Ivan Tafuro

Ivan Tafuro is an independent designer based in Milan. 

Born in Brindisi, in 1979, he studied Fashion at Istituto Marangoni in Milan where he started his experience as menswear designer working for prestigious Italian and European fashion brands.

In 2019, driven by the desire of expressing himself through new creative mediums, he discovers the world of ceramics through Officine Saffi, in Milan, where he explored the traditional techniques of Italian artistic craftsmanship. This experience brings to life his first experiential design projects.

His approach does not follow the traditional modelling, but starts from a bespoke design study built for the process and realization of the works. 

The most recent years have become an opportunity for observation of the urban space and a creative exercise in translating visual reality into imaginary, and imaginary into artifact. 

The urban elements and decorations of Milan are transformed into tubular sculptures in a project named TU BI, presented for the first time at Milan Design Week 2021, on the occasion of the "Matter to Dream" exhibition at the SIAM Arti e Mestieri Society, in the 5 Vie district and the exhibition “1000 vases” at Superstudio Più.

Today, together with TU BI’s project development, Tafuro collaborates as a freelance designer while teaching fashion design for some of the most prestigious institutes of Italy.