About Us
The design studio ART FUTURO is based in Stirling, Scotland. We design and make beautiful, glowing slate lamps. The natural slate we use is a stunning piece of nature and every piece is absolutely unique. We all crave to have our own little niche and we want to express our own, personal style. Our products will make you stand out and give you that little edge.
The beauty, diversity and the proximity of the unspoiled natural world here in Scotland creates a fantastic environment that fosters creativity. It encourages our innate curiosity and desire to experiment with different materials. While translucent slate is the main material we currently use, we are not limited to it. We also like wood and leather, and combining those with modern materials like concrete, acrylic, water clear resins and LED’s. The creative combination of these materials is exciting, enabling true innovation and creating products with a soul. This symbiosis is at the very heart of ART FUTURO and defines who we are. We aim to capture the essence of uniqueness with our designs, a style of our own.
Everything we do is designed and made in our local workshop as a couple. We use modern technologies to support our work as this opens unprecedented possibilities. Still, all our products are handmade and the finishing is a manual, labour intensive process.
While we sell finished products, we are happy to provide a customisation service to suit your preferences and guarantee uniqueness.
Phil
Phil’s background was Electronics and Mechanical Engineering but he has spent the last 27 years in various senior roles in IT. Before founding ART FUTURO, he was one of the leading IT architects for the NHS in Scotland.
However, the desire and drive for ART FUTURO was born much earlier in his life. He grew up in beautiful Switzerland and spent a lot of his youth with his granddad, a highly skilled master carpenter and cast-iron model maker. As a young boy, it was simply a dream to roam around his granddad’s massive workshop with all the heavy machinery and tools. Observing how rough looking trees were transformed into the most beautiful things one could imagine was fascinating. As soon as he was tall enough and old enough, he was introduced to the various tools and machinery, the lathe was one of them. What a life changing experience that was. Feeling how he could gently change an unassuming block of wood into a delicate fruit bowl, to smell the different fragrances that woods produce when you work them and the astonishing transformation that takes place when you wax or oil your new creation, all of that created a love for the material and the craft.
Despite not doing anything professionally about this deep love for a long time, it was always simmering deep inside and any opportunity was used over the years to ‘make’ things, one way or another. The satisfaction of being able to see and touch the products of his hands was always a pleasurable experience.
Finally, in late 2017, after considering and planning for a few years, the circumstances were right and Phil quit his prestigious IT job and started ART FUTURO. He has not looked back once and is enjoying every single moment, whether it is in his workshop making things or on his computer designing new products. Further, he enjoys working with his wife as an excellent team with essential and complementary skills.
Franziska
Franziska was, like Phil, born in Switzerland. In her teenage years, she was especially fond of Italy with its language, culture, architecture and of course its food. She always liked art and beautiful things. Therefore, as soon as she had saved enough money, she travelled to Florence, Italy, and studied Italian. Immersing herself into this amazing, pulsating and creative atmosphere in Florence, the birthplace of Michelangelo and one of the foremost places for art in the world, this left a deep impression.
Hence, when Phil and Franziska were looking for a fitting company name, describing art with a futuristic angle, the name ART FUTURO was born, a nice combination of an English and Italian word.
Like Phil though, her previous career as an accountant did not really cater for her admiration for art and beautiful things and did not allow her to express her creative side. Still, she learned some key skills like high attention to detail and the discipline to do an exact job, things that are equally important if you want to produce top quality products. This is one of her key contributions to ART FUTURO.
The ability to work with Phil to co-create new products, improve the designs and oversee quality control and customer service opens a whole new world to her.
