Matteo Thun was born in Bolzano in 1952 and studied at the Salzburg Academy under Oskar Kokoschka and at the University of Florence. He opened his own studio in Milan in 1984; today Matteo Thun & Partners brings architects, interior designers and product designers together in an interdisciplinary practice.
His work for Riva 1920 treats solid wood with structural economy. The Celerina table of 2007, with a top of edge-joined strips, a central gap and legs that show through the surface, is the origin of the Celerina Bench. The Light Bench followed in 2011, and the Pure Bench, introduced in 2016 and made in cedar for outdoor use, extends the same restrained vocabulary to the garden and terrace.
For Very Wood he designed Carmen, introduced in 2016: a family of chairs, armchairs and barstools on a solid beechwood frame, with seat and back upholstered and finished in piping. The seat is offered with a fixed cover or as a loose cushion with a removable cover, and an optional decorative stitch on the inner back adds a tailored detail.
