Tomà
Tomà (Paris, 1990) studied economics and fine arts in Milan before completing a Master's in Design Studies at Central Saint Martins, London, in 2014.
In 2016, driven by a social design approach, he founded Bikini Art Residency: a community-led initiative structured around production programs for visual arts, which relied on deep collaborations with artists and various craftsmanships. That sustained engagement with making and materiality became the foundation for his product design practice, established in 2025.
His work is sparked by a preexistence, like a material or immaterial encounter that invites one to question reality. Tomà's creations are often the result of a position shift, which confers on the object a new function. He sees design as the equilibrium between form and functionality, where use defines the object and aesthetic is a commitment towards otherness.
Defaticante
The Defaticante tables are built around the single volume of a glass brick, elevated as if on a pedestal by simply designed legs in walnut or coloured MDF. Tomà's research on glass casting led him to look at construction glass bricks with new eyes. These blocks speak of a vanishing European industry. One that has quietly disappeared over the past two decades.
German production, for instance, came to an end in 2005, making the "made in Germany" bricks, with their distinctive greenish tint, the last of their kind. All the glass bricks Tomà works with are limited. Among them, 420mm-square "made in Italy" glass blocks, designed in 1998 by Renzo Piano for the Hermès headquarters in Tokyo.
The collection is available in three heights and three brick sizes: 330mm high with 250mm-square bricks, 330mm high with 420mm-square bricks, 470mm and 800mm high with 300mm-square bricks.