris Kabel’s Wood Ring takes a radical approach to construction: a circular bench crafted from a single tree trunk. By cutting the wood into uniform segments and aligning their natural grain, Kabel transforms raw material into precise structure. Held together solely by a metal ring—without glue or screws—the bench embodies cohesion, both in its making and in its ability to create communal space.
Set in the heart of Rome, rhinoceros gallery provides a stunning backdrop that enriches the dialogue between Galerie kreo’s innovative vision and its own distinctive curatorial approach.
© Simon d’Exea
© Giordano Buffo
